1984 by George Orwell
I know, it feels like I'm some sort of speed reader, lets just say I had an extremely slow day at work. Right, so 1984 is one of those books that is forever listed on high school required reading lists. Orwell's totalitarian look at the future is something that has worked it's way into our lexicon. Terms like Big Brother and Orwellian are frequently used to describe unsavory parts of government, corporations, et al. Listing all of Orwell's contributions to society would be tedious and dull, so I'm going to zip right in and give my thoughts. Also, in this post I'm going show you some of the research I do when I read a book. I hope you find it as fun as I do.
1984 is 266 pages, 200 of those pages are describing exactly how bad a totalitarian state is in different methods. First Orwell explains how bad it is, then he sends Winston to work to show us how bad it is, then he has Winston's friends as examples of how bad it is, then children show up and show us how bad it is, and then Winston is given a book that spells out exactly how bad it is, and then Winston's girlfriend Julia is an example of how bad it is, and then they get caught. Winston and Julia respectively, the friends make guest staring appearces in the creepy all white prison that is called The Ministry of Love. Lets just say that Orwell is a bit heavy handed with the exposition portion and a wee light on the story portion. An argument can be made that Huxley's A Brave New World came first, but anyone who has read that in conjunction with 1984 will tell you that both Mr. Huxley and Mr. Orwell went to the bash-the-reader-over-the-head-with-the-damn-point school of writing. But, I digress, and I think, dear readers, you get the point. Also, it's effective. I caught myself giving worried looks to the red light cameras on the way home. With all of that being said, 1984 is one of the classics for a reason. Orwell can write and write very well. Even if the exposition is repetitive it is written in a way where it isn't dull. It is absolutely worth reading, and it's slot on the required reading lists is well deserved. This is a book that begs to be taught.
Because teachers can use things like the following. In the book the main character, Winston, has a job editing the past. He rewrites news articles, alters speeches, and changes items to match exactly what The Party as said. Are there modern day examples of this? Well, lets look at something that happened a week ago at Kim Jong il's funeral.
Picture 1
Picture 2
What is different? In the first picture after the break in the crowd there is a camera crew, in the second picture they are gone. That's right, gone. It's 2012 someone has Winston's job. Now if that wasn't creepy enough, lets look at some pictures from Russia.
Picture 1
Picture 2
A man was just edited out of history. As 1984 puts it, he is now an unperson. Keep in mind PhotoShop didn't exist at this time so someone had to go in and physically alter the photo. This took time, effort, and a talented hand. I'm absolutely positive that students could come up with more and more examples of this. I stumbled upon this articles while I was searching on NPR's website.
Moving on, I'm starting 1Q84 tonight. It's three books, and I've decided to blog them separately. So 1Q84 will have a total of three entries. I can't wait to read this people either love it or hate it. It seems to be that polarizing. I should have book one done by this time next week, if not earlier.
Finally, I want to give credit for the pictures:
1. Snow-Wash: North Korea Doctored Photo Of Kim's Funeral
2. Soviet Photo Manipulation -- Lenin
3. Inside Stalin's Darkroom
I know, it feels like I'm some sort of speed reader, lets just say I had an extremely slow day at work. Right, so 1984 is one of those books that is forever listed on high school required reading lists. Orwell's totalitarian look at the future is something that has worked it's way into our lexicon. Terms like Big Brother and Orwellian are frequently used to describe unsavory parts of government, corporations, et al. Listing all of Orwell's contributions to society would be tedious and dull, so I'm going to zip right in and give my thoughts. Also, in this post I'm going show you some of the research I do when I read a book. I hope you find it as fun as I do.
1984 is 266 pages, 200 of those pages are describing exactly how bad a totalitarian state is in different methods. First Orwell explains how bad it is, then he sends Winston to work to show us how bad it is, then he has Winston's friends as examples of how bad it is, then children show up and show us how bad it is, and then Winston is given a book that spells out exactly how bad it is, and then Winston's girlfriend Julia is an example of how bad it is, and then they get caught. Winston and Julia respectively, the friends make guest staring appearces in the creepy all white prison that is called The Ministry of Love. Lets just say that Orwell is a bit heavy handed with the exposition portion and a wee light on the story portion. An argument can be made that Huxley's A Brave New World came first, but anyone who has read that in conjunction with 1984 will tell you that both Mr. Huxley and Mr. Orwell went to the bash-the-reader-over-the-head-with-the-damn-point school of writing. But, I digress, and I think, dear readers, you get the point. Also, it's effective. I caught myself giving worried looks to the red light cameras on the way home. With all of that being said, 1984 is one of the classics for a reason. Orwell can write and write very well. Even if the exposition is repetitive it is written in a way where it isn't dull. It is absolutely worth reading, and it's slot on the required reading lists is well deserved. This is a book that begs to be taught.
Because teachers can use things like the following. In the book the main character, Winston, has a job editing the past. He rewrites news articles, alters speeches, and changes items to match exactly what The Party as said. Are there modern day examples of this? Well, lets look at something that happened a week ago at Kim Jong il's funeral.
Picture 1
Picture 1
A man was just edited out of history. As 1984 puts it, he is now an unperson. Keep in mind PhotoShop didn't exist at this time so someone had to go in and physically alter the photo. This took time, effort, and a talented hand. I'm absolutely positive that students could come up with more and more examples of this. I stumbled upon this articles while I was searching on NPR's website.
Moving on, I'm starting 1Q84 tonight. It's three books, and I've decided to blog them separately. So 1Q84 will have a total of three entries. I can't wait to read this people either love it or hate it. It seems to be that polarizing. I should have book one done by this time next week, if not earlier.
Finally, I want to give credit for the pictures:
1. Snow-Wash: North Korea Doctored Photo Of Kim's Funeral
2. Soviet Photo Manipulation -- Lenin
3. Inside Stalin's Darkroom
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