Dystopian Journal 3

The structure of the society:

In 1984 by George Orwell, there are three different superpowers in the present world, Eurasia, Eastasia and Oceania. These three superpowers support themselves by being in constant war with one another, this constant, never ending war allows the three superpowers to prop one another up. The three superpowers feed off of this constant war, by keeping the masses busy with work, so they do not realize what is going on. To help keep the masses out of the loop, atleast in Oceania, there are four ministries put in place. The ministry of Love, Truth, Peace and Plenty. Each of these ministries is respectively called miniluv, minitrue, minipax, miniplenty in Newspeak. The main tools of "the party", aka Ingsoc (English Socialism), are the ministries and newspeak. The ministries each concern themselves with different parts of propaganda for their superpower. Each ministry concerns itself with the opposite of what you would expect from their name, "The Ministry of Truth, which concerned itself with news, entertainment, education, and the fine arts. The Ministry of Peace, which concerned itself with war. The Ministry of Love, which maintained law and order. And
the Ministry of Plenty, which was responsible for economic affairs."(2) This contradiction directly connects to the party's next tool, Newspeak. The party uses control to obtain their power. The party controls not only their subject's mind, but the words they can literally say, and the emotions they feel, etc. Newspeak restricts the words used in the "english" language. By restricting the words used in a language, you can essentially take out all emotion and any negative inflection that could be used again the party. The people that run Oceania, are the referred to as the Inner Party, the people that work in the ministries are the Outer Party, and the Proles are the ones that do all the manual labor. Their is no change in power, Inner is always at the top, Outer is always in the middle, and the Proles are always at the bottom. Because the Proles know of nothing other then what the party wants them to know (recall newspeak/control of media/past) they have no reason to revolt. Why would someone revolt if they believe that their is nothing else besides the life they are living presently?

Dystopian Journal 2

On pages 182-183, Winston and Julia get arrested by the Thought Police. The old man, Mr. Charrington had been providing a place for Julia and Winston to "sleep" together and basically have a vacation away from the constant eye and ear of the party. After Winston wakes up from falling asleep while reading Golstein's book, a telescreen speaks from behind a picture hanging on the wall.

Moment of conflict(climax): This paragraph is the climax of the rising action in this novel. Throughout the book, Winston has been fearing and not fearing being caught by the Thought Police. He knew it would come someday, but he didn't know when. The reader has been waiting for this moment this whole book: to see the thought police.

Characterization: Winston and Julia are faced with extreme terror: facing the thought police. This moment of trauma brings out the true characteristics of Julia and Winston. Throughout the novel, Winston has been building up a sort of "acceptance" that he will be caught one day, but when that day comes, he melts. "He could just stop his teeth from chattering, but his knees were beyond his control."(183) Winston being able to control his teeth, but not his knees shows that he can say he is not afraid, but really, he is. Julia, who has been previously characterized to be a "bad ass", now turns "milky yellow" at the sound of the telescreen behind them. Having even Julia scared of the Thought Police shows the total control they have over everyone.

Symbolism: Mr. Charrington speaks through the telescreen to Winston, after one of the Thought Policemen says "You may as well say good-by", Mr. Charrington says, "And by the way, while we are on the subject, Here comes a candle to light you to bed, here comes a chopper to chop off your head."(183) This is the ending of the nursery rhyme that Winston has been trying to piece together for so long. The significance of Mr. Charrington telling Winston the ending now, symbolizes Winston's fate to come, hence the "chopper to chop off your head." What really gives that "death" mood, is that Mr. Charrington says, after the man before says "you may say good-by", Mr. Charrington says "while we are on the subject" suggesting that the ending of this nursery rhyme is related to Winston and Julia being split up.