Aim: How do the historical allusions and connections in 1984 contribute to the meaning of the work as a whole?
In our lesson today, we discussed how allusions were present in the book we were reading, 1984, and how it amplifies the story. An allusion is a reference which is mentioned without expressing it explicitly. We viewed many different allusions that were both within and reference pop culture, as well as how 1984 used allusions to reference historical events.
Do Now: Why do new and different ideas often provoke fear? Is Julia good for Winston?
The class began the lesson with the sharing of our ideas via discussion over the “Do Now”. Everyone was under the general consensus that the reason why new ideas provoke fear was due to the fact that new ideas are not always accepted. It threatens the way someone lives their life. An idea that was shared that one specific reason would be of the fear that the change would be for the worse, and this would be an issue as whenever someone is in fear over change, they like the way their routines go, and are content with their life in general. We then transitioned into speaking about whether or not Julia was good for Winston or not, and we deemed that she was good for him.
Allusions:
We switched to a different slideshow, in which we discussed what an allusion was, and the presence of allusions in pop culture. We had examples such as the Simpsons, Family Guy, and South Park and the 4 types of allusions: Biblical, Classical, Literary, Historical. Each different type of allusion refer to religious works, classical literature, any literary work, and an event in history, respectively. After we learned of the multiple types of allusions, we dove into the examples on the slides. One example was the Simpsons referring to Savlador Dali’s painting “The Persistence of Memory”. Another example was a depiction of Star Wars, in the Simpsons, dubbed “Bart Wars”.
Group Work:
After discussing and identifying allusions, we began to identify historical allusions to the events of 1984. We spoke about the proles, Ingsoc’s social class, Big Brother, Emmanuel Goldstein, the Telescreens, Junior Spies, Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford, where each were references to people in history. The Proles were a blatant representation of the working class. Big Brother was representative of the government, Hitler & Stalin as people that would be the leader to view over the people, controlling them. The Telescreens represent propaganda, and the Junior Spies being the youth that were recruited to become Secret Police. Through this group activity, we could observe the blindingly clear allegories that were shown in 1984, and how it makes the story even more powerful.
Takeaways:
The takeaways that I got from this lesson was that the use of allusions are very important, and they are very important literary devices. They can be used to establish a theme, and can be used to make something more understandable and something more relatable. It allows readers to process information faster, or to better understand the ideas presented.
Blog Content:
What are updates around the world regarding the virus?
We are slowly reopening as a state, as the coronavirus is slowly starting to stagnate in growth in New York City. This is the first step into getting people their jobs back adn to get the economy flowing again. Countries such as Brazil and India are starting to rise in cases, which is an issue, but overall many countries are doing their best to control the crisis and to reopen in order to avoid a depression. China is starting to get a bit worse, due to having to close a market that handles 90% of Beijing’s fresh fruit and vegetables as many of the people there tested positive for the virus.
What is it like working from home?
It has definitely been a hassle, but I believe I learn better from being here. The stress of everyday school life is having to commute back and forth, which tends to be a lot more taxing than you would imagine. Having to spend 2 to 3 hours a day traveling on crowded buses are something that I could definitely live without. Being at home allows me to complete work at my own pace, which is beneficial for the way I enjoy to work, and I can still socialize with my friends over online chatting applications. I typically do not spend much time outside of school socializing with people, so this isn’t much of a change.
Your own personal feelings and thoughts about what is happening right now.
I don’t really follow social media drama or this Black Lives Matter movement so I won’t be talking too much about that. What I can say is that I do believe that while the entire ordeal is somewhat justified, I am more concerned over the rioters that are using the protests as a cover for them to loot. There are people profiting over this movement, which is what I really despise. It’s also the fact that if anyone isn’t completely agreeing with someone, they are immediately called rude names without giving a proper argument, which really irks me, as I believe everyone is entitled to someone’s opinion and you should respect that. As for me personally, my health has slowly been declining. Not physically, but more of the conditions that I have. Recently, I have been having multiple nosebleeds. Not your typical ones, mine come out from both of my nostrils and tend to last hours at a time. I am actually bleeding at this moment, and have blood running down my throat with paper towels in my nostrils as I am typing this. Maybe this is due to me not being outside enough, but it is definitely something that I really am starting to despise, as it is making me wish I could have an excuse to go outside. I really am ok with the lockdowns, as it isn’t much of a difference to what I would do everyday, but what really bums me out is that I can’t see my friend as the president of the club I am in. I have lost the opportunity to experience many of the meetings that we could’ve held, and the memories that would be created. I am more sorrowful of him, that his senior year is cut abruptly short due to this entire situation.
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