Response 2

I have found myself thinking about the past a lot.  In the book, the past has a completely different meaning than what we are accustomed to.  Winston talks about the past as being a factor of the Party.  The party not only controls Oceania, but it controls the lives of everyone living there.  Because the party has control of the past they are able to control the people's thoughts, beliefs, and morals.  Winston's job deals a lot with the past.  He states that the past is always being up to date.  He goes into detail the type of work that he has to do and how that affects the lives of the people of Oceania. It is hard for me to understand how people can be vaporized.  This task seems impossible to me because no matter how hard you would try in today's world you could never erase someone.  Their life and their legacy will always have an impact on at least one person.  It may seem like they are gone, but they cannot be forgotten.  However, in the book the person's name is simply deleted from history and it seems as though they never existed.  The book even quotes, "He did not exist, he never existed." The history can be rewritten to reflect the wishes of the government.  When I think of history I think of something that is set in stone as an established truth.  In this book history is merely a set of lies that are accepted as the truth.  Winston says that the past had not merely been altered, it had been destroyed.  By this I think he means that everything that is true has been destroyed.  There is no way to bring back what was lost.  By altering the past, they are destroying it. The fact that everything that they know is based off of the past scares me.  It scares me that the past can be rewritten and it scares me that what the people believe is merely lies.  It bothers me that no one knows the truth.  It bothers me that Big Brother does not let anyone have access to the truth.  I feel like not even Big Brother knows the truth.  All of their lives are a lie.  If the people know that they were being deprived of knowledge and being spoon-fed a load of false information, I think that they could rally against the government.  It is because they do not have access to the truth and do not know what they are missing out on that they are so easily controlled.  Winston even states himself that no one knows and no one cares.  I feel like if they knew, things would be different.  Their lives would never be the same again.  I am curious to see if the truth will ever be released and what their reaction will be.

Response 1

I have currently started reading the book 1984 as a class project. I just stated to dig into the book and I am already very intrigued by it.  In class we were given a brief overview of the book and the major concepts that were addressed in it.  I was puzzled by some of the vocabulary and terms that we covered in class.  It was not until I started reading that I began to understand their true meaning and how they would be portrayed in the book.  I find the setting of the book very peculiar.  It makes it sound like the conditions of the outer party are not very ideal.  I picture the setting similar to how I pictured the setting of the Divergent books.  I realize that there are many differences in the two books, but I also see some similarities that are already evident.  Both take place in a city that is industrial but yet has some ruins as well.  In 1984 I picture each of the different Ministries similar to the different factions in the book Divergent.  I am interested to see if my projection is true or if the two books will start to stray away from each other.  I could not imagine living like Winston does.  I realize that we are under surveillance here in America as well, but not to the level that is shown in the book.  When Winston talks about the posters of Big Brother everywhere I think of the situation in North Korea where the dictator is praised and worshipped.  I also see many similarities other than the posters concerning North Korea and 1984.  The children are brainwashed at a young age and taught to love and worship the government and the dictator.  I was shocked when it mentioned in the book how the parents would become afraid of their children.  The way that Mrs. Parson's children were behaving was completely different than children act today.  I understand that children get wild and out of hand and I also understand that children play war, but the way that the children accused of thought crime and the hostile things that they were doing reflect that of a child who has been taught that hate and violence are good.  I feel like these children have no morals other than that which the government allows and their parents have no control over their behavior or beliefs.