So still not sure if we are suppose to do 1 chapter or 3 per week. So I guess I'll just give my chapter 2 synopsis here a day early (or 6 days late) and if we only do one chapter a week then this will be sufficient for tomorrow, and if we do 3 chapters a week I'll go through the next 4 chapters throughout the week starting tomorrow.
Chapter 2
Winston is relieved to find the knocker on his door is not the Thought Police, but rather an old tenant Mrs. Parsons (though he notes it is taboo to refer to women as Mrs., but rather "comrade" is the acceptable title, again another Soviet reference.) Mrs. Parsons sink is having a problem. We are shown the immaculate condition of the Victory Mansions are not so victorious. Plaster is peeling off the walls, the pipes have problems, the roofs leak, the heating is subpar. Unless one can fix it themselves they need special approval from a committee of the Party to do basic repairs.
Winston helps Mrs. Parsons, and we learn a little about her husband Tom whom also works with Winston at the Ministry of Truth. Winston regards Tom as a typical Party sycophant which the Party needs to stay alive. Unlike Winston, Tom enjoys working with his hands, is very active for the Party, and very loyal to the Party. We meet the Parsons children whom seem to be having cabin fever and are joyfully imitating the military parades they see on the telescreen. The children are in the uniform of Spies, and as we know before the Party uses children to inform on their own parents. The children are pretending to be thoughtpolice and playfully accuse Winston of being a thoughtcriminal guilty of thoughtcrimes, and they are not totally wrong even though it is just play. Mrs. Parsons excuses their behavior as them being restless for not being able to see a public execution of Eurasian war criminals. Winston leaves the scene as the boy hits him in the back of the neck with a "catapult" (a slingshot maybe?)
Winston returns to his flat and ponder on how the Party sets children up against their parents. The Party is very successful in turning children against their parents. The Party makes them into informants, the Party gives the children authority, the Party takes the children on hikes, the Party makes the children distrust foreigners and domestic enemies, the Party gives them fun and impresses their minds with slogans and activities. Children that inform against their parents are called "child heroes" by the Party and the press. The children of 1984 are rebellious against their parents, but they are utterly loyal to the Party.
Winston ponders a dream he had. In the dream a figure told him "We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness." Winston admits he does not know who the figure in the dream was, but he is convincing himself it is O'Brien.
The telescreen interrupts Winston's thoughts to inform the public a major victory against Eurasia has been won in India. The telescreen posts inflated numbers of dead and prisoners. The telescreen also informs the public that the chocolate rations will be reduced. After the special report ostensibly the nationa anthem of Oceania, Tis of Thee plays, of which it is expected for people to stand. Winston is a lil too tipsy to stand, but is supposedly hidden in his alcove, so it does not matter. A bomb goes off in the distance which seems to indicate the war is a bit closer to home in Oceania than we are being told. We are told about 20 to 30 bombs fall on London per week.
Winston begins questioning if his diary project is futile. Winston lives in a world of lies. Everything is a contradiction in 1984, the past is subject to change, the future is uncertain. Big Brother is everywhere, Winston owns nothing, Winston has no room for private thoughts except in his skull, and even there he is not totally untouched by the Party as Winston begins to ponder he will be discovered sooner or later, his diary destroyed, never read by future generations, but by the Thought Police, and he himself will be annihilated. Winston resigns to his fate that he will die, but shows he is still committed to his thoughtcrimes. against the Party. The telescreen informs him of the time and Winston prepares to go back to work (what a lunch break!)
I think we see the theme of 1984, the theme of Truth vs Lies, and of Winston's unique character in this one quote:
"He was a lonely ghost uttering a truth that nobody would ever hear."
Chapter 2
Winston is relieved to find the knocker on his door is not the Thought Police, but rather an old tenant Mrs. Parsons (though he notes it is taboo to refer to women as Mrs., but rather "comrade" is the acceptable title, again another Soviet reference.) Mrs. Parsons sink is having a problem. We are shown the immaculate condition of the Victory Mansions are not so victorious. Plaster is peeling off the walls, the pipes have problems, the roofs leak, the heating is subpar. Unless one can fix it themselves they need special approval from a committee of the Party to do basic repairs.
Winston helps Mrs. Parsons, and we learn a little about her husband Tom whom also works with Winston at the Ministry of Truth. Winston regards Tom as a typical Party sycophant which the Party needs to stay alive. Unlike Winston, Tom enjoys working with his hands, is very active for the Party, and very loyal to the Party. We meet the Parsons children whom seem to be having cabin fever and are joyfully imitating the military parades they see on the telescreen. The children are in the uniform of Spies, and as we know before the Party uses children to inform on their own parents. The children are pretending to be thoughtpolice and playfully accuse Winston of being a thoughtcriminal guilty of thoughtcrimes, and they are not totally wrong even though it is just play. Mrs. Parsons excuses their behavior as them being restless for not being able to see a public execution of Eurasian war criminals. Winston leaves the scene as the boy hits him in the back of the neck with a "catapult" (a slingshot maybe?)
Winston returns to his flat and ponder on how the Party sets children up against their parents. The Party is very successful in turning children against their parents. The Party makes them into informants, the Party gives the children authority, the Party takes the children on hikes, the Party makes the children distrust foreigners and domestic enemies, the Party gives them fun and impresses their minds with slogans and activities. Children that inform against their parents are called "child heroes" by the Party and the press. The children of 1984 are rebellious against their parents, but they are utterly loyal to the Party.
Winston ponders a dream he had. In the dream a figure told him "We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness." Winston admits he does not know who the figure in the dream was, but he is convincing himself it is O'Brien.
The telescreen interrupts Winston's thoughts to inform the public a major victory against Eurasia has been won in India. The telescreen posts inflated numbers of dead and prisoners. The telescreen also informs the public that the chocolate rations will be reduced. After the special report ostensibly the nationa anthem of Oceania, Tis of Thee plays, of which it is expected for people to stand. Winston is a lil too tipsy to stand, but is supposedly hidden in his alcove, so it does not matter. A bomb goes off in the distance which seems to indicate the war is a bit closer to home in Oceania than we are being told. We are told about 20 to 30 bombs fall on London per week.
Winston begins questioning if his diary project is futile. Winston lives in a world of lies. Everything is a contradiction in 1984, the past is subject to change, the future is uncertain. Big Brother is everywhere, Winston owns nothing, Winston has no room for private thoughts except in his skull, and even there he is not totally untouched by the Party as Winston begins to ponder he will be discovered sooner or later, his diary destroyed, never read by future generations, but by the Thought Police, and he himself will be annihilated. Winston resigns to his fate that he will die, but shows he is still committed to his thoughtcrimes. against the Party. The telescreen informs him of the time and Winston prepares to go back to work (what a lunch break!)
I think we see the theme of 1984, the theme of Truth vs Lies, and of Winston's unique character in this one quote:
"He was a lonely ghost uttering a truth that nobody would ever hear."
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