Part 1 Chapters 1-6

The overall society reminds me of countries like North Korea, or maybe Russia (although I know it’s not as bad there). Big Brother seems to be the dictator who everybody is taught to worship, and there’s propaganda all throughout the city that warns people not to perform forbidden acts, as they will be punished. Additionally, it seems like not only is free speech highly restricted, but free thought as well. Winston mentions that he thinks his friend, Syme, will be taken away or “vaporized”, because although he worships Big Brother and praises the society, he’s intelligent, so the government fears that he may someday have a different thought. This part really showed how tight security is in this society.

There are also more specific concepts in the book that parallel concepts in our world. For example, the Physical Jerks, which is apparently the society’s way of keeping citizens fit, reminded me of Youtube videos or TV shows where viewers follow athletes as they do their workouts. Were there any oddly specific parallels that you noticed?


Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 8, 2021 at 7:57 AM

    Lol I hadn't thought of that but the physical jerks really are like an authoritarian Peloton. What really stuck out to me was the speakwrite - talking into a machine that can then transcribe your words must have seemed so wildly futuristic to Orwell, but that's totally something that we can do now.

    ReplyDelete
  2. L. MoffittFebruary 8, 2021 at 8:30 AM

    Authoritarian Peloton, yes! (One that people pay money for.)

    ReplyDelete

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