Engels verwerkingsopdrachten

Gelezen boek: Nineteen-eighty-four

Schrijver: George Orwell

Jaar van uitgave: 1949 (Penguin Modern Classics)

Gemaakt door: Michiel van den Berge

Klas: V4d

Bladzijdes: 300

Gekozen opdrachten: A2, B10, C10

Een keuze uit onderdeel a

Gekozen nummer 2: Beschrijf het karakter van enkele belangrijke (minimaal 3) personen, uitsluitend op basis van de in het verhaal verstrekte gegevens. Citeer dus. Geef enkele fragmenten uit het boek.

Winston Smith

Orwell named his hero after Winston Churchill, England\'s great leader during World War II. He added a common last name: Smith. The action of this novel is build around the main person, Winston Smith, and therefore the understanding of his personality, and his character is important for the understanding of the whole book. Winston was born before the Second World War. In the War, there was a lack of food, and Winston has taken nearly all of the food that was allocated to the family, although his younger sister was starving to death. In 1984 Winston often dreams of this time, and he often remembers how he has stolen the whole chocolate, that was one day given to the family. I think that Winston now (1984) somehow regrets his egoistic behaviour. He also sees a kind of link between his behaviour, and the behaviour of the children that are educated by the Party. These children prosecute their own family (Parsons). He finally realises his and the Party\'s guilt. To my mind Winston is a sort of hero, because he is aware of the danger that he has encountered. So for example he knew it from the very beginning of that his diary would be found. And as one can see the things that are written in this book (that freedom is to say that two and two makes four) are later used against him. He also knew that his illegal love affair, that was an act of revolution, would be disclosed by the Thought Police. He opened his mind to O\'Brien before he was sure that he is also against the Party.

\"Do it to Julia! Do it to Julia! Not me! Julia! I don’t care what you do to her. Tear her face off, strip

her to the bones. Not me! Julia! Not me!\"

\"Suddenly, by the sort of violent effort with which one wrenches one’s head away from the pillow in a nightmare, Winston succeeded in transferring his hatred from the face of the screen to the dark-haired girl behind him. Vivid, beautiful hallucinations flashed through his mind. He would flog her to death with a rubber truncheon. He would tie her naked to a stake and shoot her full of arrows like Saint Sebastian. He would ravish her and cut her throat at the moment of climax.\" (Page 17)

\"As he turned it accured to him that the girl had only passed him three minutes ago and that by running he could probably catch up with her. He could keep on her track till they were in some quiet place, and then smash her skull with a cobblestone. The piece of glass in his pocket would be heavy enough for the job.\" (page 105)

Julia

Julia is a women around 25, and she works in a special department of the Minitrue, producing cheap Pornography for the proles. She had already a couple of illegal love affairs. Unlike Winston, she is basically a simple woman, something of a lightweight who loves her man and uses sex for fun as well as for rebellion. She is perfectly willing to accept the overnight changes in Oceania\'s history and doesn\'t trouble her head about it. If Big Brother says black is white, fine. If he says two and two make five, no problem. She may not buy the Party line, but it doesn\'t trouble her. She falls asleep over Winston\'s reading of the treasured book by Goldstein. Orwell draws Winston\'s love object lovingly. Julia is all woman, sharp and funny as she is attractive, but she may also be a reflection of the author\'s somewhat limited view of the opposite sex.

O\'Brien

Probably the most interesting thing about O\'Brien is that we have only Winston\'s opinion of him. This leader of the Inner Party is supposed to be head of the secret Brotherhood dedicated to the overthrow of Big Brother. In his black coverall, he haunts both Winston\'s dreams and his waking moments to the very end of the novel. Another very interesting thing about O\'Brien is that the reader doesn\'t precisely know if he is a friend or an enemy of Winston. Yet even Winston himself doesn\'t know it precisely. I would say that O\'Brien, the powerful and mighty Party member, is a kind of father for Winston. Before the capture of Winston, O\'Brien \"helps\" Winston to make contact with the Brotherhood, and he teaches him about the Ideology and the rules of this secret Organisation. After the capture O\'Brien gives Winston the feeling, that he is somehow protecting him. The relation between O\'Brien and Winston has all attributes of a typical relation between a father and a child: The father is all knowing, all mighty; he teaches, punishes and educates his child, and he is protecting it, from anything that could harm the child. But I think that O\'Brien is only playing his role, due to reintegrate Winston.

Een keuze uit onderdeel b

Gekozen nummer 10: Tien jaar later…… Een bijpersoon blikt tien jaar na afloop van het verhaal uit het boek terug op de hoofdpersoon en de belangrijkste gebeurtenissen uit het boek. Schrijf die terugblik. Laat zien welk verschil de tijd heeft aangebracht. (minimaal 200 woorden)

Ik heb gekozen voor Julia de geliefde van Winston ze schrijft wat over de overheid zo krijgt de lezer van mijn verslag pas een echt goed beeld waar het boek nou echt over gaat. Ze schrijft er negatief over Winston in omdat ze nu helemaal is “gebrainwashed” door “The Party”.

The society is controlled by one party: The Party. To control the society, the Thought Police is used to control everyone\'s behaviour. Everyone can be an agent of the Thought Police. Actually you can\'t trust someone. The Party controls the life of everybody. By learning \'Double Think\' the people have learned to ignore their first thoughts about bad things and to think better in favour of The Party, the society and the country. The important feature in this society is that The Party controls the thoughts of their individuals too, especially that of the Party members. Winston\'s crime is that he has thought as a free man. He thinks that he is free to write his private history and comments in his diary. In the end, it is clear that The Party and O\'Brien know all his thoughts in the past, his dreams and where he is afraid for (rats).He learns that 2+2=5 (Two and Two make Five) is true and he is satisfied with his new knowledge. Winston has been mastered completely. He loves Big Brother. After showing a Winston to the world that is completely satisfied, he can be eliminated (that implies also from history: there will be no proof that he has existed). Two Minutes Hate: in public, everyone can scream his hate and his anger while seeing the picture of the Great Enemy of the nation: Goldstein. After this the hate level in you has been lowered. It is very tempting to shout too: within 30 seconds you scream too. And it is a good moment for The Party to observe all people if they show the real amount of hate and that they are not hesitating. No friendship: The Party wants no uncontrolled clubs, no other parties, no bonds of friendship. They even want no real family life, no love between people. A family is a small party that can be an enemy to The Party. Therefor parents are controlled by their children. The children learn their task in a youth club. Their teachers are proud when the children can tell some mistakes of their parents. By this behaviour, children are little monsters. For the adults, sex is dirty and only necessary to make children. The Proles: This is the group of the ordinary people. They accept the leadership of The Party. They are a dull group, from which The Party has not to fear a revolution. The Party only consists of 15% of the population, but that is enough to control the society. The Party still existes now but it has full control now no more people thinkinh otherwise than thinking about the party!

Een keuze uit onderdeel c

Gekozen nummer 10: Geef een eindoordeel over het boek zelf vanuit 3 criteria naar eigen keuze. Zeg daarbij ook wie je het boek juist wel of juist niet zou aanraden en om welke redenen.

What struck me the most

Was why Orwell choose for a future where the only purpose of sex was to breed and not for fun. It has no real meaning to it. Is it because of the typical English antipathy of anything that has to do with sex? Or does he mean something by it?Maybe he is warning us not to have too many children, for the earth could get overcrowded. It is remarkably enough Orwell who uses this typical English value in his book, while on the other hand he isn’t really fond of typical English values, as he has shown in his political criticism.

\"He hated her because she was young and pretty and sexless, because he wanted to go to bed with her and would never do so, because round her sweet supple waist, which seemed to ask you. to encircle it with your arm, there was only the odious scarlet sash, aggressive symbol of chastity.\"

Am I satisfied with the end?

Actually I am. Because if it would have ended like it always ends in American movies. Where the hero always prevails and will always have the girl. The main character actually loses everything because of the girl and because of the system. It is good that it ends like that, because otherwise it takes the warning away for future generations. Who also read this book and will also think about it. And like many things in science fiction, sometimes they become real, because future inventors or politician or whomever will read it and will be inspired by it. As it is with this book, people will read it and will understand that it clearly is not the way to go. So you have less change it actually happens.

How do I value this book?

As a very inspiring book. No wonder that a lot of people have read this book before me. It is just a very exiting and readable book. Orwell can give you a feeling that you’re actually in the book, standing next to Winston. Not many writers can do that, I admire that in a writer. Furthermore I think some passages are just pure poetry \"If I could save Julia by doubling my own pain, would I do it? Yes, I would\". I like reading heroic things like that, but it also the surprise that he fails is a pleasant one.

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