Blog #70 - Olivia Zadvinskiy - Period 3 - 06/13/20

June 11th, 2020 

Olivia Zadvinskiy 

Period 3

Sophomores 2020

Aim: How do the historical allusions and c onnections in 1984 contribute to the meaning of the work as a whole?

Do now: “Turn and Talk:”

1. Why do new and different ideas often provoke fear?

• “Knowledge is power” therefore, when you do not know something, you cannot understand or control it. 

2. Is Julia good for Winston?

• Julia agrees with Winston that the party has ill intent. They both disagree with big brother but on different levels. While Winston purely despises the government, Julia doesn’t care as much and lives in the moment more. However, playing devil's advocate a little, someone mentioned that Julia also pushes Winston to take more risks. Before Julia, Winston would never sneak out to meet someone. 

• Fatin states “She seems like an effective ally” and I completely agree because even though Julia did not completely hate the party, she would never snitch on Winston and even helped him become more carefree and more of a risk-taker.  

• Ms. Peterson also brought up a vital point that ever since Winston and Julia got together Winston has had less fearful thoughts when writing in his diary and also quit smoking and drinking. He doesn’t crave those addictions, he “craves” Julia more

What are Allusions?

• An expression to mention something or someone indirectly. An author can use different made-up people, events or places to represent actual historical events, people, places, etc. An example of this would be that Big Brother throughout the novel is very similar to Stalin or Hitler. 
• Teacher’s definition: is a brief and indirect reference within a literary work to a historical, literary or biblical character, place or event, which is NOT explained. 

Allusions PowerPoint:

The Allusions Powerpoint helped my classmates and I understand the importance of allusions, how they are used and where. As this powerpoint mainly focused on the Simpsons and their usage of allusions it allowed me to understand that allusions can be found almost everywhere and help people understand the deeper meaning behind a certain action, picture, cartoon, etc. The first photo proves that the simpsons clearly copied popular movies with the intent of not a deeper meaning, but a more comedic approach. The replicas of the star wars films makes the brain make the connection between the cartoon series and the movies to attempt to figure out the double meaning behind every scene shown. Another example of this would be to a book this time, where the Simpsons alluded to Lord of the Flies. If a person has read the book, or even seen the film they will understand the connections and compare and contrast the episode and novel. The Simpson’s even included key details to help the audience make the realization such as “piggy’s” broken glasses in the episode were also broken in the book. The Simpsons made connections to movies and books, but even alluded to famous artwork. A famous painter from Spain named Salvador Dali painted The Persistence of Memory and the Simpsons created their own spin of it to create double meaning for their episode and add a comedic effect. 

Group Work: Allusions

1984	Allusions
Proles	Proletarian, very poor, the lower class
Ingsoc’s social class system (English Socialism - as originated by Goldstein and Big Brother	The Soviet Union removed everyone on top (the monarchy) and replaced it with the communist regime led by Big Brother (Lenin or Stalin and the top 2% - inner party, the outer party would be the inner class which is what Winston is a part of) - the middle class is always deemed as the most dangerous 3 main social class: Inner party Outer party
Big Brother	Hitler or Stalin
Emmanuel Goldstein	Emmanual Goldstein is Trotsky because they both were exiled from their home. Both were also co-founders of the societies, they used to be allies, now the enemy.
The Telescreens	Its function is to spread propaganda and watch over the people. It is the symbol of the party. Shows of the government used technology to their advantage.
Junior Spies	Could be compared to the Hitler Youth that were brainwashed with Nazi Germany’s ideals. Both the Hitler Youth and Junior Spies had toxic patriotism that was driven by propaganda
Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford	They are inner party members. When compared to Stalin’s purge in the 30s where he was on edge that everyone was going to turn against him and assassinated many original members.

Personal Experience: 

    While allusions are everywhere, they can be sometimes tricky to figure out. As a large movie connoisseur, I love trying to find easter eggs throughout films to see if I can make any connections. Disney and Pixar and known to do the same, where they usually base movies, characters, or certain props from historical events or other movies to create allusions. One of my favorite Disney films, Hercules, is based on Greek mythology. The famous tales of Hercules’s strength to save others is clearly evident throughout the film. The detail to all of the god’s positions, powers and tales, show that Disney was clearly making those connections. 

    Another clear example of an allusion in a Disney movie is the Lion King and Hamlet, where both the movie and play include a prince, who’s father, the king, is killed by his own brother. The son later learns the truth of his father’s death and goes to get revenge on his Uncle and kill him. The son only goes to avenge his father’s death after his father’s spirit speaks to him. This is a beautiful scene in the Lion King, and once again shows the allusions the writers of the Lion King made to portray the movie as similar as possible to the play. 

Hamlet                                                                         The Lion King

Consequently, the remote learning experience opened my eyes to how college would be like and it scares me a little. With different classes every day at different times, it doesn’t create a clear schedule. Remote learning taught me that I should have more self-discipline and learn how to prioritize work more. Especially when the AP test came around, I struggled greatly with figuring out whether to study or finish homework. Glad to say, everything turned out alright. English specifically opened my eyes real wide to how much power the government has and to always do your own research. Do not believe everything that you are told and go to several credible sources to get your information on your own. In the future I always double check the information I see online, especially on social media and this has made me feel more independent on the educated conclusions I create on a specific topic.