Paranoia

William Boyajian
4/25/13

One thing that I thought was interesting about Winston was his extreme paranoia.  It is clear that you can be punished in extreme ways for very minor slips, such as having the wrong facial expression at the wrong time. Winston says that "a nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself—anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide" could result in one being vaporized (62).  He is also constantly telling himself that he is going to get vaporized, along with Syne and any other smart people he comes across.  However, it sometimes seems like he is overly paranoid.  When he first starts writing the diary, even though he is out of range of the telescreen, he is extremely panicked, to the point where his writing is almost unintelligible.  He is also paranoid about any looks he receives from people. While he is eating lunch, the dark-haired girl looks at him "in a sidelong way, but with curious intensity" (61). This makes him automatically assume the worst, that she is a member of the Thought Police and is monitoring him.  Winston also thinks that he is completely alone, and that everyone, except for possibly O'Brien, supports Big Brother completely.  However, he has done a very good job at fooling everyone, so it could be that many other people are in the same situation as him.  While some of his reactions might be unnecessary, his paranoia has probably saved him from being vaporized.  He is constantly watching his actions so that he does not show in any way what is actually going on in his head.  Unfortunately, he is now convinced that he is going to be vaporized sooner or later, so he might be more willing to take risks, such as starting the diary.

Winston's Thoughts

Colin Smith
4/25/13

Something I noticed about Winston is that he spends a majority of the narration in his head. This makes sense within the context of the book since he explains that all conversation is recorded, and it is too risky to share his opinions with others because of the possibility that they are "thought police". For example, he notices the dark haired girl observing him in several instances, and he is paranoid of Syme mentally taking note of his possibly "unorthodox" behaviors. Another interesting aspect of the society which is related to "thought crime" is "face crime", which Winston explains as wearing an inappropriate facial expression, and which he explains is often punished severely. When he is doing his morning exercises, he is singled out for not trying hard enough "'6079 Smith W! Yes, you! Bend lower, please! You can do better than that [...] A sudden hot sweat had broken out all over Winston's body. His face remained completely inscrutable. Never show dismay! Never show resentment! A single flicker of the eyes could give you away" (36). Winston has been trained to wear the right face at the right time, even though it doesn't mean he's not committing thought crime. He describes his look as "grim enjoyment" at one instance, but from experience he knows it is often difficult to prevent emotions  from being expressed through the body. For example, "With the deep unconscious sigh which not even the nearness of the telescreen could prevent him from uttering when his day's work started, Winston pulled the speakwrite toward him" (37). Winston's mental and physical condition must contribute somewhat to his emotions, since he lives alone, is malnourished, and feels alienated from his society. By this point in the book, the compounding of his frustration with his anger at the society he lives in are likely leading towards some course of action, and his diary will probably be the the focus of the development.

Language and Thoughtcrime

In this section of George Orwell's 1984, Winston and one of his comrades, Syme, discuss the idea that the society is trying to eliminate unnecessary words from the language.  By eliminating words and streamlining the language into the bare minimum required for communication, the government will be able to "narrow the range of thought," which will make thoughtcrime impossible (52).  Since there will be no words to express ideas with, there will no way to have thoughts against the Party.  Syme describes the new society as a place where people will live their lives "not needing to think" (53).  I think it is interesting that in this society, the government is blatantly trying to eliminate thought of any kind, while in other novels that we have read, such as The Handmaid's Tale, the government tries to manipulate what people think, but not eliminate thought entirely.  I also think it is interesting that free thought is what the Party fears the most, since it shows how powerful that can be.  Even Winston notes that Syme will be vaporized, because he is too intelligent.  Changing the language parallels Winston's job; by changing what is written in the past, he essentially makes it impossible for anything to contradict the Party.  Likewise, by eliminating most words, people will not be able to have thoughts against the Party or communicate anything that opposes the Party.  In order for the Party to remain in power, they have to prevent any rebellion, and to do this, they have to get rid of any thought that goes against them.

Winston's Job

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4/24/13

            While reading 1984 by George Orwell, I found Winston Smith’s job very unusual. Winston works for the Ministry of Truth, one of the four ministries in their country of Oceania. Each day, Winston has to change the forecast, previous newspapers, or speeches given by Big Brother. His job is described on page 38 – “the messages he had received referred to articles or news items which for one reason or another it was thought necessary to alter, or, as the official phrase had it, to rectify” (38). Winston discusses how he has to change the prediction of the number of boots that will be sold in a given year to make it closer to the actual number reported. At first, this job shocked me. I found it very strange that citizens would be changing documents or broadcasts that had been presented years in the past to make the leaders of Oceania seem smarter. At the same time, I was not that surprised. This country is involved in war and also has a group of enemies living within their country. I believe Big Brother wants to make his citizens trust him by changing his past statements to more accurate predictions of the future. Along with changing past broadcasts, books have been rewritten to eliminate “Old English.” I found their new way of talking very confusing. The country has been creating new words and hopes by 2050 that there will be less than ten words used throughout the country. I understand that this would eliminate their issue of thoughtcrime, but I do not understand how a country can run successfully with so few words.  These changes the society is making seem to be oppressing the citizens and creating a youth with a much different look on the world. I am interested to see how these changes effect the younger generation throughout the book.