Quotations

“Taught from infancy that beauty is a woman’s sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison” – Mary Wollstonecraft (50)

“How our life has been warped by books! We are not contented with realities, we crave conclusions.” – David Grayson (51)

“In love there are two things–bodies and words.” – Joyce Carol Oates (270)

“You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm.” -Collette (151)

“The world belongs to the enthusiast who keeps cool.” – William Mcfee (151)

“Waste not fresh tears over old griefs.” – Euripides (108)

“Since the house is on fire let us warm ouselves.” -Italian proverb (8)

“To die is an awfully big adventure” – J. M. Barrie

“Nothing is said now that has not been said before.” – Terence (322)

“Many think they have a kind heart who have only weak nerves.” – Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach

 

Essay Evaluation

1) I was thirteen….

a) I think the main forms of this essay were narrative, descriptive and also reflective.

b) I think this essay received a high grade because the author is taking a simple, endearing little story and making it come alive with language and descriptive imagery so I could actually imagine the story.

c) My favourite phrase from this essay is: “thunder-like growling roars emitting from his innocent baby bum”

d) I do think the opening line is strong because it is direct to the point. The opening line gives me an idea of what the prompt for the essay could have been.

e) The author is stating that by changing his baby brother’s diaper he learned to be courageous and responsible.

2) I opened my life…

a) I believe this is a descriptive essay, also with a sense of reflection

b) The language in this essay is incredible. The author clearly has a well developed vocabulary. The way the author created phrases in this essay, she sounds like an experienced writer who will write a book someday.

c) My favourite phrase is: “To stay connnected to the small simpleness of life requires persistance and a willingness to be vulnerable”

d) The opening line is strong in a different way than the first. It makes me wonder what the author will be writing about.

e) The author is writing about how maturity and immaturity and what it takes to be either one.

3) Cookie Dough Made Me A Man..

a) I believe this essay is a narrative essay.

b) This essay recieved a high grade because he uses an endearing, amusing story and he describes it in such a way that it makes the reader imagine it.

c) ” I almost tore out of my please mum pants and knit shirt with excitement”

d) Yes I like his opening line, I think it grabs the reader in right away. It makes me wonder what he did which is now bound to him at all times, embarressing him.

e) The reader must be writing about how making silly mistakes helps us develop and grow our characters.

4) Rene Descartes once said..

a) This seems like a very reflective essay to me.

b) I think this essay received a high grade because she is writing about her connection to English and the written word and she is also referring to actually writers and English history.

c) “I learned that human beings are vulnerable to all kinds of temptations” I like this line because WE ARE.

d) It is a good opening line because Knittel told us that using quotes in essays on the exam would be impressive to the markers because it shows that we actually memorized a quote which we used as a tool in our essay.

e) The author is writing about how she has another life inside of the books on her bookshelf. The author is speaking about her connection to books and literature.

6) Eleanor Roosevelt once said..

a) This is a reflective essay.

b) This essay recieved a high grade because she uses strong language, and her essay is direct and clean.

c) My favorite line: “As I Began to play with my newfound sense of self, my creativity, talent and beauty were released from the confines of others.”

d) Yes the opening line is well done again because the author had a quote memorized which she again used in her essay as a tool.

e) The writer is writing about how it is important to not let others thoughts of you decide what you think of yourself.

7) Our Journey.. Past Leaders..

a)  This essay could either be persuasive or maybe expository. It also has a sense of reflection to it though.

b) This essay recieved a high grade because they a writing about a bold topic while using very factual and historical references.

c) “it is pathetic that we are so proud of ourselves for slowly learning how to treat one another with love and respect” This is my favorite line because it is so true.

d) The opening line is strong, it is bold, focused and direct. It gets straight to the point and tells me what the writer will be writing about.

e) The writer is writing about the leaders of the past and the historical events which bring us to the way we are now as we journey into the future.

8) Our Journey… Where would we be..

a) This essay seems quite reflective to me, also persuasive.

b) The essay recieved a good grade because it also is well put together with lots of reference to history.

c) My favorite phrase from the essay is: “had human history not begun millions of years ago, I would never have discovered my academic passion: studying twentieth century history”

d) I like the opening line because it asks the reader a question, I think that asking the reader to think a little is sort of nice. I also like the opening line because it opens the reader right to the rest of essay in a smooth transition.

e) The writer is stating intelligently, that without the past, there would be no now.

9)A Newborn Screams..

a) This essay is descriptive and narrative and also reflective I believe.

b) This essay recieved a high grade because the writers ideas about life and birth are so well put onto the page into words. The ideas are made clear in my mind and I can imagine every statement the writer uses as being a thought of my own.

c) A line I found interesting: “Science now attempts to answer the greater questions in life”

d) The opening line is great because it grabs the readers focus and it is anything but dull. It is describing a newborn baby screaming.

e) The overall idea is talking about birth beginning life with is the only way to create a future.

10) When I finished reading…

a) I think this is a narrative/descriptive essay.

b) This essay recieved a high grade because she is speaking about how she is an addict to the written word. I’m sure the marker can sympathize with her. The essay is also very well written and the language flows well.

c) “I am influenced by words and calmed by their sound.” This is my favorite line. I actually agree with her completely with this sentence.

d) The opening line is good because it brings us right to the point of the essay. There’s no build up to the point, it is direct and she tells us the point of the essay within the first couple sentences.

e) The main point is that the written word gives her new insights and allows her to see things from new perspectives and also escape in a sense, at times.

 

Evil Reflection Part 2

It is interesting how lazy we are as humans. I know that I am certainly a passive person for the most part. I find everything that Philip Zambaro said very believable and I think that in 1984 there is certainly de-individulation of self with the Party’s uniform being the blue overalls. In 1984 there is also so much blind obedience to authority, the way the Party has brainwashed everyone into believing what the Party says goes, no questions asked, and the majority of people fall for it. Whoever shows signs of not obeying the authority of the Party will be punished to the point where they have to believe what the Party says.

Why We Should Study Evil In Highschool..

I believe that we should study evil things in high school because evil is a part of reality. I would not want to be taught that life is all sunshine and rainbows at school because I know that life contains more than just good things. There are certainly negative aspects to life, and as people we all have dark sides. I think it would be dishonest to portray to students that people don’t do bad things, and I think it is even worse as a grownup to teach children and students that they won’t get hurt in this world. Everyone is going to get hurt, emotionally and physically, life is not always nice all the time. I believe that experience difficult things in life, and also knowing about them, makes people more aware and also stronger. Once you have been knocked down a few times by the hard aspects of life, you grow to be stronger and I’d say even more wise. Those who refuse to open their eyes to the darker bits of life are living in a daydream, and I would say are acting almost cowardly because being able to understand that bad things happen, and that we as people do bad things, and being able to get through difficult times makes people tougher and more knowing. This brings me to the second question, “why should we read newspapers?” I believe that reading news papers is very important because it is important to know what is going on in the world. I think that being under the impression that nothing is important except what is happening in our own little personal worlds is also like living in a daydream. Bad things, and great things happen all the time, every day in so many different places. It makes a person more intelligent and more interesting to talk to if they know what is going on around the world, in my opinion. I think that these days as young people we are more focused on what is happening in our own little worlds rather than the world as a whole. I think this could be related to the attraction to gossip, and stupid little facts about other people, as well as focusing on the updates of our peers on facebook, twitter and instagram.

1984: Chapter 6: PART 3

PART III: Chapter VI 

1) Where is Winston in this chapter? Winston is sitting in the Chestnut Tree Cafe. 

2) What a couple of things Winston can do now that he couldn’t before he was arrested? No one cared what Winston did anymore. No whistle woke him up, no telescreen admonished him. Winston’s corner table at the Cafe is always reserved for him, he gets away with paying less than his bill usually is. Winston also has a different job now, a more highly paid one than his old job had ever been. 

3) Discuss the symbolism of the chess game Winston plays (with himself…Orwell is so brilliant!):   I think the chess game Winston is playing symbolizes how the Party claims there has always been a war between Oceania and Eurasia. I think how Winston looks up at the image of Big Brother and thinks to himself “White always mates,” is a symbol of the slogans the Party puts forth. Winston also thinks to himself that “in no chess problem since the beginning of the world has black ever won.” I believe that this thought is a parallel idea to how the Party states that history can be altered to whatever the Party wants it to be, but then say history was never altered at all. 

4) Winston says the story he has just remembered about his family is false. What does this tell you about what has happened to Winston? Winston’s mind has been washed clean. He no longer is sure of his own memories or thoughts as being true, all he knows is that the Party is right, about everything. He says that he is occasionally troubled by false memories and he believed they did not matter as long as he took them for what they were. 

5) What, according to the last couple sentences of the book, has happened to Winston? Winston says that he had won the victory over himself. It’s very strange because he did not love Big Brother, he hated the Party all of his life during the book. He really did have to fight against himself, with the help of being tortured, in order for him to win victory over himself. In the end his mind has been washed clean, he has completed O’Brien’s three step process. He has accepted the party and he loved Big Brother. 

1984: Chapter 4 & 5: PART 3

PART III: Chapter IV 

1) In a single paragraph of at least 125 words, explain how Winston has changed physically and mentally since he last saw O’brien. Use evidence and some quotations to support your argument: It is possible that weeks or months had past and Winston has began to gain some weight and he was now kept in a room where “there was a pillow and a mattress on the plank bed”(287). He was given new underclothes and  fresh pair of overalls, as well as “they had given him a bath and they allowed him to wash himself fairly frequently in a tin basin”(287). The Party has also put soothing ointment on his varicose ulcer and he was being given, he thought, about 3 meals a day and “the food was surprisingly good, with meat at every third meal”(287). Winston had grown used to sleeping with a strong light in his face, and during this time he began dreaming a lot “and they were always happy dreams”(288). When Winston was awake he found that his thoughts were mainly about his dreams and “he seemed to have lost the power of intellectual effort, now that the stimulus of pain had been removed”(288). Winston began to feel no impulse to leave the bed in the room he was kept in, and this was not because he was bored. Winston did not feel desire for any distraction or a conversation, he was content just to not constantly be beaten or questioned and at that point “to have enough to eat and to be clean all over was completely satisfying”(288). Winston began to notice that he was getting fatter and he began to exercise his body regularly, he was reluctant at first but he began pacing the cell, and “in a little while he could walk three kilometres”(288). Winston begins to “work deliberately at the task of re-educating himself”(289). Winston begins to believe that he could fight against the Party any longer. He thinks to himself “the Party was in the right. It must be so: how could the immortal, collective brain be mistaken?”(290) Winston begins to accept everything that the Party says is true, “he hardly knew why he had ever rebelled”(291). Winston’s brain is beginning to become “washed clean,” as O’brien had called it. Winston is starting to believe that anything could be true. 

2) Explain what Winston means on page 294 when he says, “They would have blown a hole in their own perfection. To die hating them, that was freedom.”: Winston means that if you could manage ending your life while still hating the Party and die with a clear head, not filled with the lies of the Party, that would be freedom. The Party cannot have that happen though, they must make the brains of everyone clean and loving of Big Brother. Everyone must be loyal to the Party before they can die. To die still honestly hating the Party and having an unclean brain full of your own opinions towards life and the Party, that would be the most free way to die.  

PART III: Chapter V 

1) How does Winston save himself? Winston decides that he must interpose another human being between himself and the rats. He realizes that there is only one person he could transfer his punishment, one human who he could thrust between himself and the rats. He began to shout “do it to Julia!” “Not me!” “I don’t care what you do to her!” “Tear her face off!” “Not me!” “Julia!” After he had finished freaking out he realized that he heard the cage doors click shut so the rats could no longer harm him. 

2) In the last paragraph of the chapter, what is symbolically happening to Winston. (Don’t worry if you find this difficult – we’ll discuss this) I think that he was obviously emotionally traumatized by the rats being so close to eating his face off that when he was finally pushed to his limits he finally betrayed Julia. I think by falling through the atmosphere, though space, through the stars,  he is symbolically losing himself. He finally did what he swore he would not do, he betrayed Julia. He is losing himself as an individual, he is falling into the trap the Party has set. 

 

1984: Chapter 3: PART 3.

PART III: Chapter III 

1) According to O’Brien, what are the three stages in Winston’s re-integration? The three stages in Winston’s re-intergration are learning then understanding and then there is acceptance. O’Brien then tells Winston it is time for him to enter the second stage, understanding.

2) Who wrote “the Book”? O’brien tells Winston that he himself collaborated in the writing of “The Book.”

3) Explain what Winston means when he says (p. 275) “What can you do…against the lunatic who is more intelligent than yourself, who gives your arguments a fair hearing and then simply persists in his lunacy?”: When Winston has that thought, he is considering that O’brien is confident with what he knows. O’brien knew what the world was really like and he knew what degradation the mass of humans lived in and he knew what lies the Party used to keep them there. O’brien himself had taken part in the 3 stage re-integration perhaps, and he has learned, understood and he has accepted the Party. O’brien believes in the lies and absurdness of the Party and Winston sees it. O’brien will listen to what Winston says but his mind has already been “washed clean,” and all O’brien’s intelligence has absorbed the lunacy of the Party.

4) O’Brien states that the Party is different from all the other oligarchies of the past. Explain what he means by this? (p.275-76): O’brien states that other oligarchies of the past, The German Nazis or the Russian Communists were cowards and hypocrites. O’brien says that the Party wants pure power, and that the oligarchies of the past either pretended or claimed to believe that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, that sooner or later there would be a time when humans would be free and equal. O’brien then tells Winston that the Party is not like that. He tells Winston that no one ever seizes power with the intention of backing away from having the power.

5) O’Brien asks Winston to strip and look at himself in the mirror. Why do you think he does this? How does Winston respond?: O’brien has told Winston that he is the last man, because humanity is no more. When Winston undresses and looks at his body in the mirror he sees a filthy, sickly thin, injured, balding figure. O’brien tells Winston that he is rotting away and that if he is human, that the image of Winston in the mirror is humanity. Winston then realizes how weak and thin he has become and that he must have been in the Ministry of Love for longer than he had imagined.

6) Choose one or two lines that attracted your attention. Explain why: “The second thing for you to realize is that power is power over human beings. Over the body, but above all, over the mind.”(277) I found this line interesting because it is true, you can take control over humans by man handling them and beating their bodies, but if you do not control what they think, what they   believe then you do not truly have power over them.

1984 and Pyong Yang: 10 Comparison Points and Personal Reflection

1)   In 1984 nobody outside the Inner Party actually knows if Big Brother is an alive, breathing human being. Therefore the society of 1984 may not actually have one single father of their nation. The book Pyong Yang points out that despite Kim Il-Sung’s death in 1994, he is still God-like to the people of North Korea.

2)   The room where Winston lives in 1984 is impersonal, quite empty and undecorated. In the book Pyong Yang, the hotel room Guy stays in is cold and impersonal and he states that that is “just like they like them in Asia.”(9).

3)   There is a 22 meter large Kim Il-Sung statue in North Korea which is a “disproportionate one-on-one with the father of their nation.”(7). There is also a disproportionate one-on-one with Big Brother in 1984 by the way there are posters of him everywhere reminding the Party members they are being watched by Big Brother.

4)   During the Korean war, bombs rained on the city for three years, causing a sense of terror among the people of North Korea. in the world of 1984, there are constantly bombs going off, killing people and flattening the society.

5)   After the Korean War the Party obliterated anything resembling opposition. The Party in 1984 does the exact same thing, they vaporize; eliminate anyone or anything which resembles opposition against the Party. They brainwash others into believing they are insane if they have any beliefs which oppose what the Party says is truth.

6)   In the book Pyong Yang, Guy Delisle points out subway can double as a bomb shelter in case of nuclear attack, this is a way that the Party of North Korea maintains a constant sense of threat. The Party in 1984 uses similar motives and maintains a constant sense of threat by continuously being in a never-ending war with either Eurasia or Eastasia, and having bombs go off on occasion throughout Oceania. Both of the Parties work to remain a sense of threat in their societies because if the people are scared they will not question their leaders and they will not think for themselves. This is a tactic the Party in both North Korea and 1984 use to remain in power.

7)   There is a National Public Distribution System in Pyong Yang and it is based on their loyalty and usefulness to the regime. The useful population is given certain portions of rice and the useless population is left to fend for themselves. This is slightly similar to the system of 1984. The Party members are given certain things and are more important to the Party than the proles. The proles are left to be free and fend for themselves because in 1984, the Party sees the proles as useless animals who do not matter at all.

8)Both members of the Party in 1984 and North Korea lack contact with the rest of the world. North Korea is isolated from the rest of the world, the people of Pyong Yang do not leave and  are not very informed about what is going on beyond North Korea’s borders. In 1984 the Party does not allow Party members to wander about beyond the borders of Oceania and they are to believe whatever the Party says about the other parts of the world as the truth.

9) There is a lack of entertainment in both North Korea and the world of 1984. There is no fun and no artistic edge to anything. North Korea offers restaurants with numbers as names, and Guy Delisle often wondered around during his free time, not sure what to do. In 1984 the most entertaining things that the people of the Party can do is watch the hangings or get pumped up for Hate Week. The Party offers very dark sources of entertainment.

10) The people of North Korea believe what their leaders say is the truth, they do not question authority. They believe this because they are isolated and live in a constant sense of threat. The people of the Party in 1984 believe what the Party says is the truth no matter what because they are also isolated and live in a constant sense of threat with bombs going off and so called wars always happening.

Since reading 1984 I have begun to think about how as humans we haven’t always lived the way we do now. At the very beginning of time I don’t think there was insurance, elections, politics, or the education systems we have now. There is a system and we live by our system. In 1984 there is also a system, a system which is cruel, in my opinion. North Korea has a similar system to the Party in 1984; they both isolate their societies from the rest of the world and have them live in a constant sense of quiet terror. This quiet terror makes the truth irrelevant so they do not question what their leaders state is the truth. In 1984 there is a lack of the kind of entertainment we have today. They watch hangings and build up hate and yell at a screen for two minutes for entertainment. In North Korea they do not have any sort of entertainment like we do either, they can go to restaurants, which are named with numbers and have dirty tablecloths. When reading 1984, I am impacted but I do know that it did not actually happen but knowing that the people of North Korea are currently living a lifestyle so similar to the one displayed in 1984 makes me feel uneasy. I don’t think it is right that I live a life so free compared to these people, and they have no idea how different I am living compared to them. I think that I would be horrified if I began living like them, isolated and in a constant sate of terror, always looking to Kim Jong Un for answers. I don’t believe they don’t know the difference like I do though, because they have never lived the life I am blessed with.

1984: Part 3: Chapter 1&2

PART III: Chapter I 
1) Winston notices a stark difference between the way Party prisoners behave and are treated and common prisoners. Find at least 10 points of comparison between the two and fill out a table similar to this:

Behaviour:  1) The ordinary prisoners had no fear to yell insults at the guards. The ordinary prisoners would yell at the telescreen, eat smuggled food which they would hide in their clothes.  2) Some of the ordinary prisoners seemed to be on good terms with the guards, they called them by nicknames and tried to get cigarettes from them.

Treatment: 3) The guards treated the common criminals with a certain endurance even when they had to handle them roughly. 4) The positions of trust at the forced labour camps were given only to the common criminals especially the gangsters and the criminals. 5) A ordinary prisoner says that it was alright in the forced labour camps as long as you had good contacts and knew the ropes.

 Political: 6) The political (Party) prisoners were always silent and terrified.  7) All the dirty jobs were done by the political prisoners in the forced labour camps. 8) The ordinary prisoners ignored the Party prisoners. 9) The ordinary prisoners referred to the Party prisoners as “the polits”. 10) The Party prisoners seemed terrified of speaking to anybody and above each other. 10)

PART III: Chapter II 

1) List the number of things to which Winston confesses: Winston confesses he was a religious believer, an admirer of capitalism, and a sexual pervert. He confessed that he had murdered his wife, even though he knew that she must still be alive. He confessed that he had been in personal touch with Goldstein and had been a member of an underground organization. He also confesses to the assassination of Party members, the distributions of seditious pamphlets, embezzlement of public funds and sale of military secrets.

2) What does O’brien say is wrong with Winston? O’brien tells Wintson that he is mentally deranged. He says that Winston suffers from a defective memory and is unable to remember real events, and he persuades himself that that he remembers other events which never happened.
3) On p. 259, Winston thinks:  That was doublethink.  To what is he referring: He is referring to the way O’brien claims that the photograph of Jones Aaronson and Rutherford has never existed despite that O’brien was just holding the photograph in his hand.
4) What is O’brien’s view of reality which he describes to Winston? O’brien says that only the disciplined mind can see reality, that reality is not external. He says that reality exisits in the human mind and nowhere else, not in the individual mind which can make mistakes. O’brien says that whatever the Party holds to be the truth is truth.
5) Open the following site:  Ivan Pavlov  In a short paragraph, discuss how Ivan Pavlov’s research is similar to O’brien’s methods with Winston: Ivan Pavlov research is similar to Winston’s because the way the dogs began associating the lab coats, or the sound of a bell with food is sort of similar to the way O’brien is torturing Winston in order have him believe that what the Party says is truth. The more O’brien tortures Winston and calls him insane, tells Winston that what he believes is all insanity, Winston will begin to associate his thoughts and beliefs with the pain, and will eventually be “washed clean,” and believe that what the Party says goes. This is very similar to the way that Ivan Pavlov used the bells every time the dogs ate so that every time the dogs heard the bells, they assumed the food was coming.
6) According to O’brien, why has Winston been brought to the Ministry of Love? O’brien tells Winston that he has been brought to the Ministry of Love in order to be cured, to be made sane.
7) On page 266 O’brien says “And above all we do not allow the dead to rise up against us.”  What does he mean by this? (This is an interesting questions that deserves your time – read from the bottom of 265 and all of 266 for the answer.) I think that O’brien means that the Party does not want the people they torture to utter out confessions simply because they are being tortured, the Party wants the people who are being tortured to believe that what the Party says is truth no matter what, and to confess because they actually believe what they are saying. O’brien says that in the past the dead men had become martyrs and their degradation was forgotten. O’brien means that they do not want that to be the way things work in the Party. Everyone must live and die believing what the Party says is truth, no matter what.
8) When Winston asks why he s being tortured (p267), O’brien says, “But we make the brain perfect before we blow it out.”  In a short paragraph, explain what he means by this. (Read all of 267-268 to provide your answer.)  O’brien means that they cannot have Winston die believing that the Party is false. They must torture him till he surrenders to the Party with his own free will, and he must not believe any longer that 2 + 2 = 4. He must truely believe that 2 +2 = whatever the Party says it is. O’brien tells Winston that he is a flaw in the pattern, a stain that must be wiped out. O’brien says this because they cannot have someone die without being “washed clean,” every person who believes what the Party teaches and says is rubbish must be convinced they were insane to believe that, and must die with their minds “clean” and loving Big Brother and the Party.
9) Choose one or two lines that attracted your attention. Explain why: “He was not pretending, thought Winston, he is not a hypocrite; He believes every word he says.”(268) I picked this line because Winston has realized that O’brien is truly brainwashed, and now Winston knows that they are going to brainwash him. It makes me feel sad almost, that nobody has the right to their own thought or opinion in 1984. It makes me sad that Winston has a good head on his shoulders and the Party wants him to believe he is insane, and must be cured simply because he thinks. O’brien meant it when he told Winston that the Party had got him a long time ago.

1984: Chapter Ten Part 2

PART II: Chapter X 

1) Where does the voice “You are the dead” come from? There is a telescreen behind the picture in Mr Charrington’s room and that is where the voice who says “You are the dead,” comes from. 

2) What happens to the paperweight? How is this symbolic of Julia and Winston’s story? The paperweight is smashed into pieces by someone, and WInston sees the piece of coral roll across the mat before him. He thinks to himself, “how small it always was!” I think this symbolizes how small the chance of him and Julia surviving while living like they were had always been. 

3) What does Charrington turn out to be? Mr Charrington turns out to be a member of the Thought Police. He enters the room with his appearance altered and he looks much younger. It was his voice that Winston and Julia has heard on the telescreen.