Try to at least get to Part Two of the book, and if possible, read to around Chapter 2. You'll have time to catch up on the weekend if you fall behind. The questions below will cover the entire book up until Part Two, Chapter 2, since we only touched on a few ideas in class today (Tuesday).
Don't forget that I'll accept the Time Machine/Klee papers as late as Thursday, but after that we have to press on!
Answer two of the following:
Q1: Winston's 'friend,' Syme, is ecstatic about the evolution of Newspeak, since it's "the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year" (Chapter V). Why is Newspeak obsessed with reducing the words and the range of expression available to its speakers? How does this show the relationship between language and culture in a devious way?
Q2: One of Big Brother's greatest slogan's is, "Who controls the past...controls the future" (Chapter III). They call this "reality control," or "doublethink." How can you control the past or even really change it? Surely enough people would remember the past and object if you changed it. What else is required to make "reality control" a reality?
Q3: Why Winston continually risk his life (or simply exposure) by journeying to the proles' area of town to buy rubbish and knicknacks? What is he looking for or trying to buy? Related to this, why is he so obsessed by the proles (the lower classes), since his friend Syme claims they are "not human beings"?
Q4: Why does Big Brother allow the proles to have sex, love, marriage, and even alcohol when the rest of society is supposed to abstain from having their "ownlife"? Why police the more educated classes so severely, but let the lower classes--the ones who outnumber the rest--free reign to do whatever they like?
No comments:
Post a Comment