Blog#61
Jonathan Wong
Sophomore 2020
Period 3
6/13/2020
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?
Is Julia good for Winston?
In our class we talked about how people are scared of new things because they are unfamiliar with them. Many people are afraid of change and want to keep things the same because they don’t know what will happen. People are also used to the way they live so they would not want to change their lifestyle .We talked about Julia as a good and bad influence on Winston. When Winston is with Julia, he stops his bad habits in smoking and drinking. He also feels more alive and his varicose ulcer doesn’t bother him anymore. Julia also makes Winston more carefree and risky which is a bad thing because it makes it easier for him to get caught.
What are Allusions?
Allusions:Is a brief and indirect reference within a literary work to a historical, literary, or biblical character, place or event, which is not explained
Biblical: referring to the Bible or a religious work
Classical: referring to Classical Literature
Literary: referring to another literary work
Historical: referring to an event in history
We learned what an allusion is and the four types of allusion there are. Allusions are very common and are found almost everywhere. We looked at some examples of allusion found in The Simpson’s including The Lord of the Flies and Star Wars. We learned that allusions can be used to create a mood and contribute to the theme of a passage.
We then discussed the allusions found in 1984. The proles represent the proletariat because they are in the Outer Party which is the lowest class. Ingsoc’s social class system divides society into three classes known as the Proles, Outer Party and Inner Party. They represent the working class, middle class and upper class. Big brother represents Stalin or Hitler because he is the leader of the Party. Emmanuel Goldstein represents Leon Trotsky because he is the enemy of the state. The telescreens represent propaganda and the KGB because it brainwashes people and spies on them. The junior spies represent the Hitler Youth because the kids spy on their parents just like in Nazi Germany. Jones, Aaronson and Rutherford represent Leon Trotsky , Lev Kamenev and Gregorian Zoniviev because they tried to oppose the party.
Reflection-
In today’s lesson I learned that allusions are everywhere and that they are very important . Allusions can help people to make connections and understand a passage better. They also contribute to the theme and mood of a passage. I learned this in order to understand the book 1984 better and to connect it to the events during the Soviet Union. It has helped me to understand the horrors of communism during the 20th century. I will use what I learned by thinking about possible allusions whenever I read a book or watch a movie and try to connect them to real life.
Working at Home-
Working at home is very different compared to working in a classroom. You get constantly distracted by other people inside your house and there's a lot of noise. You also don’t get the same experience as in school because there is not as much interaction with other students . I also have technical problems because my WiFi is terrible and my computer is extremely slow. One positive is that you get more time to research topics online.
COVID-19 updates-
In the world there are 7.7million confirmed cases and 430k deaths. The death toll and new infections in New York City have drastically decreased and we are on a road to recovery. Some countries such as New Zealand have declared victory over COVID-19 and are starting to reopen. Some countries such as South Korea have quickly stopped reopening after recent outbreaks of COVID-19.
Thoughts on events-
I think that the world is on a road to recovery from COVID-19 because the amount of new cases are declining and many countries are starting to reopen. I am also hoping for a vaccine to be made soon so that we can all start to go back outside again. Recently there has been a lot of protests over the BLM because of the death of George Floyd. I think that it is fine that people are protesting in what they believe in but many of these peaceful protests are being overshadowed by riots and looting in many states.
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