Final Reading!

Hi readers,

Well, I did it! I finished George Orwell's 1984, and although wordy and sometimes exhausting to comprehend, I can say that overall it was a positive experience.

If you remember, our last reading left us at a bit of a cliffhanger; Winston and Julia had just been taken away by the Thought Police and brought to, as we learn in this section, a jail-type building. The system used to take care of criminals seems to be a sort of lawless zone, as Winston notes that there is "bribery, favoritism, and racketeering of every kind ... homosexuality and prostitution ... [and] alcohol distilled from potatoes" (187). This can be attributed to the fact that most of the prisoners kept there have committed some kind of crime related to breaking the standards of society, so they are already clearly not buying into Big Brother's values.

In this section we also learn that O'Brien has been working against Winston, and tortures him so that he eventually "re-learns" the ways of society (e.g. believing everything that the government says). He makes Winston believe that all of his anti-Big Brother thoughts and actions in the past were delusional and, in the face of unbearable pain, Winston finally begins to believe it himself. A key example of this is when O'Brien holds up four fingers to Winston and asks how many there are. Winston of course responds with four, because that is what he knows to be true. O'Brien then asks, "'And if the Party says that it is not four but five--then how many?"' (206). Winston is met with torture for every time he answers four and not five, and O'Brien tells him that "'It is not easy to become sane"' (207).

This scene gives real insight to the way that the Party functions and maintains control. It forces people to make connections not with things that they know and see but with whatever the Party says is true. It is seen in the way that news is altered to fit Big Brother's daily agenda, and how those who say otherwise are either vaporized or, like Winston, told they are insane. Gradually, through this process of "re-teaching" and reinforcement through pain, Winston becomes yet another brain-washed member of the society. The final sentences of the book are "[Winston] had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother" (245). This goes to show how the very nature of an individual can be changed through pain, which is the preferred method used by the government to reinforce their teachings.

As for Julia, we never really hear from her again. We do learn about how little Winston valued their relationship however, as he "[feels] no love for her, and he hardly even [wonders] what [is] happening to her" (189). He also tells O'Brien that he would rather Julia endure the torture of being mauled by rats than him. All in all not the best boyfriend in my opinion, but we definitely saw this sort of self-serving behavior by Winston earlier in the book.

As far as this book being worthy of being taught in an AP class, I definitely think that it deserves a spot. Particularly when brought into comparison with The Handmaid's Tale and Brave New World, it carries a similar warning against all-controlling government systems that allows for a deep discussion of the different ways that the societies function and what the result of each system is. In particular, it emphasizes the power of knowledge that was already introduced in Gilead's lack of written language and Mustapha Mond's complete control over the World State using soma. This is beneficial to students because it causes them to examine the government that rules over them. In my case, it certainly makes me thankful for the freedom of speech given to everyone in the United States and how accessible reliable news sources are.

However, 1984 can also cause the reader to examine the similarities between the government in their country (and in other countries!) and the Party. The role of a central, all-powerful figure can be seen in many societies across the world, and the presence of "fake news" is always a threat. I definitely notice some parallels between the people of Oceania and Americans in terms of not knowing much about current events. It feels like both societies are often in a "bubble" of sorts, where they are not exactly sure of every situation outside of their homeland.

Both "emotional complexity" and "concern with the truth" are included in definitions.net's definition of literary merit, and I think that 1984 certainly fits the bill. It not only contains multiple complex characters that bring out different aspects of the society but, as mentioned previously, also causes the reader to connect the novel to the real world. Although it is certainly not necessary to teach 1984 in an AP curriculum, particularly if The Handmaid's Tale and Brave New World are taught, it would certainly be a good addition to any class because of the real-life application of its teachings.