Blog Post #3

What does George Orwell's novel 1984 reveal about the relationship between humans' understanding of history?

George Orwell's 1984 reveals that humans are more easier to control by erasing the true history. In this novel, Winston copies every word from a children history book into his diary and thinks, "How could you tell how much of it was lies?" (Orwell 72). Winston does not know what is the truth and what is false. This is the result of Big Brother erasing history. Erasing history is no simple matter. No one has their right in arguing back or proving anything if there is no such thing as evidence. That is the true power of history. Orwell is making a statement that history is much more than just remembering what happened. For example, Orwell wrote, "It appeared that there had been demonstrations to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grams a week" (58). Big Brother has been appreciated by many citizens for raising the chocolate ration. This shows how powerful Big Brother is just by erasing even the latest history. No one has a say whether Big Brother raised the chocolate ration or if he lowered it. There is no evidence. No one can fight back against Big Brother's word. Every lies becomes truth and people have to accept it whether they want to or not. Many people misunderstands the true purpose of history. We take history for granted. Most of us do not realize that keeping our history keeps our freedom. If all wars never existed in history, can we say for certain that we won our freedom at all? History is not only events written down for knowledge, it is another form of proof of what has been done. No one can control anyone's life like what Big Brother is doing. There is proof of how powerful people can be as a group.

1984 Blog Post #2

Syme told Winston, "We're getting the language into its final shape- the shape it's going to have when nobody speaks anything else."(Orwell, 50) Syme looks forward into destroying "oldspeak". He wants everybody to speak "newspeak". Syme's job erases words from "oldspeak". He shortens the vocabulary of the new language each year. The Party shortening the vocabulary each year sounds rough. The future contains a world where speech becomes limited. People use words to communicate. If Syme erases the essential words from "oldspeak" to form "newspeak", communication will cease to exist. I cannot imagine living in a world where "plusgood" or "ungood" are words to replace better or worse. People require diversity in words to interact differently. I see why the Party benefits from Syme deleting words. People lose all freedom to act differently by doing so.

Winston questions himself, "Was he, then, alone in the possession of a memory?" (Orwell, 59) Winston fears to be the only person who remembers the chocolate ration going down. Everybody else accepted that Big Brother raised the chocolate ration. Winston knows that remembering is a thought crime. The Party vaporizes anyone guilty of a thought crime. It frightens me being in Winston's place. I dislike how the Party forces everyone to forget about the past. No one should fear remembering. Humans' natural function is remembering the past. I'd feel stripped of my freedom if I am not allowed to use a natural function of mine. It would be scary for me if everyone around me accepted lies as truth. I would feel alone and alert with my surrounding. No one is a friend in Winston’s world.

My Response to Nineteen Eighty-Four and Gil Scott-Heron

     To Winston, "it struck him as curious that you could create dead men but not living ones. Comrade Ogilvy, who has never existed in the present, now existed in the past, and when once the act of forgery was forgotten, he would exist just as authentically, and upon the same evidence, as Charlemagne or Julius Caesar"(Orwell, Pg 47). Winston has created a dead man, Comrade Ogilvy, out of his imagination. Eventually, there will be no question about Ogilvy's existence and that he will just be a dead soldier who existed. The power to erase someone's existence and to create one is very terrifying. I can see how Big Brother and his political party gain so much power over these people in Oceania. There is no real history in this totalitarianism world. Creating a false history is just as simple as Winston erasing a person and creating a new one in his place. The reason why this occur is to hide the truth from the citizens. No one knew what happen to Comrade Withers or why he was disgraced after being awarded. Everything is just hidden and erase. On the other hand, Gil Scott-Heron's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", is quite the opposite. Here, he mentions, "The revolution will not be televised." Now this basically means that the revolution will not be shown on TV. Instead of watching what is happening and not doing anything, the revolution will be live and not be on TV so people will have to join and see what this revolution is up to. Unlike 1984, this song is not trying to hide anything; in fact, they are encouraging people to join in on the revolution. Instead of erasing and altering the past, this revolution is trying to change the future.