More like 198-bore...just kidding, it was good.
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Blog Post #10:
The issue I take with the New York Times' analysis of 1984 is their misunderstanding of its implications. For us now in 2009, George Orwell could have used any year to convey his vision. It could have been 2001 or 2849. The fact is that in 1949, 1984 seemed a long ways off and that's why this type of science fiction, totalitarian future is conceivable. Our world could turn into this as well in the distant future and that's what's frightening. Its also what makes 1984 timeless. The only time 1984 will cease to be significant will be when this type of world is realized and all copies of this book are destroyed anyways.
The section I've chose to analyze is the segment in pages 301-310. Winston is sitting in the Chestnut Cafe after his stint in the Ministry of Love. His mindset is also drastically changed from earlier in the book. He is actually concerned about Oceania's war with Eurasia for the first time. In the Chestnut Cafe, there is a telescreen that is routinely broadcasting news from the war "front". In the beginning of the section, things aren't looking good for Oceania. On page 301, Winston remarks, "The news from the African front was disquieting in the extreme. On and off he had been worrying about it all day. A Eurasian army (Oceania was at war with Eurasia. Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia) was moving southward at terrifying speed." All throughout the book Winston muses that perhaps the front doesn't exist and that the news may even be lying about who Oceania is at war with in the first place. Here, Winston not only recognizes the war, but is actually worried about it.
The reason this section stands out for me is that it reminds me of the news today in a vague way. The news basically tells you what to believe is important. Rarely do you hear about the defeats and losses of war, but hearing about a victory is much more commonplace. Plus, when their is a victory, it is always a decisive victory or a very important one. This reminds me of another section from the book. On page 310 after victory is announced, "-bring the war within measurable distance of its end-victory-greatest victory in human history-victory,victory,victory!" This theme is repeated throughout the book. Things don't look so good for Oceania, then victory is achieved and it is a huge deal. Obviously, we know as readers that the war will never come to an end and Winston used to know this too. The agenda setting of the Party drills into its members the importance of the war. So while today's world isn't quite what 1984 is, there are definitely certain aspects of the book that can be seen today.
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peer review
By Wonil ChungDon’t take this personally. I’m just trying to help you out.
Your post addressed all parts of the assignment. You made an argument about the news today. However, I felt like you could have done a better job of connecting 1984 to the news today. I think you spent too much time talking about the passage as opposed to the actual question at hand, which is “In what way is the communication technology of 1984 relevant today, 60 years after it was written?” The point of this blog post was to discuss that question, not to talk about a passage in the book. You hardly spent any time in making connections between the news and 1984. This is definitely something important that you should look into fixing. I’m also not sure about your choice of passage. In my opinion, I don’t think that passage relates that much to the news today. That passage is talking about how Winston changed because of IngSoc. It’s not really about the news. My advice to you is to just pick a new passage to talk about, or connect the current passage to something else. The way it is now, it doesn’t really make much sense. Sorry.
Your writing flowed relatively well, and your sentence structure was varied, which is good. However, there are some parts of your post that may need some rewording. For example, you could reword your second sentence to “George Orwell could have used any year to convey his vision.” The way it is written now is a bit confusing to be honest. Your fourth sentence also needs work. You should think about changing it to “the totalitarian future was conceivable in 1949, partly because of the fact that 1984 was so far away.” You also missed an apostrophe when you said “It’s also what makes 1984 timeless.” I also think your last sentence of the first paragraph was a bit unnecessary. You should think about omitting that part. There are also a lot of mistakes in the last paragraph as well. It doesn’t make that much sense grammatically. I suggest you use grammar check. One last piece of advice. If you end up not changing anything about this original post, at least change the first sentence of the last paragraph. By saying that the news connects to the passage “in a vague way,” you’re pretty much admitting that your argument is weak.