Daniel Tung
Period 7
6/13/20
Sophomores 2020
Aim: How are the readers of 1984 warned about the power of manipulation?
Do Now: THINK/PAIR/SHARE
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.
1. Can you alter your own feelings by force of will? Why/Why Not?
2. Can someone else alter another person’s innermost feelings?
We started our lesson with these questions from the Do Now. Many of the students responded to question one by saying that it was possible to change your own feelings through force of will, even if it is extremely difficult. However, I believe that it is impossible to change your feelings on a subject by simply telling yourself to feel something else. I think that this method masks your feelings and doesn't actually change anything.
For question two, the class also encountered some disagreement. Some students claimed that changing someone's innermost feelings is not possible, I think that it is, even if it is very hard. In our society, everything that other people say or do will change how we feel. For example, if we are given new information by someone, it could alter one's feelings. This might be harder to do on some people, depending if they hold onto their beliefs and feelings very tightly or not.
After the Do Now, we created 3 questions about the novel to see if other students were able to answer them. These questions ranged from the characteristics of Winston and Julia to questioning the power of Big Brother and if thoughtcrime was something that could actually be enforced or if it was based off of meaningless observations in an attempt to scare citizens.
In our next activity, we had to compare the characteristics unique to Julia and Winston, and characteristics they both shared in the Venn diagram seen below. We described Julia as someone who was selfish in a way where she only really cared about the wellbeing of herself and people around her but also remained realistic about her situation. We also said that she was a great actor, acting like a model citizen during the Two Minutes of Hate. In addition, we called her promiscuous, sleeping with multiple men despite it being illegal except for child making purposes. On the other hand, Winston was more idealistic, thinking that an uprising of the proles would overthrow Big Brother and solve all the problems. However he still has a greater grasp on reality of what is true or not, like if the airplane was really invented by the Party of if Oceania was ever at war with Eastasia or if they were allies.
Our last activity involved us recalling what we did last Friday morning. Almost everyone gave a very vague answer of how we woke up early to go to this English class and continued on with our day. However, I confused my days and was thinking of an entirely different day with a different routine, where I slept in because I knew I didn't have a class that day. Afterwards we discussed as a class.
WHOLE CLASS DISCUSSION
1. Why was there such difficulty recording what happened?
There was a difficulty recalling past events because for most of us, nothing was really special about that day that would make sense for us to remember specific events that happened.
2. Why is it so easy to forget what transpired, even though only a couple of days had passed?
It was so easy for us to forget what happened because we did not consciously remember that day and what happened. To us, that day was just like any other day but if we were given a reason why we had to remember it, it would have made recalling it much easier.
3. How can forgetting leave people vulnerable?
Since people forget what actually happened, it leaves us open to believe lies that other people tell us. These people may exploit us and manipulate the facts to benefit them and we cannot deny what did or didn't happen.
What are the updates around the world/community regarding the virus?
While at first, the virus has been consistently going down in almost all the states, it recently has been going up due to rushed and inefficient reopening. In California, cases continue to rise because of how eager everyone has been to get back to normal life.
What is it like working from home?
Working from home has become even harder to do, especially given how close we are to the end of the school year. The warm weather also makes me want to be outside and relax more often, rather than do schoolwork and continue to be efficient.
Your own personal feelings and thoughts about what is happening right now.
Given the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, I believe that the people are taking the correct steps into becoming a more progressive country. I feel that calls to defund the police and reform of how cops are trained are good things, as they have been abusing their power for too long and puts minority communities at higher risk of a lower quality of life.
Reflection
In today's lesson we learned how Big Brother took advantage of the people's poor memory to gain power and influence. In addition to erasing and creating facts from history so nobody could deny it, there was nobody to prove them wrong since there was no evidence and anyone who proved a threat would be killed. Even us, with no over-looming threat that actively changes our history or controls or day to day thinking patterns, found it hard to recall information about or past. This shows how unstoppable Big Brother is as a force because there is nobody to keep them in check. With this awareness about how easily history can be erased or manipulated, I will be more conscious in what I do so I can determine the facts and events that happened in the past.
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