Lesson:
Aim: How do the historical allusions and connections in 1984 contribute to the meaning of the work as a whole?
In today’s lesson, we discussed allusions and how the book we are reading, 1984, contains many historical allusions and how it contributes to the meaning and the significance of the book. We looked at different allusions within pop culture and in various works of art and literature, and then connected historical events and people to the allusions that 1984 made.
Do Now: Why do new and different ideas often provoke fear? Is Julia good for Winston?
Our class began the lesson with the discussion of the Do now, and how new and different ideas can provoke fear. Our class said that humans were afraid of change because we don’t know what will happen after. Jerry and Max Machadov both said that content people are afraid of the unknown and humans as a society dislike new ideas that challenge the status quo because it may mean change for the worse. We then discussed if Julia is good for Winston, and his health, emotionally and physically, which we decided was good for him. An example of this is how Winston’s ulcer stopped hurting as much when he was around Julia, which is a way how she is physically good for Winston. But she also lets Winston think for himself, and he realizes what he has to fight for. Julia is someone who Winston can relate to, when everyone else thinks the same exact thing all time.
Allusions:
After discussing the do now, we went on to talk about allusions. We began the discussions with the definition of what an allusion is, which is, as described in the powerpoint, a brief and indirect reference within a literary work to a literary, historical, or biblical, character, place or event, which is not explained. In this allusion powerpoint, we discussed different allusions in popular culture, such as in family guy, the simpsons, as well as famous works of art. There are four types of allusions, biblical, which refers to the bible or any religious work, classical, referring to classical literature, literary, referring to any literary work, and historical, referring to an event in history. After we established what an allusion was and the different types of allusions, we looked at different examples of allusions, specifically in works of art and popular culture. The first example we looked at was in the Family Guy episode, Mr. Saturday Knight. In this video, the Griffin children are singing a song to their parents and Mr. Weed, before they go to bed. The song is a parodied version of So long, Farewell, a song from the Sound of Music. This is an example of a TV show, alluding to a song from the movie The Sound of Music. After this video, we then talked about how using experiences with pop culture, music, and art can help us understand allusions in everyday life and in other works of literature to understand their themes. We were then given a few more examples of allusions in Family Guy and the Simpsons and we were told to identify the allusions that these shows allude to, such as Salvador Dali’s The Persistence of Memory, and the TV show, The Sopranos. After that the class discussed why writers should use allusions, such as a way to create a mood, to help with the audience to relate with the content, or to contribute to the theme of the book.
Group Work:
After discussing what allusions were and how they can be seen everywhere, we started to connect historical allusions to elements of 1984. We looked at the proles, the social class system of Ingsoc, Big Brother, Emmanuel Goldstein, the Telescreens, Junior Spies, and Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford, and they’re allusions to historical figures and events. We said that the proles were an obvious allusion to the proletariat, or the working class of society. Both the proles and the working class are treated like trash, and are almost forgotten to a certain extent. The proles serve as a metaphor for hopelessness. In the proles, there is no hope, and everyone is almost lifeless. Ingsoc’s social class system is divided into 3 social classes. The bottom of the class system are the proles, which we established were the bottom feeders, and live with the poorest conditions, and were treated like nothing, making up most of the population. After the Proles were the members of the Outer Party. The Outer Party is like the Middle Class of the society, and were the most spied upon. They work the parties, administrative jobs and weren’t given luxuries. They weren’t allowed any vices besides victory gin and victory cigarettes. The highest social class in Oceania was the Inner Party, these members of society were considered the elite, they were high ranking officials that governed Oceania, and were given all the luxuries in the world, they basically leached off of the rest of Oceania. Big brother is a historical allusion to Hitler/ Stalin. Big Brother, like Hitler and Stalin, was the face of Ingsoc, and its citizens were told that he was their leader. The party’s slogan is even, “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU”. He deceives the people in that he is able to protect you and is a reassurance, but he is also a threat, in that he will always be watching you, no matter what, and you can’t escape his grasp. Emmanuel Goldstein is alluding to the scapegoats within society, he is considered an enemy of the party. Some scapegoats that Orwell was alluding to are the Jewish people, as well as Leon Trotsky. The telescreens allude to the propaganda that the communist party shows to the people. The telescreens constantly show propaganda and observe its citizens, using technology for their own gain rather than for the betterment of their civilization. The Junior Spies are an obvious allusion to the Hitler Youth. The Hitler youth was a program established by the Nazi party that brainwashed the children of the Reich by instilling a fanatic patriotism in children. The children became so brainwashed to the point where they would report their own parents to the SS if they strayed even a little bit away from the Nazi orthodoxy. Jones, Aaronson and Rutherford are an allusion to, Leon Trotsky, Lev Kamenev, and Grigori Zinoviev, who were the last people to start a revolt against Stalin’s absolute rule, but were shut down and Kamenev and Zinoviev surrendered and made speeches attacking policies that did not go along with Stalin’s rule. Trotsky was banished, and in the end assassinated.
Takeaways:
The takeaways of this lesson are that allusion is a very important literary device, it helps establish the theme, and it lets you relate to the text. It also can help the reader understand the book more easily since it can connect the text with ideas that the reader can relate to.
Blog Content:
What are updates around the world regarding the virus?
This week, New York City has opened up its economy, in order to allow some people to go back to work, and to stimulate the economy. Some countries are starting to spike in coronavirus cases once again, such as India, Brazil, and the US. Most of this is due to the world powers starting to open up their economies. As of today, there have been 7.4 million confirmed cases of Covid-19, along with 417,000 deaths according to Johns Hopkins University. China has been allowing their students to go back to school.
What is it like working from home?
Since the last time I blogged, nothing has really changed in terms of working from home. My schedule is the same exact schedule it was since last time, although I have started to go out for runs more frequently, with the necessary protection obviously. I don’t have as much work from my teachers since we are nearing the end of the school year.
Your own personal feelings and thoughts about what is happening right now.
Recently, the Black Lives Matter movement has seen a huge resurgence, in reaction to the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis. Much of the news recently has not been about the coronavirus, but about George Floyd, and the anti-racism movement. Many people are now standing up for the injustices that this country has committed against its minority population, and I for one stand up with them. As a minority myself, even though as an Asian American we have not been marginalized as long as African Americans, and Black people all over the world, I think we should all stand up for the Black community, so that we can ignite the flames of change so that we can better our society and begin to create an equal world for not just the Black community, but also the Asian community, the Hispanic community, and other minority groups of this country.
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