Living In A Dystopia (Part III)

I have learned alot from posting on all of these blogs, whether it be my own, or responding to my classmates'. By responding to "1984" via my blog, and getting other ideas from other students reading the same book as myself, it helped me better with understanding what exactly I was reading and writing about. Also, when comments were made on my own blogs, when other students spoke their minds on what I had to say, it helped me better with what I had to work on, which mainly was to elaborate more on what it was I was trying to say, use more examples in my responses to back up my answers, and to read more closely on what exactly I am writing about.

What mainly helped me out with better understanding of the novel, came from a few of my classmates' responses to one of my posts. My teacher, Mr. Miller, told me that in my post I had raised some questions, and that I should try answering them by searching the book for clues that would help. I did this, and so I then had more knowledge of what I was speaking on. Also, other students reached out with their own ideas and shared them with me, and also said they could relate to what I was talking about, and this helped me out as well. Falstaff had told me, in response to my "Two Minutes Hate" post, to think of one of the characters that I mentioned as "the opposite political candidate, Al Gore to our George Bush...", and that just in general filled me in more on what I was reading about in "1984". Shane had told me that once I read on more, I would question more about some things going on, and then went on and said that he had done that. This let me know that I wasn't alone with my thinking. However, as for my posts in general, criticism helped me improve responses alot as well, when Will J. said that some of my descriptions were too vague. All in all, blog postings were more so of a help than anything else.

Living In A Dystopia (Part II)

From reading "1984", I have learned that many of our rights and freedoms could one day be taken away from us, all by the power of the government. However, even today there are some actions taken by the goverment in our country, that could lead to similar things from "1984" in our real future, and they are related to what is predicted in the story.

In "1984", in the society that Winson and everybody lives in, everybody has telescreens in all of their homes, and so the government can monitor their every move at all times. In a way, our homes could aslo be "monitored" daily as well, and it is because of something we have called the Patriot Act, which enables our own private home phone lines to be tapped. The police, FBI, or government can tune in on any of our conversations that we have via telephone, at any given time. This law was passed after September 11th, and the claim of this Act is simply to tap phones, to try and catch conversations with terrorists. However, there has also been debate that the Patriot Act is being abused, and that some of the wrong people at random, could have had their phones tapped. Also, in "1984" there are the thought police, and they can hear everybody think, and that is also just like our phones being tapped, since we can be heard speaking freely.

So with this, one could think of our phones being tapped in the same breath as the telescreens in "1984", because it invades privacy in the comfort of our homes, whether it be with visual, or just audio.

Living In A Dystopia (Part I)

In the novels "1984" and "Fahrenheit 451", the future of our society is predicted to be a "dystopia", or an undesirable world that is imperfect, and nobody wishes to live in it. Many ideas that are raised in both stories from the authors can come off as possible warnings for the real future in our world, and we should possibly take them into consideration that they could possibly happen to us one day.

The main warnings that the author in "1984" is trying to send, is that in the future, we as human beings may not control our own lives anymore. They will all be in the government's hands, and we will all be in one big "party" together, and those who are not with us will be "prones", or outsiders. Also, in the future, we will no longer have the privacy that we were once blessed with. There will be telescreens that monitor us in all of our homes, so we are not exactly free to do whatever we want anymore, not even in the privacy of our own homes. This is not even the worst that could happen to invade our lives, because also in the future, "thought police" come into play, and with them, the government can basically read our minds, and know what we are thinking 24/7. In other words, if one were to think something wrong, and maybe not even have ment it, they could face harsh consequences and cruel punishment for it.

In conclusion, the author is basically trying to warn us that one day in the future, our lives could possibly change, and we all will be living in a dystopia, and these are all prime examples of what could happen.

"1984" So Far... (My Thoughts)

I'm going to be honest, I am only at part two in "1984" so far, and need to catch up on the reading, but so far the book for me is going alright I guess. It is hard for me sometimes to really concentrate on what is being said in the story, and for me to understand everything, but eventually I do get it all in my mind, and I am up to speed. I think the story does have a good plot for the most part, and the setting and characters are all believeable, and I can imagine in my mind what is going on, like I am watching a movie of it. The only thing that takes me a minute to know, are when things like "thought police", "telescreen", etc. are being talked about. As I read on I figure out what they are, but it's just at the time when they are first introduced, I get lost sometimes. Hopefully by the end of reading the entire book, I will understand "1984" 100%.

What's Going On?

In 1984, it seems that all of the characters in the book's setting have no clue on why life is the way that it is in their time. Even Winston, the main character, is questioning life at this point, when he states "I understand HOW, I do not understand WHY". This means that he knows how the society is being runned, and how the people are forced to live life, but he does not know why it is happening, and what the purpose of everything is for. Winson, and everybody were most likely brainwashed of everything from the past, and this is why they don't know what to do.

One reason that the people wouldn't know, is lack of education, and how their minds are being taught. The party basically regualtes what people should know, and what they shouldn't. They regulate everything that people read, people in the party are all required to have telescreens, so they are constantly being watched, and there are thought police, and so they know what exactly everybody is learning. This all keeps people from knowing about how they truly live, in other words.

Two Minutes Hate

Yesterday, myself and others in my English class discussed "1984" and our ideas on what all of us have read so far in the book. For the most part, we are all around the same area in the book, and most of us know what is happening in the story, and some key points. An idea that we questioned the most was on how in one particular scene, they have a "Two Minutes Hate" session, or whatever you want to call it. Apparntly, a bunch of people are gathered together in one room, in front of a large screen. Some man's face appears on this screen, and the people in the room all proceed in unison at screaming at the face on the monitor. None of us know what this is about, or what the purpose was, but I am sure that we will find out by reading on in the story.

Responsible Blogging

I think that being a responsibile blogger is just having common sense with what you put out there on the internet. If you want personal info, that is your own choice, however anyone with common sense would not go TOO personal. For example, address. This is because some crazy person could track you down. For me personally, I would just put my first name, my town, my interests, and that is it. I do have a mysapce page but I don't put every little detail about me on it for people to say, and I watch what I say when "commenting" other people publically on it. I wouldn't want to end up like the students in that one article about them making threats. That is basically it for me to speak on responsible blogging.