Blog #59- Harrison Steele- 6/11/2020- Period 2

Blog #59

Harrison Steele

Period 2 Sophomores

June 11th, 2020

Aim: How do the Historical allusions and connections in 1984 contribute to the meaning of the work as a whole?

Do Now:

• Why do new and different ideas often provoke fear?
• New and different ideas provoke fear in the means of undermining control. A totalitarian leader can not control the thoughts of a citizen as hard as they may try. In a less extreme example new ideas often incite change. Many people do not like the idea of change, especially when the old ideas have been around for a long time. Generally, the longer ideas have been around, the more ingrained they are in the public mind and the more resistant they are to change. 
• Is Julia good for Winston?
• Julia is very good for Winston. She encourages rebellion and gives Winston the courage he needs to rebel. He believes that as long as he has his feelings for Julia then the Party could not take anything from him. Julia gives him hope that there are people still willing to rebel against the Party. 

• What are Allusions?
•  Allusions are a reference in a piece of literature, poem, song or other work to a previous work. They usually are fairly recognizable, referencing iconic works. They also do not mention the work directly, but reference it in a way that someone who read it would know.
• There are four types of allusions:
• Biblical: reference to the Bible
• Classical: refers to classical literature
• Literary: references other literature
• Historical: references a historical event
• Examples of allusions:
• Hairspray the musical:
• Hairspray is a musical set in the 1960’s discussing segregation and racism at the time. In the song “Mama I’m a big girl now” there are many references to culture in the 60’s. Examples include:
• “You’re the one who taught me how to twist and shout because you shout so much and you’re so twisted too!” This references an a song from the Beatles, an iconic band at the time This is a literary allusion because it alludes to another piece of literature in this case a song.
• “Once I used to fidget cause’ I just sat home but now I’m just like gidget and I gotta get to Rome” This line is a literary allusion to the movie “Gidget goes to Rome” which came out in 1963.
• Allusions like these throughout not only this song but the whole musical help establish the setting of the play and make it realistically set in the 60’s. They serve the purpose of establishing a time period that the characters

• Group Work: Allusions:
• 
  

1984	Allusion:
Proles	Lowest class
Ingsoc’s social class system	communism/ totalitarianism
Big Brother	Hitler/ Stalin
Emmanuel Goldstein	Jewish people
The Telescreens	Symbolizes how the part controls its citizens.
Junior Spies	Hitler youth
Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford	Leon trotsky, Lev Kamanev, and Grigori Zinoviev

• Home-Style Blogging Questions:
• Write about your thoughts regarding the reading?
• Personally I really enjoyed the concept of this book. I think the idea of a dystopia where everything is controlled down to your thoughts is extremely interesting and insightful, especially upon reflecting on what it's like today. More and more of these things that 1984 are coming true except people accept it willingly. If you were offered someone a device that could constantly broadcast your location and can practically trace your thoughts you would say no, however that’s almost exactly what a phone is. 
• Write about what you learned in your online English lessons.
• Learning about allusions makes me think about how many allusions I see every day while consuming media without realizing and how many I may not get because I don’t know the original media. A lot of times I will be watching tv with my mom and have to ask her to explain a reference because I don't get the original reference and it makes me realize how common allusions are. 
• What are the updates around the world/community regarding the virus?
• Currently, in NYC the peak has passed and is on a slow decline. As we are declining the state is beginning to open back up again. This raises a lot of concern and fear of a second wave of corona hitting again, forcing us to lock down again. Therefore, to try and ease it as much as possible there are parameters we must follow to limit interactions. Businesses just opened again this monday, but it is still required to wear a mask. In addition, the ban had been lifted so now groups of up to ten people can now see each other. However they must still practice social distancing and wear masks.

• Reflection:
• What did I learn?
• In today’s lesson we learned about allusions and their place in 1984. Allusions in 1984 serve the purpose of establishing the meaning behind the book. You could read the book at surface level as a dystopian novel about a controlling government or you could read it as a greater allegory for the political climate and communism. The allusions give the text a deeper meaning, allowing for much deeper discussion of the text.
• Why did I learn it?
• We learned this so we will be able to understand the text to a much greater extent. Using our new knowledge of allusions we will gain a deeper understanding of 1984 as we read it, connecting even more events in the text to history. After learning that it is mostly historical allusions we will connect the text to the past and not only gain a better knowledge of the text but what it was like in the real world at the time and what it was like living in that time. 
• How will I use what I learned?
• From now on, I will be paying more attention to allusions, not only in my reading of 1984, but in all aspects of life. I already knew that 1984 was an allegory for the time that it was written but now I will pay attention even further to the allusions to specific events rather than the larger theme. Even just listening to music while writing this blog I noticed so many allusions to different things and it was very cool to see how common they are, and just as easy to miss.