LAST COMMENTS!

You guys, this project has come to an end. ): I felt that we were productive in our work. We shared our opinions of the books to each other and feel that the book is well analyzed.

Now what are your last thoughts about the book?

Anything you like or dislike about it?

What do you think the theme of the book is?

Can you connect this with other books?

-MICHELLE, OPAL, JANET AND ANNALEE (:

Researcher: WHAT? A MOVIE?

(^ picture by http://www.opednews.com/populum/uploaded/a-scene-from-the-movie-1984-2604-20081125-187.jpg)

Did you know that there was a movie for the book, 1984 that came out on December 14, 1984 (Haha, the date. (: )

The main characters are played by...

Winston Smith is played by John Hurt.
O'Brien is played by Richard Burton.
Julia is played by Susanna Hamilton.
Mr. Charrington is played by Cyril Cusack.

You guys! We all need to watch it together!

-Michelle Xia (:

With Janet's Request....

Well here's Janet's request...

1. succumbed (page 103): to give way to superior force; yield. In the card game, it is very important not to give away what you have, that's why you need to be succumbed.
   
2. rehashing (page 76): to work up (old material) in a new form. The dirty car went into the car wash and went through a rehashing process.
   
3. protuberant (page 77): bulging out beyond the surrounding surface; protruding; projecting. The eyes of the fish protuberant when the man grabbed it hard.
4. stratum (page 78): a layer of material, naturally or artificially formed, often one of a number of parallel layers one upon another. The gum had stratum of different flavors.
   
5. heresy (page 80): opinion or doctrine at variance with the orthodox or accepted doctrine, esp. of a church or religious system. Someone who claim heresy was punished for the wrong doing at church.
   
6. axiom (page 81): a self-evident truth that requires no proof. The trial had axiom, with no evidence of the situation.
   
7. inexhaustibly (page 147): not exhaustible; incapable of being depleted (depleted: to decrease seriously or exhaust the abundance or supply of). For little children, everyday they are inexhaustible, they never stop running around.
8. vehemently (page 253): zealous (full of, characterized by, or due to zeal; ardently active, devoted, or diligent); ardent (having, expressive of, or characterized by intense feeling; passionate; fervent); impassioned. Being vehement with work or school can lead to the better person in the future.
   

ok waiting for more :P

With Michelle's request....

Page 147: mahogany- any of several tropical American trees of the genus Swietenia, esp. S. mahagoni and S. macrophylla, yielding hard, reddish-brown wood used for making furniture. The beautifully carved table was made out of mahogany.
Page 150: varicose- abnormally or unusually enlarged or swollen. The bug bite that I got this summer was varicose and very big.
Page 152: poletarian- hmmm... can't find it... does anyone know what it is???
Page 168: spaciousness- containing much space, as a house, room, or vehicle; amply large. In the room, the mess was the spaciousness, taking up almost the whole floor.
Page 168: demur- to make objection, esp. on the grounds of scruples; take exception; object. During the trial, there were a lot of demur creating a lot more interesting trial.
Page 168: Wainscoting- (I did this word before but here it is anyways.) paneling or woodwork with which rooms, hallways, etc., are wainscoted. (wainscoted: wood, esp. oak and usually in the form of paneling, for lining interior walls)

i will be accepting more requests until the due time.

Researcher: George Orwell

(^picture by http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Technology/images/george-orwell.jpg)

(Yeah, that picture, because he is soo creative, it's only half of him)

After reading this AMAZING book, I wanted to know a little bit about the AMAZING author who wrote the book. So, I wanted to share it with you guys, because maybe you will feel the same way.

George Orwell
June 25 1905 - January 21 1950 (Age 46)

This real name is Eric Arthur Blair but he is well known as George Orwell (pen name). He is an English novelist and journalist. He is known to write about awareness of social injustice. Eric was born on June 25 in Motihari, Bihar, Bengal Presidency, British India and moved to England when he was one.

Throughout his lifetime, he moved to all different places like London and Paris!

Orwell died at the age of 46 because of tuberculosis which he described in Down and Out in Paris and London (So, if you are interested, read it.). He was in and out of the hospitals for three years. ):

If you liked his books, here are some other books he wrote.
-Animal Farm (1945)
-His Homage to Catalonia (1938)
-Down and Out in London and Paris
-Coming up for air

-Michelle (:

I'm Confused..

Okay so I don't really get what was really going on in the end.

Like who is O'Brien? Is he good? And was everything O'Brien saying lies, like how Winston imagined everything?

Oh and I don't get the part where O'Brien goes into the cell and he's like "They got me long time ago." (Page 238)

Help me out :)

--Janet

Illuminator-Pt.3 Ch.6 - Protagonist's situation at the end

"He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding ! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast ! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother."

This passage shows Winston's situation in the end. After 40 years, after committing Thought Crimes endlessly, after trying to join the Brotherhood, after relentless torture, he was finally convinced that Big Brother was a loving being. The Party had finally been able to convince Winston that he loves Big Brother.

Illuminator-Pt.1 Ch.1 - Why the book has its title

"He dipped the pen into the ink and then faltered for just a second. A tremor had gone through his bowels. To mark the paper was the decisive act.In small clumsy letters he wrote: April 4th, 1984.
He sat back.
A sense of complete helplessness had descended upon him. To begin with, he did not know with any certainty that this was 1984. It must be round about that date, since he was fairly sure that his age was thirty-nine, and he believed that he had been born in 1944 or 1945; but it was never possible nowadays to pin down any date within a year or two. "

This passage shows a little bit behind the reason why this book has its title. 1984 was the year Winston thought it was, thinking, "It must be round about that date, since he was fairly sure that his age was thirty-nine, and he believed that he had been born in 1944 or 1945; but it was never possible nowadays to pin down any date within a year or two. " This was the year that Winston had written down for his first entry, the year Winston had first thought about rebelling against the Party, and it was the year he committed Thought Crime. The year is significant because throughout those years was when he first wrote in a diary illegally, had relations with Julia illegally, and attempted to join the Brother, which is obviously illegal, since the Brotherhood is an organization in itself a crime, because it's about rebelling against the party, which is considered a crime as well. This book is about the events that unfold in particular time Winston Smith's life, which happens to be 1984.

Illuminator-Pt.3 Ch.4 - Effective use of language

"It was like swimming against a current that swept you backwards however hard you struggled, and then suddenly deciding to turn round and go with the current instead of opposing it. Nothing had changed except your own attitude : the predestined thing happened in any case. He hardly knew why he had ever rebelled."

This passage shows an effective use of language through the use of similes. Orwell compared the act of swimming against the current with the difficulty of remaining oppressive in the Ministry of Love. Winston tried to remain rebellious, but as he faced more and more torture, he began to think that going along with it would be much easier for him, so he tried to educate himself into thinking like a Party member. He changed his own attitude which caused him to question why he had ever rebelled in the first place.

Summarizer: Part 3, Chapter 4 , 5 , & 6

CHAPTER 4
Pages 274-282

Winston’s health becomes better as he was fed with food and had good hours of sleep. He was watched for over years by the thought police and begins to re-teach himself as he writes “Freedom is Slavery.” He knew one day, they would shoot him but he didn’t know when.

Winston dreamt of Julia and heard her pleading for his help, he woke up screaming his name. He knew he obeyed the Party in his thoughts, but not in his heart.

O’Brien goes and asks him how he feels of Big Brother and Winston says he hated him. O’Brien took him to Room 101.

CHAPTER 5
Pages 282-287

Winston was in Room 101 stripped to a chair. O’Brien tortures Winston with his biggest fear which is rats. He picks up a cage filled with big hungry rats that eat flesh. O’Brien torments Winston by moving the cage closer and closer and allows him to think of another person to do it for you.

Winston blurs out Julia and told him to put it on her instead.


CHAPTER 6
Pages 287-297

Winston then spends most of his time at the Chestnut Café. Winston found Julia in the park one day. They confessed to each other that they betrayed each other.

The telescreen turns on again, and the victory was announced. He was happy and feel that his final change was complete, where he was siding with the Party and Big Brother.

THE END!

-Michelle (:

Illuminator- Pt.2 Ch.8 - Protagonist conflict #2

"You will get no comradeship and no encouragement. When finally you are caught, you will get no help. We never help our members. At most, when it is absolutely necessary that someone should be silenced, we are occasionally able to smuggle a razor blade into a prisoner's cell. You will have to get used to living without results and without hope. You will work for a while, you will be caught, you will confess, and then you will die. Those are the only results that you will ever see. There is no possibility that any perceptible change will happen within our own lifetime. We are the dead. Our only true life is in the future. We shall take part in it as handfuls of dust and splinters of bone. But how far away that future may be, there is no knowing. It might be a thousand years. At present nothing is possible except to extend the area of sanity little by little. We cannot act collectively. We can only spread our knowledge outwards from individual to individual, generation after generation. In the face of the Thought Police there is no other way. "

This segment shows Winston's conflict, which is to help the Brotherhood, which is the organization that rebels against the Party. He has agreed, along with Julia, that he would do anything to support the Brotherhood, except separate from Julia to never see her again. This passage shows the danger of becoming a Brotherhood member, because it is definite that they will be caught, and they are to confess, and they will die under the hand of the Party. In some cases, they may even have to commit suicide.

Summarizer: Part 3 Chapter 2 & 3

CHAPTER 2
Pages 239-260

The Guards beat Winston with everything in hopes that he would confess. After hours of constant beating and pain, Winston was willing to confess anything and everything.
For some reason, O’Brien was watching Winston. O’Brian’s hand is a dial and when he turns it, Winston is affected with pain. O’Brien tells him about the conversation they are having and to regard his memory.

O’Brien holds up four fingers and ask Winston how many fingers is he holding up. Winston says four so O’Brien says, what if the Party says it’s five. Winston still believes he is holding up four.

O’Brien explains why the Party brings people to the Ministry of Love because they don’t care what you did; they want you to become sane and to cure them. They want them to eliminate all thoughts and just to be able to go with the flow.

Winston was allowed to ask a couple of questions. He asks if Big Brother exists, and he answered that he does and will never die and other questions.

CHAPTER 3
Pages 260-274

O’Brien says that power is the ability to make other humans suffer and by them suffering, you will know that they are obeying you.

Winston still doesn’t give up and believes that the Party must be defeated and talks about life and the human spirit.

O’Brien shows Winston how he looks like going against the Party in the mirror. Winston was all filthy and old. He says to O’Brien that he has never betrayed Julia and that was true.

-Michelle Xia (:

Illuminator-Pt.2 Ch.7 - Important idea the book conveys

" If you mean confessing ", she said, " we shall do that, right enough. Everybody always confesses. You can't help it. They torture you. "

" I don't mean confessing. Confession is not betrayal. What you say or do doesn't matter: only feelings matter. If they could make me stop loving you - that would be the real betrayal. "

She thought it over. " They can't do that ", she said finally. " It's the one thing they can't do. They can make you say anything - anything - but they can't make you believe it. They can't get inside you. "

" No ", he said a little more hopefully, " no; that's quite true. They can't get inside you. If you can feel that staying human is worth while, even when it can't have any result whatever, you've beaten them. "

...

Facts, at any rate, could not be kept hidden. They could be tracked down by enquiry, they could be squeezed out of you by torture. But if the object was not to stay alive but to stay human, what difference did it ultimately make ? They could not alter your feelings: for that matter you could not alter them yourself, even if you wanted to. They could lay bare in the utmost detail everything that you had done or said or thought; but the inner heart, whose workings were mysterious even to yourself, remained impregnable.

This passage shows an important idea the book conveys, which is that nothing can change the way you feel. Julia and Winston talk about what they would do when they get caught, which is bound to happen sooner or later. They know that they can't help it if they confess everything, because the Party would have ways of obtaining that information through variations of torture. However, they agree to not truly betray one another, which means that they wouldn't stop loving one another. They weren't going to let the Party alter their feelings for one another, as Winston thought, "They could not alter your feelings: for that matter you could not alter them yourself, even if you wanted to." No matter what they did to them, they could never change their love for one another, and they knew that their love would be invincible any external damage.

Illuminator-Pt.2 Ch.4 - Why I like the book

"For a moment he was violently angry. During the month that he had known her the nature of his desire for her had changed. At the beginning there had been little true sensuality in it. Their first love-making had been simply an act of the will. But after the second time it was different. The smell of her hair, the taste of her mouth, the feeling of her skin seemed to have got inside him, or into the air all round him. She had become a physical necessity, something that he not only wanted but felt that he had a right to. When she said that she could not come, he had the feeling that she was cheating him. But just at this moment the crowd pressed them together and their hands accidentally met. She gave the tips of his fingers a quick squeeze that seemed to invite not desire but affection. It struck him that when one lived with a woman this particular disappointment must be a normal, recurring event; and a deep tenderness, such as he had not felt for her before, suddenly took hold of him. He wished that they were a married couple of ten years' standing. He wished that he were walking through the streets with her just as they were doing now but openly and without fear, talking of trivialities and buying odds and ends for the household. He wished above all that they had some place where they could be alone together without feeling the obligation to make love every time they met. "

Although I'm not done with the book, this is already one of my favorite passages, if not my favorite. In this excerpt, Winston becomes angry because Julia cancels their next meeting since they can't have sex, since it's her time of the month. However, Winston isn't angry because he desperately want to sleep with her again, but because he desperately wants to be with her. Over the course of time that he has known her, he's began to fall in love with her. He felt that she became a necessity to him, and his need for her was that of affection, not desire. He started to become jealous, suspecting that she might be cheating on him, which contradicts his former opinion, because he claimed that the more men she slept with, the more he would love her, because it was the corruption that attracted her to him at first. However, he desires to be married to her, wishing they could openly walk through the streets together, acting as a normal couple of 10 years marriage would act. "He wished above all that they had some place where they could be alone together without feeling the obligation to make love every time they met."

Summarizer: Part 3, Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1
Pages 225-239

Winston was in prison with a lot of proles and political Party prisoners. He heard them talking about Room 101.

Winston grows hungry and craves for food. He understood that he is going to be beaten and thought about Julia and how she is. He also wondered if the Brotherood will help him by giving him a razor blade.

Because the light is always on in the prison cell, Winston doesn’t know what time it is.

His friend Parsons was then brought to the cell which shocked Winston when Parson says he was in trouble for committing a thoguhtcrime. One by one, people we sent to Room 101.

Once, a skull faced-man walked into the jail cell. It was well known that he was starving, almost dying. So a chinless man decided to give him a piece of dirty bread from his pocket to him. The guards beat up the chinless man until his face was all bloody and the skull-faced man was taken to Room 101.

Then, Winston sees O’Brien in jail.

-Michelle(:

Summarizer: Part 2, Chapter 10

Winston and Julia woke up and got dressed as they look out at the window; watching a women singing. He was thinking about all the people that were under the Party’s rule and thinking about pasting the knowledge of the book to others.

Little did they know, there was A TELESCREEN BEHIND THE PICTURE ON THE WALL. OH MY GOD. THEY ARE GOING TO DIE. THEY ARE GOING TO DIE. THEY ARE GOING TO DIE. I’M SO SCARED. OH MY GOD. THIS IS SO OBSURD. MR. CHARRINGTON IS ALSO A THOUGHT POLICE. OH MY GOD.

You guys, I'm freaking out. This is legit scaring me to shreds. ): I will never think of the year 1984 the same again. Why is this book so...SCARY! URGH, GEORGE ORWELL.

-Michelle Xia ):

Illuminator-Pt.2 Ch.2 - Effective use of language

They were standing in the shade of hazel bushes. The sunlight, filtering through innumerable leaves, was still hot on their faces. Winston looked out into the field beyond, and underwent a curious, slow shock of recognition. He knew it by sight. An old, closebitten pasture, with a footpath wandering across it and a molehill here and there. In the ragged hedge on the opposite side the boughs of the elm trees swayed just perceptibly in the breeze, and their leaves stirred faintly in dense masses like women's hair. Surely somewhere nearby, but out of sight, there must be a stream with green pools where dace were swimming ?

" Isn't there a stream somewhere near here ? " he whispered.

" That's right, there is a stream. It's at the edge of the next field, actually. There are fish in it, great big ones. You can watch them lying in the pools under the willow trees, waving their tails. "

" It's the Golden Country - almost ", he murmured.

" The Golden Country ? "

" It's nothing, really. A landscape I've seen sometimes in a dream. "

This passage shows ffective use of foreshadowing. Not long before this scene, Winston had dreamed of this setting, the beautiful and peaceful country, which he came to call "Golden Country". As he says in the last lines of this excerpt, he talks about how this landscape is almost like Golden Country. Not only is the landscape foreshadowed, but the company is too. In his dream, he had a vision that he was with Julia at the country carelessly throwing her clothes aside. Her talk of being against the Party also related, because in his dream, he thought how the thing that attracted her to him was the how with her gesture of grace and carelessness as she threw her clothes aside, it seemed to "annihilate a whole culture, a whole system and thought, as though Big Brother and the Party and the Thought Police could all be swept into nothingness by a single splendid movement of the arm." In reality, she flung her clothes away, yet it did not annihilate the Party and Big Brother, but when they sleep together, Winston knows that "No emotion was pure, because everything was mixed up with fear and hatred. Their embrace had been a battle, the climax a victory. It was a blow struck against the Party. It was a political act."

Summarizer: Part 2, Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9
Pages 179-217

Winston was really tired at work. The messenger gave Winston the book. He finally got the time to read the book.

He skipped ahead to read Chapter 3 that is titled “Way is Peace” the chapter explains how the world is divided into three states which are Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia. War helped people understand the social and economic hierarchy.

There was no technological development under the Party because creative thought is outlawed. They remain in power by killing a thought.

Then, Julia comes in and Winston reads from Chapter 1 which is the history of the social classes.

After Winston reads the book, he still doesn’t understand why the Party is doing this.

This book got me confused a bit, can someone give me more feedback on this book?

-Michelle (:

FEW QUESTIONS

well these questions are the questions I had before when I was reading but I didn't want to post it up because you guys were way behind me and I didn't want to spoil things for you guys but I will now because it's dued tomorrow anyway :D

• What do you guys think O'Brien is wanting to say to him? Do you think it's a dangerous reason or good reason? (page 157)
• What do you think O'Brien is trying to pull off? With the book and everything? I think something is alittle fishy... what do you guys think? (page 171-184)
• Do you think the "Hate Song" has to do with anything? Or do you think it's like just there? (pages ??? everywhere)
• OH MY GOSH! What do you think will happen to Winston and Julia after the thoughtpolice came? (page 224)

These questions go for everything in the thrid section.

• What do you think will happen to Winston?
• What happened to Julia?
• So Winston is the only human?
• Is this whole story just made up by Winston's imagination?
• Winston is crazy?
• What happened at the end? I'm not sure...

You don't have to answer them since I know what happens but I'm fine with it if you guys do... make sure to answer the couple of the last ones because I wanna know what you guys think... :P

-Opal

Word Watcher Post 4!!!

OKAY YOU GUYS!!!! these words are the words I missed in my last post...

1. proprietor (page 100): the owner of a busines establishment, a hotel, etc. The proprietor in the front desk of the hotel was rude and aggrogant, he doesn't deserve to own one if he is going to act that way.
2. pavement (page 100): a paved road, highway, etc. The car dashed down the long pavement like a lightning bult.
3. residue (page 156): something that remains after a part is removed, disposed of, or used; remainder; rest; remant. The residue of the dinner last night felt like bunch of trash the next day because I ate too much yesterday.
4. syme (page 147): I spelled it right but it's not in the dictionary either... If anyone knows please comment and tell me :D
5. incredulity (page 120): the quality or state of being incredulous(incresulous: disclined or indisosed to believe; skeptical); inability or unwillingness to believe. The way Annalee told the reason why she couldn't come felt like she was incredulity because she was lazy.

I hoped this helped :D

Summarizer: Part 2, Chapter 6 & 7 & 8

CHAPTER 6
Pages 157-159

As Winston was walking down the corridor, O'Brien walks behind him. He then says how he and 'this friend he forgot the name off but it's Syme who is 'disappeared'' likes Winston's articles. Because Syme is no longer a person, 'unperson' (duh), it was known as a thoughtcrime. O'Brien gives his address to Winston to let him borrow his dictionary.

Winston was happy that someone was against the Party but also scared for his life.

CHAPTER 7
Pages 160-167

Winston’s dream made him remember a childhood memory with his mother. His father had just disappeared (I don’t know if it’s literal or if it means he is dead) and his family never had enough food to eat. Winston’s younger sister is always sick so his mother always takes care of her.

Winston would always fight for food and ask questions like “Why don’t we have enough food?” Winston remembered him being very greedy. When there was a chocolate ration, he took the whole chocolate, without giving any to his sister and ran off with guilt. When he came back because he was hungry again, he never saw his mother and sister again. He felt responsible for their deaths/disappearances.

He remembers that his mother was a good person who lived by her feelings and felt that the world today, feelings is something nobody has except the proles.

Winston and Julia makes a pact that they will not emotionally let go of each other.

CHAPTER 8
Pages 167-179

Julia and Winston go to O’Brien’s house. O’Brien turns off the telescreen and Winston explains that he wanted to join the rebellion against the Party.

O’Brien tells him that Brotherhood exists ask them if they are willing to risk their lives to help stop the Party.

He told Julia to leave first and he discusses with Winston about the copy of Goldstein’s book.

-Michelle(:

Scene #3:

"He was in a high-ceilinged windowless cell with walls of glittering white porcelain. Concealed lamps flooded it with cold light, and there was a low, steady humming sound which he supposed had something to do with the air supply. A bench, or shelf, just wide enough to sit on ran round the wall, broken only by the door and, at the end opposite the door, a lavatory pan with no wooden seat. There were four telescreens, one in each wall." Page 225

Winston was caught for being against the Party and he was put into this windowless cell. I thought this scene was important because Winston is suffering in there. He is hungry and he can't move because a voice from the telescreen would yell. He couldn't hide from the telescreen either, like he did at home because there is one on each wall. Because there are no windows, he can't tell the time, so he doesn't know how long he has been in the cell.

--Janet

Illuminator - Pt.1 Ch. 7

"Your worst enemy, he reflected, was your own nervous system. At any moment the tension inside you was liable to translate itself into some visible symptom. He thought of a man whom he had passed in the street a few weeks back ; a quite ordinary-looking man, a Party member, aged thirty-five to forty, tallish and thin, carrying a brief-case. They were a few metres apart when the left side of the man's face was suddenly contorted by a sort of spasm. It happened again just as they were passing one another : it was only a twitch, a quiver, rapid as the clicking of a camera shutter, but obviously habitual. He remembered thinking at the time : That poor devil is done for. And what was frightening was that the action was quite possibly unconscious. The most deadly danger of all was talking in your sleep. There was no way of guarding against that, so far as he could see. "

In this passage, Wilson describes how your worst enemy was your own nervous system. Reflexive instincts like the urge to scream obscenities or to distort your face can give you away. Nasty habits can reflect upon your thoughts and can lead to being charged for Thought Crimes. The thing Winston most feared was saying things in his sleep, things that were totally out of his control, and if the Thought Police were to hear him, he would face conviction which led to death.

Illuminator- Pt.1 Ch.2 - Protagonist conflict #1

"Curiously, the chiming of the hour seemed to have put new heart into him. He was a lonely ghost uttering a truth that nobody would ever hear. But so long as he uttered it, in some obscure way the continuity was not broken. It was not by making yourself heard but by staying sane that you carried on the human heritage. He went back to the table, dipped his pen, and wrote:

To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free, when men are different from one another and do not live alone — to a time when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone: From the age of uniformity, from the age of solitude, from the age of Big Brother, from the age of doublethink - greetings !

He was already dead, he reflected. It seemed to him that it was only now, when he had begun to be able to formulate his thoughts, that he had taken the decisive step. The consequences of every act are included in the act itself. He wrote:

Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death.

Now he had recognized himself as a dead man it became important to stay alive as long as possible."

This passage has importance because it shows what's going on in Winston's head as he's writing in his diary; what's the purpose, and what are the consequences? He's unsure about who's he's writing for: the future or for the past. But he's sure that he's writing to a time that's different than the time he's living in. He's writing to a time with the right to free speech, free actions, and a right to live. He's writing to a time when people are different from one another, diverse, and don't live in solitude. He's writing to a time when truth exists, as a person living in an era of solitude, when the government dictates what you should think and how you should live.

However, writing this, he knows that he just committed a crime, a thoughtcrime to be exact. He knows he will eventually be found out, and the Thought police will capture him, and vaporize him, basically cleaning out all evidence that shows Winston has been alive. Now that he's sure of his eminent future, all that's "important is to stay alive as long as possible."

Summarizer: Part 2, Chapter 4 & 5

CHAPTER 4
Pages 136-147

Winston and Julia plans to meet again but it was canceled because she got her period so Winston got mad.

He realizes he truly loves her and wishes that they had time to be together without feeling the need to have sex every time.

Winston he suggests that they rent a room above the junk shop and she agrees. Mr. Charrington realizes that Winston wants to make love so there are few furniture planned out for them.

Winston was waiting for Julia to arrive. When she does, she had a bag full of food like real sugar, bread, jam, coffee and tea. She asks Winston to turn around and she puts on make-up. When he saw her wearing make-up, he thought she looked more like a girl and was more attractive to him.

They have sex again.

After that, Julia makes coffee for both and spies a rat. Winston panics because he is scared of rats so she comforts him.

CHAPTER 5
Pages 147-157

Syme disappears so Winston realizes that he has been killed (also known as vaporized). A lot of bombs are falling all over town.

Winston and Julia meets more in June and they continue to have sex in Mr. Charrington’s room upstairs because they know they probably won’t last long if the Party finds out.

They talked about organizing rebellions against the Party but they know it’s not going to happen. Julia believes that the war is fake and it’s only there to keep the people scared. Winston tried to compress onto her that there is no one understands what really is happening and what happened in the past.

-Michelle Xia(:

Researcher: Communism

This book is about communism (the Big Brother and his party being the communist ruler and how the people in London were limited to what they do, think, and say.)so I did a little research to inform you guys on what communism really is.

What is Communism?
Communism is a social structure in which a society/country is controlled by a ruler, also known as a dictator. A communist nation have no class differences, no states, no money, and no basic government.

A lot of people aren't in favor of communism especially during World War 2. However, communism isn't all that bad, although it just limits on what humans are required to produce and manufacture to their needs, no more and no less.

On the positive side, it allows labour as a source of pleasure not torture, and overcoming the conflict between consciousness and instinct.

I basically summarized what communism means...if you would like to go in depth on this concept, please go to websites like http://en.internationalism.org/icconline/2006/december/what-is-communism for more information. (:

-Michelle Xia (:

Summarizer: Part 2, Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3
Pages 127-136

Winston and Julia then have sex and they fall asleep on the grass. Winston awakes first and reflects on what he just have done. Then Julia awakes and begins to arrange how they will leave. Julia says that she will leave first and then Winston will leave thirty minutes later and taking different routes home.

In May, they meet at night and different places every night, They always spoke in low voices when they are talking to each other in public and never make eye contact.

One night they were walking just as a bomb falls down. Winston thought she was dead as her face was completely white but, no she wasn't because she kissed him, so yeah.

Only once in May did they ever have time to talk and have sex as they meet in the tower. Winston then tells Julia about a community hike that he went on with Katharine.

-Michelle Xia(:

Illuminator, Pt.1 Ch.3 - Setting

"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him.

The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats. At one end of it a coloured poster, too large for indoor display, had been tacked to the wall. It depicted simply an enormous face, more than a metre wide: the face of a man of about forty-five, with a heavy black moustache and ruggedly handsome features. Winston made for the stairs. It was no use trying the lift. Even at the best of times it was seldom working, and at present the electric current was cut off during daylight hours. It was part of the economy drive in preparation for Hate Week. The flat was seven flights up, and Winston, who was thirty-nine and had a varicose ulcer above his right ankle, went slowly, resting several times on the way. On each landing, opposite the lift-shaft, the poster with the enormous face gazed from the wall. It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran."

This passage shows the setting the building in which Winston resides in. The setting portrayed in this excerpt is more weather and emotional setting, rather than physical setting. This segment shows the bitterness of life Winston goes through, with "vile wind" and his disturbing smell throughout the building which seemed to smell of "boiled cabbage and old rag mats." The lack of electricity forced him to walk seven flights of stairs with a varicose ulcer above right ankle, which seemed to prevent him from walking up the stairs with ease. The poster at each landing also seemed to take part in the setting, appearing to give off a feeling of insecurity or a feeling that you were being watched, as it held a caption saying "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU."

-Annalee

ILLUSTRATION #3:

Page 140-141

I drew the part where Julia and Winston meets in the rented room above Mr.Charrington's shop. Julia comes in and she's taking out things of her tool bag, such as milk, jam, and a loaf of bread. I drew this scene because Julia brought REAL sugar, which Winston had almost forgotten about because he has been using saccharine for a long time. She also brought real coffee, which they were very excited about. During lunch at work, Winston drinks Victory Coffee, which is not as good as real coffee, so he is excited about the real coffee. Julia also brought "proper white bread", so the bread that they usually eat probably isn't very good. In the drawing I did exaggerate a bit where Julia is taking the things out of the bag.

--Janet

Summarizer: Part 2, Chapter 1 & 2

CHAPTER 1
Pages 105-117

This girl fakes a fall to Winston to give him a letter that says “I love you.” He tries to not show expression because they were standing in front of a telescreen. After he reads the note, it was hard for him to focus on his work.

Winston tries to talk to her during lunch after a week.

They later meet up in the square among a crowd. She then tells him to meet him in a place in the country and how to get there and so he does.

CHAPTER 2
Pages 117-126

Julia leads him to a place where there are no microphones and they kiss. She tells him that her name is Julia and only takes parts in all the Party activities for safety. She gives him a piece of chocolate.

Winston was curious on why she liked him and Julia responds saying that just by looking at his face, he knew he was against the Party.

Julia then undresses herself. Winston asks if she has ever done it before, and she says she has many times with the Outer Party members.

-Michelle Xia (:

Summarizer: Part 1, Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8
Pages 81-104

Winston walked home after work noticing a bomb landing in the street destroying a group of houses. Then he notices an old man walking down the street. He realized that the old man might be one of the few that were alive before the Revolution and hoped to think he will tell Winston about the past.

Winston takes him to have a couple of beers and questioned him about the past. Unfortunately, the old man’s memory wasn’t so great when he tell Winston the information he was hoping for.

He then walks out and goes into the area where he bought his diary. He goes into a shop and meets Mr. Charrington, the owner, and buys a glass paperweight. Mr. Charrington shows him a cozy room above the shop and Winston absolutely loves it.

-Michelle Xia(:

Word Watcher

if you guys have words that you don;t know just tell me just it's my job and i picked words that caught my eyes so... :D

Summarizer: Part 1, Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7
Pages 69-81

Winston thinks about his wife, Katharine. She married him because she wanted to have a child for the Party. She later then left him because they were unable to produce a child.

Winston believed that only the proles have the power to destroy the Party because they make up 85% of the population and the Party doesn’t pay much attention to them.

Winston copies some passages from a history textbook that says how terrible the conditions were before the Revolution. He was curious if the textbook is factual or not. Winston questions why the Party is doing this and he so alone.

-Michelle Xia(:

Summarizer: Part 1, Chapter 5 & 6

CHAPTER 5
Pages 48-63

Winston sees Syme at lunch who was a co-worker from the Research Department. Syme asks Winston if he has any razor blades and he lied saying he doesn’t. They later discuss Newspeak. Mr. Parsons later asks Winston for the Hate Week subscription. Winston later then spies a girl looking at him, thinking she was a Thought Police spy.

CHAPTER 6
Pages 63-69

Winston is at home writing in his diary thinking about the time he picked up a prostitute, also known as proles. He described his incident but felt guilty writing it down knowing he has a wife, Katharine.

-Michelle Xia (:

Illustrator: ILLUSTRATION #2:

Page 92

This came out the right way :]

I drew the scene where Winston is trying to question the old man. Winston wants to know what life was like before the Revolution because he is uncertain about whether the history books are accurate or not. But Winston isn't satisfied because he and the old man is talking about different things. In the end, he gives up and feels that the only ones left with a connection to the past remembers things that are useless. I think this scene is important because Winston is trying to find out the truth.

-- Janet :]

Razor Blades?

On page 48, they were talking about razor blades. At point, I got confused can someone clarify for me?

-Michelle Xia

Scene Setter: Scene #2:

"Winston picked his way up the lane through dappled light and shade, stepping out into pools of gold wherever the boughs parted. Under the trees to the left of them the ground was misty with bluebells. The air seemed to kiss one's skin. It was the second of May. From somewhere deeper in the heart of the wood came the droning of ring doves." (Page 117)

Winston has an appointment to meet with the girl with the dark hair (Julia). He arrives at their appointment place, the woods, which is in the countryside and has no telescreens. From the description, the place must be beautiful because the woods are filled with bluebells and he mentions "pools of gold." Also when he says "The air seemed to kiss one's skin" I imagined the woods having a fragrant smell.

--Janet :]

Word Watcher: Post 3

Okay you guys I forgot to post some so i just put them all at once. I hope that's okay with you guys :P

1. proles (Page 88): a member of proletariat (poletariat: the class of wage earners, especially those who earn their libing by manual labor or who are dependent for support on daily or casual empolyment; the working class.) But in the book it means prostitute.
   


2. incongruous (page 99): out of keeping or place; inapproapriate; unbecoming.


3. shopfront (page 99): the front side of a stor facing the street; usually contains display windows.


4. farthing (page 100): a former bronze coin of Great Britain, equal to one-fourth of a British penny: withdrawn in 1961. A farthing is no longer used anymore after 1961.
   


5. reconnoitering (page 100):to inspect, observe, or survey (the enemy, the enemy's strength or position, a region, etc.) in order to gain information for military purposes. In a war, it's very important to reconnoitering so that no one from the enemy to find out.
   


6. shirking (page 100): to evade (evade: to escape from by trickery or cleverness). On April Fool's Day, you have to shirk around just in case someone tricks you.
   


7. proprieter (page): I can't find this... i will get back at you guy... maybe I spelled it wrong.
   


8. parement (page 100): Same goes to this one...
   


9. bowels (page 101): the intestine. My bowels are used to dispose the food particles we don't need.
   


10. rackety (page 161): making or causing a racket; noisy. The crowd of the party got too excited and the house was way to rackety.
    


11. superfluous (page 161): being more than is sufficient or required; excessive. If you are superfluos with food, you might end up with a bad stomachache.
    


12. obsolete: no longer in general use; fallen into disuse. The sock was obsolete because it's too old.
    


13. residuel (page 156): i can't find this too...
    


14. syme (page 147): i can't find this also.
    


15. incresulity (page 120): i can't find this too.
    


16. wainscot (page 144): wood, esp. oak and usually in the form of paneling, for lining interior walls. Walking through a wainscot, can calm you down.
    


17. solipsism (page 266): the theory that only the self exists, or can be proved to exist. Believing in solipsism, can make people think that you are conceited.
    


18. mutilating (page 281): to injure, disfigure, or make imperfect by removing or irreparably damaging parts. If you play sport with all your might, you will mutilate your body.
    

I thought the book started using less vocabulary that I didn't know :P and I will post more stuff, things like the words I couldn't find.

Word Watcher: Part 2

ok this is for pages 65-80... it's not a lot but I did what I had to...

1. racketeer (pg 72): a person who commits crimes such as extortion, loansharking, bribery, and obsruction of justice in furtherance of illegal business activities.(this also means lovers of rackets... I find that interesting and funny.) Being a racketeer can lead to bad reputation.
2. dinginess (pg 74): of a dark, dull, or dirty color or aspect; lacking brightness or freshness. You have dinginess if you stay out in the sand too much.
3. listlessness (pg 74): having or showing little or no interest in anything; languid; spiritless; indifferent. Some people might feel listlessness happens when you watch a bad TV show.
4. ruinous (pg 77): bringing or tending to bring ruin; destructive; disastrous. Walking into a thunder storm is a ruinous behavior.
5. frontispiece (pg 80): an illustration that faces or immediately procedes the title page of a book, book section, or magazine. Many children books have frontispiece as an introduction.

I hope this helped you guys (again).

Summarizer: Part 1, Chapter 3 & 4

CHAPTER 3
pages 29-37

CHAPTER 4
pages 38-48

That night, Winston dreamt about his family. The person who stock out to him was his mother who disappeared when he was only ten. The loud whistle from the telescreen woke Winston up from his dream and made everyone do morning exercises called The Physical Jerks. As he was doing the Physical Jerks, he was remembering childhood events. Winston was ordered to write an order for Big Brother’s appraisal to a make believe war hero Comrade Ogilvy. Winston was angry that Big Brother was making this up to favor him.

***For this post, instead of separating the two chapters, I combine them. (:***

-Michelle Xia (:

Summarizer: Part 1, Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2
pages 20-28

When Winston wrote "DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER" in his diary, he realized that he had just committed a 'thoughtcrime' and he knew he will eventually be punished, also known as 'vaporized' (killed). He decides to continue writing, thinking he was already 'dead'.

This Chapter kind of confused me a little bit. What happened to Mrs. Parson son? Why couldn't they go see the hanging of the prisoners from Eurasia?

-Michelle Xia (:

Researcher: What really happened in 1984?

In the beginning, it was around April of 1984 in London. I did a little research on what happened that time and found this.

April 4: Peace protesters were evicted from the Greenhan Common Women's Peace Camp
April 9: 100+ pickets were arrest at Creswell colliery in Derbyshire and the Babbington colliery in Nottinghamshire.
April 12: Arthur out rules a national ballot of miners on the topic to continue their strike.
April 17: Yvonne Fletcher was shot and killed by a gunman.

(All information from Wikipedia.)

Do you think the Arthur predicted well? Is there a connection of some sort? Any comments?

-Michelle Xia (:

Summarizer: Part 1, Chapter 1

This book is a bit strange in how they put chapters. At first I thought the big bold letters were chapters but, I don't think chapters are 100 pages long so I went to an online website where you can read 1984 for free online to see that it's parts and within that, it's chapters. TEEHEE.

CHAPTER 1
Pages 1-20

This book explains the story about Winston at around April of 1984. He was on a lunch break from his job in the Ministry of Truth. Everywhere he went, he saw a big poster that says, “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU”. Winston begins to keep a Diary and explained what he watched like night.

The next day, two people visited Winston’s work place, a dark-haired girl and O’Brien. He hated her because he realized that he was attracted to her, but can’t have her. After the Two Minute Hate, everyone is chanting “B-B”. Winston felt disgust and record his feelings onto his diary.

-Michelle Xia (:

Scene Setter: Scene #1:

"A kilometer away the Ministry of Truth, his place of work, towered vast and white above the grimy landscape. This, he thought with a sort of vague distaste-this was London, chief city of Airstrip One, itself the third most populous of the provinces of Oceania. He tried to squeeze out some childhood memory that should tell him whether London had always been quite like this. Were there always these vistas of rotting nineteenth-century houses, their sides shored up with balks of timber, their windows patched with cardboard and their roofs with corrugated iron, their crazy garden walls sagging in all directions? And the bombed sites where the plaster dust swirled in the air and the willow herb straggled over the heaps of rubble; and the places where the bombs had cleared a larger path and there had sprung up sordid colonies of wooden dwellings like chicken houses?" (Page 3)

Winston is describing, from his window, how London looked like. It sounds like London is a dirty place because in the first sentence, Winston is saying how the Ministry of Truth is towering over the GRIMY landscape. I also know London is dirty because it says that the houses were rotten, there is plaster dust swirling around, and there is filthy colonies of wooden dwellings. From Winston's description, I also imagined London as a destroyed-looking place because he mentions how places were bombed and there is heaps of rubble.

-- Janet (:

Illustrator: ILLUSTRATION #1:

Pages 5-7

Hey guys, its Janet. For some reason, when I uploaded the drawing, it came out sideways. Yeah, so I drew a picture of Winston sitting to the left of the telescreen, where he won't be seen, but he could still be heard. And I drew him writing in his diary.

I choose to draw this scene because I think it is important how he is doing something that he has to keep a secret or else he would be punished to death.

FEW QUESTIONS

Hey guys... i had a few questions, I will post more when I have more time. I so tired but since I'm doing it why not right?

It might be just me not reading more carefully, but whose Brother Big? And what's INGSOC? They keep mentioning ingsoc and I'm very confused. I think someone will be able to help right?

HOPE YOU GUYS HAD A GOOD NIGHT!!!!!!!!!! AND SWEET DREAMS!!!!!!!!! <3

-Opal Lim

Word Watcher: Post 1

Hey, you guys! It's me Opal. :D This was suppose to be posted up yesterday or today morning but my internet was acting weird do I couldn't. I can't do it as fast because (as I said before) sometimes my computer goes crazy but I got some words that caught my eyes. I wasn't sure what a word watcher was suppose to do but I heard that a word watcher is suppose to look up words and make sentences with it. But here it is! (It's for pages 1-65)

1. oblong (pg 2): elongate, usually from the square or circular form. The cheese oblonged off the pizza.
2. sanguine (pg 2): cheerfully optimistic, hopeful, or confident. The new kid in school walked sanguinely down the hallway.
3. ramify (pg 4): to divide or spread out into branched or branchlike parts; extend into subvixions. There are laws ramify into many differnt types.
4. slummy (pg 6): not in the dictionary. If anyone knows, please tell me because now I'm curious.
5. porpoise (pg 8): any of several small, gegarious cetaceans of the genus Phocoena, usually blackish above and paler beneath, and having a blunt, rounded snout, especially the common porpoise, P. phocoena, of both the North Atlantic and Pacific. Whales and dolphins are common porpoises.
6. jewess (pg 8): a Jewish girl or woman. "There comes the jewess, Abby," said a mean 10 years old girl.
7. burrow (pg 8): a hole or tunnel in the ground madde by a rabbit, fox, or similar animal for habitation and refudge. We saw the rabbit's round tail peeking out of the burrow.
8. physique (pg 11): physical or bodily structure, appearance, or development. The physique of a football player is buff and strong.
9. telescreen (pg 2): a television screen, especially, a large one suitable for viewing by large number of people. When we looked into the telescreen, there was a picture of a big bear.
10. renegade (pg 11): a person who deserts a party or cause for another. After the fight, we knew that she was going to renegade us for a long time.
11. turf (pg ): a layer of matted earth formed by grass and plant roots. We examined the turf and found interesting plants and roots.
12. zealot (pg 28): a person who shows a lot of zeal (zeal: fervor for a person, cause, or object; eager desireor endeavor; enthusiatic diligence; ardor). Just before the marking period ends many student turn zealot so they can achieve the last minute grade "fix-up".
13. annihilate (pg 27): to reduce, to utter, ruin, or nonexistance; destroy utterly. The atomic bomb was an annihilation to the town.
14. unalterable (pg 30): not capable of being altered, changed, or modified. Making a unalterable mistake can be a habbit or just personalility.
15. boughs: a branch of a tree, especially one of the larger or main branches. The boughs can scare you at nights when you are alone.
16. shrewish: having the desposition of a shrew (shrew: a women of violent temper and speech; termagant). I sometimes show the shrewish side of me.
17. collate (pg ): to gather or arrange in their proper sequence (the pages of a report, the sheet of a book, the pages of several sets of copies, etc). When you have a lot of files, wou must collate them to be organized.
18. pneumatic (pg 43): of or pertaining to air, gases, or wind. The pneumatic tube in the tank was broken.
19. cubicle (pg 42): a small space or compartment partitioned off. The drawer was full of cubicles for small tools.
20. gin (pg 18): an alcoholic liquor obtained by distilling grain mash with juniper berries. A girl tried a sip of gin and walked away with a sickening expression.
21. saccharine (pg 50): of the nature of or resembling that of sugar. The secret powder had a saccharine taste.
22. pannikin (pg 50): a small pan or metal cup. The warm soup was made and poured into a pannikin.
23. subsidiary (pg 52): serving to assist or supplement; auxiliary; supplementary. (sorry guys, I can't think of a sentence for this)
24. strident (pg 53): making or having a harsh sound; grating; creaking. The teacher made a strident noise by scratching the chalkboard to get the class' attention.
25. ill-omened (pg 55): having or attended by bad omen; ill-starred (omen: anything percieved or happening that is believed to prtend a good or evil event or circumstance in the future; potent. ill-starred: doomed to misfortune or disaster; ill-fated; unlucky). Some religion believe that people are born being ill-omened or become ill-omened.
26. inscrutable (pg 60): incapable of being investigated, analyzed, or scrutinized; impenetrable. If you did nothing wrong, there's no point of being inscrutable.
27. proliferate (pg 60): to grow or produce by muliplication of parts, as in budding or cell division, or by procreation. Cancer is when cells proliferate abnormally.
28. bombardment (pg 60): to attack or batter with artillery fire. Someone holded up a bombardment as a weapon.
29. alluring (pg 64): very attractive or tempting; enticing; seductive. The warm apple pie was alluring when I'm not allowed to eat them before dinner.
30. debauchery (pg 65): excessive indulgence in sensual pleasure; intemperance. The smell of Thanksgiving dinner was very debauchery.

(i got all the definitions from dictionary.com)

I know I didn't read all 100 pages but I did something :D Hope this helps you guys.

Hello!

Hey! Welcome to our blog page! Here, we will be discussing the novel, 1984 by George Orwell. Our group consist of

Michelle: Researcher/Summarizer
Opal: Word Watcher
Annalee: Illuminator
Janet: Illustrator/Scene Setter

This is the schedule of what pages we need to read up to.

Friday, January 22: Got book.
Thursday, January 28: 1 - 104
Thursday, February 4: 105 - 224
Thursday, February 11: 225 - 326
Friday, February 12: THE END

**DON'T FORGET TO LOG YOUR READINGS EVERY TIME YOU READ!**