Nicole Reyblat
Blog #59
Period 9
6/13/20
Sophomores 2020
Aim: How are the readers of 1984 warned about the power of manipulation?
Class Notes:
Do Now:
Winston thinks, “They could not alter your feelings; for that matter, you could not alter them yourself, even if you wanted to.” Think about and discuss the nature of feelings and emotions.
- Can you alter your own feelings by force of will? Why/Why Not?
The class had various answers to this question. Some people believed that feelings could be changed, since it was proven that false memories could be created in a person. If false memories could be created, then it’s not illogical to believe that feelings can be altered as well. Other students did not believe that you could change your feelings by force. They believed that feelings are intrinsic, therefore making it impossible to completely change them.
- Can someone else alter another person’s innermost feelings?
The class was also divided on this question. Some people believed that people could use manipulation and threats to change the way a person thinks or views the world. This would then result in that person altering his/her feelings, as he/she would no longer think the same way. Other people disagreed, as they viewed a person’s innermost feelings as something that could never completely change through force.
Big Brother was always watching to scare the people of Oceania into being model citizens.
Team Work:
After the Do Now, the class was asked to think of questions about what has happened so far in 1984. One person wondered if some of the proles were spies for the Inner Party. For example, there was the possibility that the singing woman in “Chapter 4” was a spy. The class also questioned if we would ever get to meet Big Brother. Most of the class agreed that Big Brother was not a real person, but was instead a symbol of the Inner Party. Another question asked was if the events of 1984 could ever take place in today’s day and age. Most of the class agreed that circumstances in the modern world would probably never get as bad as they were in 1984. While similar things may happen to us and have happened in the past, such as the formation of totalitarian dictatorships, those events are still not as severe as they were in the book 1984.
Group Work:
The class was then asked to compare the characters of Julia and Winston. The class generally agreed that Julia was more practical and logical than Winston, as she always planned out events to the very last detail. Julia was also more self-centered, focusing more on herself and her enjoyments rather than the big picture. Winston, on the other hand, was more of a dreamer. He was very dissatisfied with his own life, but still had hopes of a better future where he was not under the control of Big Brother. As one classmate put it, Winston was both an optimist and a pessimist. He believed that everyone with a working brain would eventually get vaporized, yet continued to dream that life would improve for him. It was interesting to see that while both Julia and Winston saw the corruption of the Inner Party, they were still being manipulated by it. They still saw the world clearer than most people did in Oceania, however, they could not completely withstand the manipulation of the Inner Party. The author was trying to tell the reader that even the most intelligent people could be manipulated.
Julia and Winston from the movie 1984
Quick Write/ Whole Class Discussion:
The class was then asked to write about what we did last Friday morning. During the activity, many students struggled to remember what it was that they did that day. This was the purpose of the activity- to demonstrate how easily our memories can be manipulated since we don’t remember most of our daily activities. During the class discussion, the class agreed that the reason we don’t remember recent events is because those events are usually not memorable in any way. When life becomes very repetitive, such as life in Oceania, it becomes difficult to distinguish between each day and events begin to blur together. Thus, memories are not very clear which makes them very easy to manipulate by the government. If you don’t remember or experience certain events, then you often trust the things that others tell you about them. However, you don’t necessarily hear the truth about those events, and you will never know what’s true and what’s false as you don’t have anything to compare those accounts to.
Enrichment from the Lesson:
Extra Enrichment:
My Thoughts:
Reading:
For today’s class, we were supposed to read “Chapter 4” and “Chapter 5” from “Part 2” of 1984. While many events did not take place in these chapters, a significant amount of information was revealed about how Julia and Winston felt about the world. As we knew from previous chapters, both Julia and Winston believed that the government was corrupt and knew that it used censorship and manipulation to gain more control over its people. However, these two chapters showed the reader that Julia didn't really care about the situation in Oceania. While Winston dreamed of a revolution and hoped that the Inner Party would one day not be in control, Julia was only concerned with things that directly impacted her ability to live her life the way that she wanted to. Julia did not have grand dreams about freedom and rebellion, and was satisfied with quietly breaking some of the rules of Oceania without getting caught by the Inner Party. I believe that Julia has the character of a survivor, as she is mostly concerned about her well-being. She does not have grand dreams because she knows that they will get her killed. For this reason, Julia also does not care about the government rewriting the past, as it does not directly impact her way of life. In a way, I feel that Julia’s lack of concern shows that she is self-centered. If something that the government is doing is not a specific obstacle for her, then it is not important enough to worry over. If I was in Julia’s position, I would be very concerned over the fact that the government was purposefully misinforming me. By making me believe false statements about the past, the government then assumes more control over me.
Working from Home:
I have become much more accustomed to working at home. Over the last 3 months, I have seen significant advantages to virtual schooling. For example, when I had regular school I would wake up at 6 A.M every day so that I would make it to school on time. Now, instead of waking up at 6 A.M I normally wake up at 8:30 A.M. This is a great improvement, as now I feel much more rested and relaxed. In addition, I have much less homework to worry about and with our exams complete, I have much more time to relax and do whatever I want. Not only is working from home more relaxing, but it is also still efficient. I feel that for most of my classes, especially English, I can still learn as well as I normally do at regular school. It doesn’t feel like I am missing out on information or understanding things less clearly because we have shifted to virtual learning. Although I can see how this form of virtual learning can be problematic for the entire year, it works well for a shorter period of time when most of the information has already been learned. While there are great advantages to virtual learning, disadvantages do still exist. For example, even though we do virtual calls and meetings, I still miss being able to work with people at school. Interacting with people online cannot replace interacting with people in real life. I miss the experiences you get from physically going to school, however, working from home has worked fairly well.
Coronavirus:
The coronavirus situation in New York City has vastly improved over the last month. The number of coronavirus cases has significantly dropped since May, allowing some of the restrictions in New York City to be lightened. On June 8th, New York City entered Phase 1 of the reopening. During Phase 1, construction sites, manufacturing, certain stores, and landscaping businesses have reopened. Although the opening of businesses may make life easier and more normal, there is always the risk that coronavirus cases will once again increase. I think that it is very likely that coronavirus cases will rise due to the reopening. Although everyone is ready to return to normal life, it is important that we are not rushing into things. I would rather stay home longer than have a second wave of the coronavirus. A certain amount of time will have to pass until it is deemed safe for New York City to enter Phase 2 of reopening. The coronavirus situation has really shown me how we all take the things in our life for granted. We all like to spend time with our friends, go to restaurants, go to the movies, play sports, and socialize. We also love to complain about how difficult school is. However, the moment these “normal” aspects of our life are forcibly removed from us, we realize how much we relied on them. Life without physical socializing passes by much slower, and lacks a certain excitement that it once possessed. Now that New York City is reopening and restrictions are lessened, I will be sure to appreciate everything that I once deemed “normal” and “standard” in my life. Everything can be taken away in a heartbeat, so it’s important to cherish what you do have.
Reflection:
Today in class I learned about how easy it is to manipulate memories. Although it seems like it should be difficult to change the way a person thinks, manipulation and control can strongly influence a person to accept falsehoods as truths. Through the actions of Julia and Winston, I saw that even the smartest and most perceptive individuals are often persuaded into believing in things that aren’t true. We were shown that this often happens because people sometimes don’t know better than to believe that certain things are true. For example, Julia believed that the Party invented the airplane because she was too young to know that airplanes had existed before the Party came to be. Thus, it is easy to reshape events when nobody from the past exists to contradict those twisted facts. There is no way to disprove the Party, as all possible evidence that once existed has been destroyed by the Party. In addition, in class we experienced firsthand how easy it is to forget about certain events. When asked to remember what we did last Friday morning, most of the class could not remember as repetitive events are not memorable. This can clearly be applied to 1984, as most civilians do not care to remember certain events, even Julia herself. When civilians start forgetting the past, they are more easily exposed to manipulation as they have no way of protecting themselves. I learned that one can’t defend oneself against falsehoods if one does not remember the truth. I believe that we learned this lesson because it is important to understand how easy it is to be misinformed, especially by authority figures. By understanding this concept, you begin to understand how the Inner Party managed to assume so much control over its people. They were able to do so by manipulating the memories of its people into believing that the Inner Party was the source of everything they ever knew. Thus, they make their people very scared of any wrongdoings, which puts them firmly under the control of the Party. By keeping their people ignorant and misinformed, the Party makes them incredibly vulnerable and dependent. Memory manipulation and control are key concepts in the book 1984 and it is vital that we understand them in order to better understand the book itself. I will definitely use what I learned today when navigating everyday life. In today’s day and age it is very easy to be misinformed and manipulated by the newspaper and by authority figures. Thus, it is important to stay informed about what is going on in the world so that you can form your own opinions, rather than have them shaped by the newspaper. When trying to learn about new things, I will definitely reference many different news sites to gain the most unbiased information that there is. Using that information, I will make my own decisions. I will not completely trust everything that the news tells me.
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