1984 Rhetorical Analysis

Winston is initially drawn to O 'Brien because he is a sophisticated member of

Throughout the novel, Winston constantly references the fact that ‘Today there were fear, hatred and pain’ and that in this society of Ingsoc ‘No emotion was pure, because everything was mixed up with fear and hatred’ and this is displayed in many, various ways. An example of this is when Winston writes about when he went to see a film stating that the ‘Audience were much amused by shots of a great huge fat man trying to swim away with a helicopter after him’ and that ‘there was a wonderful shot of a child’s arm going up up up right up into the air…and there was a lot of applause from the party seats’. This displays the extent to which

Yash Patel Mrs. Choi AP Literature October 2015 1984 Dialectal Journals for Part 2 Text Response 1. “In front of him was an enemy who was trying to kill him; in front of him, also was a human creature… He had indistinctively started forward to help her,” (Orwell 106) This quote shows that even in this time where they live in a life where they are being manipulated, Winston is still living in a time where he is experiencing hatred, but still maintains what keeps him normal or humane, which keeps him separated from everyone else. This hate is showing that people still have hate for each other and still want to kill each other but it also shows the true human he is by helping her when she was threatened.

Some Experts’ Opinions You might see him on Fox news or maybe shouting in a courtroom, the adjunct professor from Georgetown, Dr. Michael Sheuer, or simply, “Mike”, has major concerns about the way American’s foreign policy has been handled in recent years. The choice isn 't between war and peace. It is between war and endless war , in this age of warfare, the purpose of conflicts that our leaders drag us into, become uncertain as the deaths multiply. Mike has a valid point. During his career running operations in the CIA, the Bin Laden case is a standout, so it is important that people of opposing views at least take a minute to consider his steady, keen outcry against the way American leaders deal with foreign allies.

Mr. Charrington shows Winston that there are still people left in the world who know the truth, even if he is a

He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.” (Orwell 298). The only reason that Winston changed his mind was

Most people have taken a history course at some point in their life. They walk into class, take notes on the lecture, and study for an exam. No one ever questions if the information they are receiving has been altered from the truth. They memorize the data they have learned, then pass it on to others. How is everyone so sure the information we read in textbooks is true?

Big Brother is the embodiment of the Party.’ ‘Does he exist in the same way I exist?’ ‘You do not exist’” (Orwell 259). Here O’Brien deliberately ignores and misrepresents Winston’s question, and gives an even more confusing answer, but somehow wins the argument anyway.

He then continues these thoughts by questioning everything that he has been taught by the party. The one person he would like to talk about this with in the book is O’Brien, another party member. Winston thinks, “ O’Brien’s political orthodoxy was not perfect. Something in his face suggested it irresistibly… if somehow you could cheat the telescreen and get him alone. Winston never made

During a daily exercise known as the Two Minutes Hate, all Party members view a video usually featuring a speech denouncing the Party’s ideals and advocating for freedom and democracy. Even though Winston secretly supports these principles, he feels compelled to and even cannot avoid joining the frenzy of the Hate, entering a blind but abstract rage. He mentions that, “And yet that rage that one felt was an abstract, undirected emotion which could be switched from one object to another like the flame of a blowlamp. Thus, at one moment Winston’s hatred was not not turned against Goldstein at all, but, on the contrary, against Big Brother, the Party, and the Thought Police….(Orwell 14). This is how Winston’s fear differs from that of other people’s.

Webster’s dictionary defines a hero as “a person who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities; a person who is greatly admired; the chief male character in a story, play, movie, etc.” Looking at the list, Winston only fits one of these criteria. Winston is not a hero, even though he is the protagonist in this story. His actions and behavior throughout the book is unbecoming of a hero, and in the upcoming paragraphs, I will discuss what discredits him as a hero.

The novel, 1984, can be most closely compared with the popular book and movie series, The Hunger Games. Overt comparisons between the two novels include their futuristic approach and the dystopian societies that emerged after periods of war. Additionally, both novels highlight poverty as a highly effective method of control. Building on that method of control, both novels have a strict hierarchy of society used to control the masses.

The Party manipulate history and alter the truth so much so that Winston loses track of time and is unable to accurately recall past events or rationalize his own history. This constant manipulation also results in a loss of faith in his own memory and the unreliability of his own thoughts. Eventually culminating in Winston becoming brainwashed and wholly devoted to the Party. Memory is the recollection of a past event whereas history is the whole series of past events connected with someone or something. (Anon.,2017).

The lack of response from Winston conveys that he is not confident and is fearful of the government, which in turn leads to the oppression of his own thoughts about the country’s history. This concept is similar to American society in 2016 since the U.S. government frequently requests from Google to take down certain searches from the search engine. Google has been requested to take down 6,321 different things by the U.S. government, which shows how these requests can be considered a memory hole in real life (Sutter). Taking down information from Google results

O’Brien speaks in a kind and encouraging way; his words are encouraging in that he is pushing Winston to realize the how the Party has utter control over history and society itself. O’Brien explains that “[The Party controls] life, Winston, at all its levels. You are imagining that there is something called human nature which will be outraged by what we do and will turn against us” (Orwell 269). In reality, Winston is actually being unreasonable by not accepting that the Party has total control. O’Brien reveals his true identity as a friend by pushing Winston to accept this total control, justifying Winston’s torture to see five of O’Brien’s fingers instead of