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19 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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“Who controls the past” ran the Party slogan, “controls the future: who controls the present controls the past” (Part 1, Chapter 1) |
CONTEXT: Winston is thinking about the Party’s control of history during the Physical Jerks. SIGNIFICANCE: - is applied to the Party technique of using false statistics to eliminate free thought - the past must be seen as miserable so that the party is seen as an institution to “liberate” the citizens —> people will give their unwavering obedience and trust —> party’s version of history becomes truth —> no thirst for political change - alter history in order to imagine a better future and thereby control behaviour —> combatted by his diary (aka. own record of the past) |
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The little beetle-like men who scuttled so nimbly through the labyrinthine corridors of ministries - they, too, would never be vaporized either. (Part 1, Chapter 5) |
CONTEXT: question arises as Winston decides that Syme is sure to be vaporized because he is “too intelligent” and he “speaks too plainly” (when we days the whole aim of newspeak is to narrow the range of thought) SIGNIFICANCE: - demonstrates how blind trust, ignorance, obedience, and malleability are all prized in his society - keeps you alive to be compliant and biddable - beetle-like = uniform automatons —> follow the leader in unison —> contrasts with the image of the bird in part 2 —> range of notes and self-expression, individuality |
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If there is hope, wrote Winston, it lies in the proles. (Part 1, Chapter 7) |
CONTEXT: opens chapter 7 as Winston ponders how the Party could be overthrown SIGNIFICANCE: - highlights the strength that the proles have in being so large (85% of population) - 1 person against the Party will just be vaporized |
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Until they become conscious, they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious. (Part 1, Chapter 7) |
CONTEXT: arises when Winston observes 2 women in the proles arguing over a saucepan SIGNIFICANCE: - because they are far removed from the Party, they are forced only to abide by simple rules --> are not indoctrinated with the Party's brainwashing - proles have freedom, and therefore no ambition to rebel - are oblivious to the Party's indoctrination of those in the upper-class because the Party sees no reason to instill order/control among them |
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He wondered, as he had many times wondered before whether he himself was a lunatic. Perhaps a lunatic was simply a minority of one. (Part 1, Chapter 7) |
CONTEXT: wonders this as he walks through the prole district --> reflects on the confusion of the time resulting from the falsification and manipulation of statistics
SIGNIFICANCE: - without written records, all you have to prove your statement are your own, malleable, evolving memories --> if no one remembers, you are crazy (Party quarantines individual thought) - due to surveillance, you cannot contact others to see if you aren't the only ones who have those thoughts --> terrified to reveal thoughts - tribal instincts to stay in the group for safety |
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Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two makes four. If that is granted, then all else follows. (Part 1, Chapter 7) |
CONTEXT: writes this in his diary with the intention of writing to O'Brien SIGNIFICANCE: - freedom to preach the real truth, that exists independent of the Party's ideologies - freedom in the ability to seek objective truths --> perception does not equal reality - 2 + 2 = 4 is a building block for more complex thoughts |
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They seemed to possess some kind of instinct which told them several seconds in advance when a rocket was coming, although the rockets supposedly traveled faster than sound. (Part 1, Chapter 8) |
CONTEXT: thoughts when he is alerted by a prole of an incoming rocket SIGNIFICANCE: - natural, human instincts trumps the "noise" (confusion/lies) of the Party --> power of a possible revolution?? - proles are animalistic (have instinct to predict natural disasters) - THE PROLES AND ANIMALS ARE FREE |
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The music went on and on, minute after minute, with astonishing variations, never once repeating itself, almost as though the bird were deliberately showing off its virtuosity. Sometimes it stopped for a few seconds, spread out and resettled its wings, then swelled its speckled breast and again burst into song. Winston watched it with a sort of vague reverence. For whom, for what, was that bird singing? No mate, no rival was watching it. What made it sit at the edge of the lonely wood and pour its music into nothingness? (Part 2, Chapter 2) |
CONTEXT: quote from Winston's thoughts when he and Julia hide in the forest clearing, comparing the landscape to the Golden Country. SIGNIFICANCE: - bird is free to sing, uncensored, freedom of expression - is it not a "duty" to anyone, is not being monitored - OPPOSITE: beetle-like automatons = total conformity - music = showing off, individuality and free expression, not repeating itself - for whom, for what = pure intrinsic value, radical self-determinism - above two things are what the party aims to eradicate |
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She did not understand that there was no such thing as happiness, that the only victory lay in the far future, long after you were dead, that from the moment of declaring war on the Party it was better to think of yourself as a corpse. "We are the dead," he said. (Part 2, Chapter 3) |
CONTEXT: thoughts after having sex and rebelling against the Party SIGNIFICANCE: fatalism, acceptance of their death. ex. dead by writing in the dairy |
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But she only questioned the teachings of the Party when they in some way touched upon her own life. Often she was ready to accept the official mythology, simply because the difference between truth and falsehood did not seem important to her. (Part 2, Chapter 5) |
CONTEXT: Winston recalls when Julia surprised him by telling him that she didn't think the war was happening and that she struggled not to laugh during the Two Minutes Hate. SIGNIFICANCE: - she only wants a private rebellion, only cares about the Party's actions when they interfere with her own independent life - following small rules to break the big ones - Julia was born into the life and readily accepts it since she was not born before the revolution - key difference: Winston has a fascination with the truth and history |
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He had the sensation of stepping into the dampness of a grave, and it was not much better because he had always known that the grave was there and waiting for him. (Part 2, Chapter 6) |
CONTEXT: thoughts after his initial meeting with O'Brien, and is invited to his house SIGNIFICANCE: - fatalism --> recognizes that there is no going back now that he has joined the Brotherhood (certain death approaches) |
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The terrible thing that the Party had done was to persuade you that mere impulses, mere feelings, were of no account, while at the same time robbing you of all power over the material world. (Part 2, Chapter 7) |
CONTEXT: when he is remembering the chocolate memory and the refugee woman sheltering her son. SIGNIFICANCE: - Party attempts to diminish the validity of human emotions, which is the key to staying human - severing the connection between perception and reality --> senses are not being used |
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"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." (Part 2, Chapter 7) |
CONTEXT: Julia's response to Winston when he says that, if the Party could make him stop loving her, that would be the real betrayal. SIGNIFICANCE: - validity of human emotion.feeling, actions/words hold no significance - confession vs. betrayal - doing what the party compels you to say = confession- believing those words, having a change in feeling = betrayal - doing what the party compels you to say = confession- believing those words, having a change in feeling = betrayal |
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It was more natural to exist from moment to moment, accepting another ten minutes' life even with the certainty that there was torture at the end of it. (Part 3, Chapter 1) |
CONTEXT: Winston is in the waiting room, hungry and thirsty, deciding that he would not use a razor blade to kill himself if he was given the chance. SIGNIFICANCE: - razor blade from the Brotherhood to forestall any other torture --> survival instinct - it is too exhausting to continuously rebel |
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You suffer from a defective memory. You are unable to remember real events and you persuade yourself that you remember other events which never happened. Fortunately it is curable. You have never cured yourself of it, because you did not choose to. (Part 3, Chapter 2) |
CONTEXT: words spoken by O'Brien to Winston in room 101. SIGNIFICANCE: - a real person will not exist, while fictional people can live on ex. Comrade Ogilvy is an invented hero whom Winston Smith comes up with in order to conceal a change in official history in the archives of The Times. He's the perfect citizen, supported the party as a child, designed a highly effective hand grenade as an adult, and then died in action at twenty-three while protecting important dispatches for his country. The Comrade didn't drink or smoke, was celibate and only conversed about Party philosophy, Ingsoc. HE WILL CONTINUE TO LIVE ON EVEN IF WINSTON WOULD BE VAPORIZED |
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"Do you remember writing in your diary" he said "that it did no matter whether I was a friend or an enemy, since I was at least a person who understood you and could be talked to? You were right. I enjoy talking to you. Your mind appeals to me. It resembles my own mind except you happen to be insane" (Part 3, Chapter 2) |
CONTEXT: words spoken by O'Brien to Winston in room 101. SIGNIFICANCE: - O'Brien and Winston have similar minds - O'Brien feels sympathy for Winston - both appreciate individualism, but O'Brien used them to thrive with Big Brother - both have creative minds and desire individuality - O’Brien chose to work with the Party so that he could maintain some level of individuality and live in luxury - Winston had the same choice but chose to rebel instead |
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Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. (Part 3, Chapter 3) |
CONTEXT: O'Brien explaining to Winston how the Party differs from other oligarchies in the past in his "understanding" stage of treatment. SIGNIFICANCE: - O'Brien is explaining to Winston that, when the Party overthrew and revolutioned against the capitalists, it was to gain power and establish a dictatorship - power = its own justification |
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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. (Part 3, Chapter 4) |
CONTEXT: re-educating himself, thoughts after writing FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, TWO AND TWO MAKE FIVE, & GOD IS POWER. SIGNIFICANCE: - Winston is realizing why it is better to reform his thinking rather than continue to rebel --> take the path of least resistance - mindset from the very beginning = fatalism "dead man", may as well go into it the easy way |
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"So long as they were actually in this room, they both felt, no harm could come to them" (Part 2, Chapter 5) |
CONTEXT: Winston is thinking about his future with Julia while they are meeting frequently in the love shack. SIGNIFICANCE: - regards the love shack as a place of protection and sanctuary - hidden from telescreen and the influence/indoctrination from the Party - despite knowing that they cannot escape their fate - IRONY: there is a telescreen hidden behind the picture of the Chruch - they are actually not safe in reality |
