Dystopian Journal 1

Passage: The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats. At one end of it a colored poster, too large for indoor display, had been tacked to the wall. It depicted simply an enormous face, more than a meter wide: the face of a man of about forty-five, with a heavy black mustache and ruggedly handsome features. Winston made for the stairs. It was no use trying the lift. Even at the best of times it was seldom working, and at present the electric current was cut off during daylight hours. It was part of the economy drive in preparation for Hate Week. The flat was seven flights up, and Winston, who was thirty-nine, and had a varicose ulcer above his right ankle, went slowly, resting several times on the way. On each landing, opposite the lift shaft, the poster with enormous face gazed form the wall. It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran.


    This passage, the second paragraph on the first page of the novel 1984 by George Orwell, "Eric Blair", is very detailed and descriptive. The only blatant sensory detail in this whole passage, is describing the hallways, putting a lot of emphasis on the smell and age of it. Boiled cabbage is a very typical "bad" smell to be used to describe things, but could it have a particular cultural connection at the time? Age, and numbers in general are used quite a lot in this passage, "The flat was seven flights up", "more than a meter wide", "Winston, who was thirty-nine", "a man of about forty-five", all these numbers are used to create direct position in relation to Winston. His house is seven flights up, that man on the poster is older then him, that poster is wide, etc. Age seems to play a large role in this passage, but will that continue through the book? This meter wide poster is mentioned twice in the passage, and the size of it is mentioned three times, suggesting the size of the poster is important. The sentence "too large for indoor display" really caught my attention. Was the poster really too large, or is it the idea that the poster carries too large? It's hard to put thoughts into words, but it really stood out. Speaking of the large poster, Winston seems to "make for the stairs" right after seeing this poster of "a man of about 45 with ruggedly handsome features.". Winston running at the sight of this seemingly normal poster suggests that the poster holds a possibly more sinister aura about it. Will this poster pop up as much as it did in this one passage throughout the book? Why does Winston fear the poster so much?