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Dialectical Journal 1984

1. The characters in the novel constantly feel like they are being watched and monitored, leading them to live in a state of fear and paranoia. 2. Winston struggles with internal conflicts between his personal feelings and beliefs and what is expected and promoted by the totalitarian government. He projects his frustration with the government onto others like women. 3. A recurring theme is that ignorance allows oppressive governments to gain power and control, while knowledge and awareness can help foster rebellion and change. However, becoming conscious of the truth also means facing dreadful realities that are terrifying.

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485 views3 pages

Dialectical Journal 1984

1. The characters in the novel constantly feel like they are being watched and monitored, leading them to live in a state of fear and paranoia. 2. Winston struggles with internal conflicts between his personal feelings and beliefs and what is expected and promoted by the totalitarian government. He projects his frustration with the government onto others like women. 3. A recurring theme is that ignorance allows oppressive governments to gain power and control, while knowledge and awareness can help foster rebellion and change. However, becoming conscious of the truth also means facing dreadful realities that are terrifying.

Uploaded by

api-302301738
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Quotes

1. You had to live-did live, from


habit that became instinct- in the
assumption that every sound you
made was overheard, and,
except in darkness every
movement scrutinized (3).
2. He disliked nearly all women,
and especially the young and
pretty ones. It was always the
women, and above all the young
ones, who were the most bigoted
adherents of the party, the
swallowers of slogans, the
amateur spies and nosers-out of
unorthodoxy (10).
3. To dissemble your feelings, to
control your face, to do what
everyone else was doing, was an
instinctive reaction. But there
was a space of a couple of
seconds during which the
expression in his eyes might
conceivable have betrayed him
(17).
4. But so long as he uttered [the
truth], in some obscure way the
continuity was not broken. It was
not by making yourself heard but
by staying sane that you carried
on the human heritage (27).
5. Thought crime does not entail
death. Thought crime is death
(28).
6. Your worst enemy, he reflected,
was your own nervous system. At
any moment the tension inside
you was liable to translate itself
into some visible symptom (63).
7. Until they become conscious
they will never rebel, and until
after they have rebelled, they
cannot become conscious (70).
8. He was standing in front of a
wall of darkness, and on the

Analysis
They are always watching.

He is projecting his own frustration with


the government onto women because
he is supposed to resist them. Internal
conflict.

Internal conflict. Your expression may


betray you by revealing what you really
feel.
Never truly safe.

Ignorance is bliss
Sometimes the biggest act of rebelling
is just protecting the knowledge that
something is wrong. Humanity will live
on despite the governments attempts
to conceal and destroy it.
Setting, situation and culture. Cannot
think bad thoughts (conflict with self) or
They will know and kill you (conflict
with society/govt)
Internal conflict conflict with your own
body to conceal you emotions
Power the govt has so much power
you have to fight your own biological
instincts
Paradox/irony you need to wake up
and see whats wrong with your
surroundings in order to overcome
them, but until you overcome them you
cant really wake up and see them
He has more power than he realizes. He
has knowledge about the darkness and

other side of it there as


something unendurable,
something too dreadful to be
faced. In the dream his deepest
feeling was always one of selfdeception because he did in fact
know what was behind the wall
of darkness. With a deadly effort,
like wrenching a piece out of his
own brain, he could even have
dragged the thing into open
(144).
9. They could lay bare in the
utmost detail everything that you
had done or said or thought, but
the inner heart, whose workings
were mysterious even to
yourself, remained impregnable
(167).
10.If one is to rule, and to continue
ruling, one must be able to
dislocate the sense of reality. For
the secret of rulership is to
combine a belief in ones own
infallibility with the power to
learn from past mistakes (215).

Partner Response
5. The conflict is both external and
internal which makes it extra hard
for citizens, like Winston to find
hope in life.
4. The realization that ignorance is
what lets governments become
corrupt and powerful is a reflection
not only on Big Brother but in our
society as well.
7. The whole story of 1984 is a
paradox because this is supposedly
fiction but in so many way it is
true. Why do you think Orwell
wrote it like this?
8. I agree that he has more power
than he realizes. This is scary since

can shed light on them, but it is so


terrifying he is hesitant.
Internal conflict to be or not to be =
to act or not to act, to change or not to
change

Power of Them. Conflict with society


transferring to conflict with self again.
No matter how much control they have,
you are still you as long as you stay
true to your heart. You still have some
power.
Rulers are arrogant and disconnected
with reality. Universal theme and
application.
Irony to be a ruler you have to be
confident (you cannot fail) but must
acknowledge when you have failed
(past mistakes). This is where
corruption breeds because you cannot
do both.
My Response
That is the point of an overpowering
government. That is the goal of the
corruption.
Thats why we need to fight back with
education. Education is a political
enemy because with education and
knowledge comes hope and strength to
fight back.
He wrote it like that to bring attention
to the issue and open up readers eyes.

I dont think Winston is the only one


because part of the problem in societies

Winston is one of the only people


in the society to realize and be
aware of most things.
6. By explaining that your worse
enemy was yourself and not in fact
the terrible Party or Big Brother
puts into perspective the priorities
of the society in 1984. How do you
think this is used in the society? As
a way to secretly promote the
government or a way to reflect on
ones own self.

with corrupt govts is that no one can


openly oppose them. They have to do it
all in secret.
I think it shows the true power in the
people in any society, corrupt govt or
not. People give them power by
conforming. They may not be the cause
but they are the contributors. I think
George Orwell is trying to say the
blame is in the people as much as it is
in the govt.

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