Book 1 Chapter 7-8, Book 2 chapter 1-2

" He was walking up a cobbled street of little two-story houses with battered doorways which gave straight on the pavement and which were somehow curiously suggestive of rat holes. there were puddles of filthy water here and there among the cobbles" (82).


When I was reading this for the first time I realized the type of conditions that these proles were put into. It sounded like they were living lives where they are just surviving and not really going anywhere in their lives, almost as if they were stuck. Throughout the passage, there is more description of this town area that he was walking through, it reminded me of a bad neighborhood where people don't really care about the looks of their housing and how clean it could be. All the people want to do is just live and get paid to do the same thing for the rest of their lives. It seems that if the proles were exposed to more of the outside world and had more information on what is going on around the world then they would have the potential to make a difference to the type of lifestyle that everyone is living.

"They remembered a million useless things, a quarrel with a workmate, a hunt for a lost bicycle pump, the expression on a long-dead sister's face, the swirls of dust on a windy morning seventy years ago; but all the relevant facts were outside the range of their vision" (93).

This passage shows how they keep the proles away from all the things that happen around the world like history in the past that could have shaped the lives that they live now. When Winston was talking to that old man it is pretty clear that the man had no idea of all the huge changes that might have happened when he was young. It was almost as if they were kept away from the real world and they were there only to keep the human population high. This passage makes it clear that throughout the story there is a reason for why the party doesn't want proles to know about the truth that has happened in their lives. Does this mean that the Party has lost all their feelings towards humans and no longer care about what conditions they are put in? I think think that most people in the party have lost their human morals and they are used to a life where all the hard workers are proles that are oblivious to their surroundings.


"Already he had instinctively started forward to help her. In the moment when he had seen her fall on the bandaged arm, it had been as though he felt the pain in his own body... the whole incident could not have taken as much as half a minute" (106).

This passage proves how even though they are always being watched, once they are put into a situation that involves helping one another. They do not think twice to help each other and make sure that they are ok. It's an instinct that he has which proves that he is not another machine or worker towards the system that he lives in. He knows that there is something wrong in the way that he is living life. Before he knew that Julia was doing all of this on purpose, we can see that despite all the suspiciousness that Winston had towards her. He helped her out to stand up without hesitation proving that Winston still has human morals in feeling sympathy for others. Since Julia gave Winston a note and they know each other a bit better now. I think that this is going to be a start towards a change in the story, maybe they will work together to make a change in the lifestyle that they are currently living in.

Book 1 Chapter 2-6

At this moment the telescreen let out a piercing whistle. It was the signal to return to work. All three men sprang to their feet to join in the struggle round the lifts, and the remaining tobacco fell out of Winston's cigarette (63).

 As I was reading the last section of chapter 5 I started to notice that they were really strict with timing and they always made sure that they were punctual with everything. I wondered what they would go through if they ignored this whistle, was it as serious as a crime where you would be vaporized? One thing that I noticed on page 62 was that Winston really liked his cigarettes and it seemed that he always wanted to use each cigarette fully. Looking back at the quote it shows how this whistle has control of his life and Winston would drop his cigarette without a second thought. The whole system of being punctual and there being a punishment if you are not at your job in time reminded me of my middle school where there would be a bell at the end of every class to remind you that you have to walk yourself to your next class and if you are late then they would usually make a huge fuss about it. This telescreen and the whistle seems to be the main source of where thought crimes are found out and it seems that it would be something to always be aware of throughout the story.

"Smith!" screamed the shrewish voice from the telescreen. "6079 Smith W! Yes, you! Bend lower, please! That's better comrade. Now stand at ease, the whole squad, and watch me." (36).

When reading this part in chapter 3, the first thing that came to mind is that they are now onto Winston and that sooner or later the thought police would be capturing him because of what he is writing about in his diary. It seemed weird to me that all of a sudden that person behind the telescreen was looking at Winston and told him to do his exercise. Winston stated that he loathed this exercise so that would mean that he usually doesn't give effort towards this exercise. Another thing that we can see from this is how fear runs them and they are willing to do anything so they can look good in front of that telescreen. For example how as soon as Winston was told to do his exercise better he immediately reached for his toes and touched them, something that he hasn't done in years.

"if you want a stronger version of 'good,'what sense is there in having a whole string of vague useless words like 'excellent' and 'splendid' and all the rest of them" 'Plusgood' covers the meaning, or 'doubleplusgood' if you want something stronger still (51)."

I disagree with Syme stating that the destruction of words is a beautiful thing, I believe that the variety of words that we are given is something that brings us closer as a society. We are able to express ourselves much better. We can also communicate and understand each other much better and we are able to work together much better. Narrowing the range of thought with Newspeak in the story made me feel like the whole object of this language is to just have full control of people. To basically have people just working for you like robots and they are not able to rebel because of their lack of words to think with. Having all people under surveillance and every few years having some words removed from their language seems like something that the story is trying to lead to. This relates to the story by showing the readers the type of world that their system has in mind and what they are trying to reach in humanity.