Remembering something in 1984 is practically impossible. What you think is true, could end up being false. In 1984, all the texts are rewritten over and over again. Speeches made by Big Brother are rewritten to make it seem like everything that comes out of his mouth is true. Because all the texts are rewritten, there really is no truth in 1984. Wilson tries to convince O'Brien that the Earth is older than man kind and O'Brien won't hear it because all his life he has been force feed the Party's lies.
"We can shut them out of existence. Oceania is the world.'
'But the world itself is only a speck of dust. And man is tiny-helpless! How long has he been in existence? For millions of years the earth was uninhabited.'
Nonsense. The earth is as old as we are, no older. How could it be older? Nothing exists except through human consciousness." (Orwell, 218).
O'Brien can't fathom that anything existed before humans. That shows how powerful having a past is. How the past is written and passed down can change our perspective of everything. In our world most people believe that evolution happened and that dinosaurs roamed the earth, while in 1984, humans have always existed and there was never a time when they weren't there. Dinosaur bones were created by scientist according to the people in the Party.
All of our history books are written over and over again, it seems likely that eventually people will leave things out or rephrase a sentence that completely changes history. Does that surprise you, to know that everything in your history book could be a lie that we all just believe? Do you think that there's a way to come up with a way to record history accurately? If so, how? Do you think that the truth actually exists or is it how we perceive the truth?
The language in 1984 took me sometime to get use to. There were multiple times in which the word "proles" was used. It took to the part when Winston slept with the prostitute for me to understand that proles were prostitutes. Or did I get that wrong and a prole is anybody who's not part of the Party?
Wilson was given instructions on what to do for his rewrite,
In Oldspeak (or standard English) this might be rendered:
The reporting of Big Brother's Order for the Day in the Times of December 3rd 1983 is extremely unsatisfactory and makes references to nonexistent persons. Rewrite it in full and submit your draft to higher authority before filing." (Orwell, 40).
Wilsons coworker, Syme, said that Oceania was the only language in the world that got smaller every year (Orwell, 46). I can understand using double speak to make things sound better than they are but I don't understand why they get rid of most of the language. They take out a word when double and un can be used, but what's the point of shortening Big Brother to bb? When I was reading the Newspeak words I could pick out what went where (after reading the translated version). Something I noticed was that the structure of the sentence was different. If they went in the same order shouldn't it go something like this
Double speak can actually be really useful in life. I would rather someone tell me that I'm going to the making of a better child room than going to detention. The use of double speak in our language is already a thing, so I think it's only a matter of time before we start using language like they do in 1984. I don't think it will be as drastic but we already use acronyms in every life, it wouldn't be hard to change the language. Do you ever think that we could completely change our language to look like how it does in 1984 or do you think that that's to much of a drastic change? By making the language into a couple simple words, do you think that the Party is brainwashing it's citizens?
Humans can do many things that we really do not want to. We can drop a bomb on a country and kill thousands of people. We can issue an airstrike knowing that it will kill 40 elementary students. But we can't seem to see a single person die. If we never meet the person that was murdered, then it's almost like they never existed. We would rather pretend that it never happened, then find out the murdered persons name.
By dehumanizing the enemy we no longer need to worry about who we killed. They are just a face in the crowd that doesn't matter to you. You don't have to look into their face and see that they're the one you killed. In 1984 during the Two Minutes Hate Winston talks about Oceania's enemy's.
"-row after row of solid-looking men with expressionless Asiatic faces, who swam up to the surface of the screen and vanished, to be replaced by others exactly similar." (Orwell, 14-15).
In 1984, the people in Oceania think that killing is perfectly fine because they think the enemy deserves to die. They view the enemy as nothing more than animals, so that makes it much easier to kill. By dehumanizing the enemy you no longer have to worry about if they die or not because in the end you think that they probably deserve it. Do you think that by seeing the enemy as nothing that it would be easier to kill them? If you never met the person that was killed would you remember them after some time goes by or would you rather just forget about them?
What's up? Tally, that's who. To escape from New Pretty Town, Tally caught a ride on a hot air balloon. Tally and Zane were being watched and their every move was being recorded by the bracelets on their wrist. To get them off they had to jump into a hot air balloon and put their hand into a fire with just a little sliver of plastic protecting them. (I chose this balloon because they were riding in a pig balloon, which relates to the first book in which Tally had on a pig mask.)
After the bracelets were safely removed, Zane jumped out onto his hoverboard (exactly what it sounds like, a board that hovers with metal). While Tally was delayed because her best friend Peris wanted to stay pretty and live in New Pretty Town. Because Tally was delayed so much, she ended up not going where she was supposed to and broke her hoverboard by trying to land to harshly. A group stumbles upon Tally and I found this interesting because these people are practically cave men. These people have a completely different appearance then anybody Tally has ever seen and they live in the wild. When they found Tally they planned to kill her but because they saw her pretty face they thought she was a god.
Where Tally landed; turned out to be a reservation where pretty scientists' can study 'underdeveloped people'. From what I got, the reservation is only a thing that scientist know about. I got this because at first Tally didn't know where she was, but when she was taken to the 'end of the world' she couldn't pass because the Pretties had put in a security system to keep the cave men in.
"This was a reservation.
And Tally was trapped inside."(289)
While Tally was trapped inside with Andrew (the one who could speak the 'gods' language) she learned some things about him and their culture. Apparently there are multiple tribes and they are all fighting with one another and killing each other, when it's their turn to kill. If you live in a world without war and murder I guess you can say it was quite a culture shock. Because Tally was raised in a city and lived there her whole life (except when she was in the Smoke) she had never been exposed to anybody but her 'kind'. It shows that the city can change your actions. A person who has lived in the reservation thinks killing is normal, why a person born in the city, thinks it's barbaric. Andrew's behavior reminded Tally of something Dr. Cable had said to her. This is a conversation between Tally and Andrew:
"I was glad to see that it was you that they brought home, and not a kill. So that it is still our turn, and I may still be there for my father's revenge."
Tally found herself speechless. In seconds, Andrew Simpson Smith had changed from a grieving son into some kind of . . . savage.
She forced herself to stare at Andrew's grim expression, his weird delight in the heft of the knife in his hand.
Then she remembered D. Cable's words. Humanity is a cancer, and we are the cure." (279-280)
I chose this quote and video because it shows that people do think humanity is a cancer. That they are savages that need to be controlled. Pretties is not the only book/movie to do this concept. Do you think that this means humans should be controlled? That we are a cancer and without a proper vaccine, we will end up killing everything and everyone around us. Do you think that if humans are not controlled that they will reverse to cavemen type people who believe that murder is the only way to solve a problem?
After this conversation Tally started to think about how maybe humanity should be controlled. She may never be fully on board with the idea but she can see the appeal. In the end, Tally ends up becoming Special. Do you think this means that ne matter how far you run, you can't outrun destiny?
So now that I've talked about Uglies, I can start talking about Pretties. Pretties starts off a couple weeks after the ending of Uglies. I liked that because it seemed like Tally was a completely different person in the first few chapters. In the first book Tally was hesitant for most of the book, and she only got a little bit of confidence at the end of the book. She seemed like any regular teenager but in Pretties she seemed like she had become not mature but older. Which she obviously had changed, it was just so dramatic, that it showed you how different the lesions actually made you. Now that Tally's pretty her priorities went from if she was going to survive in the woods, to what dress she should wear for the party that was happening that night. While Tally's at a party she sees someone dressed as a special and she decides to follow them. She eventually finds them and is given an address "Valentino 317" . It turns out that the person in the special costume was a person from the Smokies. It turned out that Valentino 317 didn't exist in the building in the building but on it. I think the author did this to show that just because someone implanted something into you and essentially brain washed you; it is possible to get over anything. People don't control you and no matter how hard someone can try and change you, you will always have that little spark inside of you that makes you, you. Tally proves this point (although she did have the help of her friend Zane, who kept her 'bubbly'), she overcame the obstacles keeping her from being herself and ended up finding the cure that David's mom had been working on. Zane takes one of the two pills, while Tally takes the other. After taking the pills they both start to get some of their old selves back. Zane and Tally are apart of a group called the Crims (a.k.a. Criminals). The Crims take pride in performing tricks. Tally and Zane convince the group to break the ice skating rink (because this is 300 years in the future, the ice skating rink is hovering in the air). After the prank Tally is approached by Dr. Cable, "You resist conditioning well very well." "Conditioning. That's what you call it?" Tally swore. "Like it's a hair treatment or something?" "Amazing." Dr. Cable leaned close again, her eyes focusing on Tally's as if trying to bore through her brain. "Somewhere in there, you're still a tricky little ugly, aren't you? Most impressive. I could use you, I think." (pg. 132). After this Dr. Cable talks about how Tally would be perfect for Special Circumstances. Tally obviously denies, but Dr. Cable reveals that most Specials were like Tally and all of them became Special. How would you feel knowing that your life was practically taken from you the day you were born? Knowing that when you turn sixteen, you will get turned into a completely different person? That if you try to change and go against your destiny, you will be hunted down and changed against your will.
Do you believe you have free will or is everything already decided for you?
Hello! I actually read two books in the same series and really liked the second book in the series called Pretties. But before I start talking about Pretties, I have to tell you about the first book, Uglies.
This book is about a girl named Tally. All her life she has wanted to become 'pretty'. You only become pretty when you're sixteen. You do this through surgery, they peel off your skin, grind down your teeth and make you look exactly like everyone else in the world who is a pretty. Oh and did I mention that they put a little extra something in your brain so that it keeps you 'bubbly' and compliant. Sounds fun right? Well, Tally's friend Shay didn't think so. A couple of Shay's friends had actually run away with a man named David to a place called the Smoke. The Smoke was a place for people who didn't want to become pretty to go. Shay wanted Tally to come with her to the Smoke but why would Tally, who only ever want to be pretty leave to be ugly the rest of her life? In the end Shay leaves with the mysterious David that Tally never met and Tally waits a few more days to become pretty and go to the city and party with her old friends. Unfortunately for Tally, Shays wrongdoings have gotten Tally some unwanted attention from some higher up people, A.K.A. Dr. Cable. Dr. Cable is a 'special' they have a certain type of appearance and presence that gives you chills. " Instead of wise and confident, the man looked cold, commanding, intimidating, like some regal animal of prey" (101). Specials are also extremely strong and can put anybody in their path on the ground. "They moved in a blur, without any weapons that Tally could see, leaving everyone in their wake lying on the ground, bound and dazed. They were superhumanly fast and strong" (288). Dr. Cable wanted to find the Smoke but needed Tally's help to do it, for if you weren't ugly you would never find the Smoke. Shay had left Tally instructions on how to get to the Smoke if Tally ever wanted to go. Dr. Cable wouldn't let Tally get her operation unless Tally found the Smoke. Her choices were to betray all her friends to become pretty or stay ugly her whole life. She chose betrayal. After a long adventure Tally finally found the Smoke but she wanted to stay for a typical teenage reason: she found love. <3
She tossed the locket that gave away her position to Dr. Cable in the fire, very dramatically I might add and went to sleep. It turned out that Tally gave her position away by trying to be dramatic and all the Specials were there the next day to gather all the little uglies. In the end Tally ends up becoming Pretty because David's mom comes up with a cure to the lesions( the things inside your brain) but they don't have a willing pretty to try it on. So Tally becomes pretty for the cause. Do you think you would have the courage, like Tally, to give up your free will to save people you don't even know?
