1984 Summer Assignment

What, if anything, scares you about the future Orwell describes? Why or why not?

What scares me the most about the future described by Orwell is that the people of Oceana live with constantly having to look over their shoulder. In the novel, people have become hallow shells that cannot trust anyone (especially their own family members) and no longer have the freedom to even think. This scares me because. If someone loses the ability to live and think freely, then they are losing their freewill, and freewill is what makes someone human.

How is “doublethink” used in the novel? Do you think it could or it used in our current society?

Doublethink is used by Ingsoc to manipulate and control the public’s thoughts by telling them something that they know and feel to be false, but the thought gets drilled into their brains, through the use of propaganda, to the point where they believe these false things to be true.

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A clear example of the Party’s use of doublethink is through their slogan, “WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGH” (1984, George Orwell). A way that doublethink is used in today’s society is through thoughts/beliefs like: “you need to be yourself/ you have to follow the crowd” or “you must follow your passion/ you must have a stable job”. These are examples of doublethink because both ideas contradict each other, but people believe both to be true at the same time.

If you were in Room 101 what would be waiting for you?

If I was taken to Room 101, I would encounter a large, fully sealed box that neither light nor air can enter.

My fear would be to be forced to go into the box that has just enough room for me to fit into, but not enough so that I can move my arms or sit down. Then, once inside, I can feel bugs crawling all around me and around my ears, yet I cannot shake or sweep them off because I am unable to move.

Would you recommend this novel to a friend? Why or why not?

I would recommend this novel to a friend because it opened my mind to ideas that I have never heard or thought of before. For example, I never would have believed that it is possible to accept two contradictory claims at once or that by limiting a person’s vocabulary one could limit their thoughts. Reading this book was a great learning and eye-opening experience for me that I am glad to have gone through.