Independant reading post 2

For my Research, I have decided to investigate and look at the life of Ernest Hemingway and his writing and literature. I was originally going to research overfishing but that turned out to be an extremely dull topic. Hemingway was born in Oak Park to a father who was physician. During World War one, Hemingway worked in an ambulance crew that went around battlefields helping wounded soldiers and picking up the dead. Because of this, Hemingway saw a lot of gore and blood during the war. His experience during the war and the wounds and death that he saw during one of the bloodiest wars in history would go on to shape his writing later on. The war created his unique writing style of being very straightforward and direct in his literature. His books often featuring the back drop of stereotypical, hyper-manly sports such as big game hunting and fishing. His writing style is believed to be so heavily influenced by the war because of its haunting emptiness and sort of uninvolved feeling in his scenes and descriptions.

            The Old Man and the Sea is one of Hemingway’s most famous works and was his last major book release. Hemingway often used himself as base for his works. He used his time in Paris to write The Sun Also Rises and used his war experience for A Farewell to Arms. The Old Man and the Sea used the book as a metaphor for his present state and his frustration with his writing. During the 1920’s and 30’s, Hemingway was very poplar. During the 40’s and the time that He wrote The Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway had gone for about ten years without publishing a major work. During the 40’s, Hemingway covered the Second World War. After the war, in 1950, Hemingway published Across the River and Into the Trees. The book was critically mauled immediately and his reputation as a great writer was in danger of being taken away.

            The Old Man and the Sea was Hemingway’s answer to the disastrous release of his last book. It was a final effort to prove that he was still a great writer. The novel’s protagonist, Santiago, shows a lot of parallels to Hemingway. Santiago is an old fisherman who used to be considered a great fisherman but has since gone eighty-four days without catching a fish and has since been considered a has been and incapable. This is very similar to the way many critics considered Hemingway’s best years to be gone and that his writing ability has faded away. Santiago finds a huge marlin and struggles with it out to sea where he kills it. On the way back to shore, sharks come and eat the fish to the point where he has nothing to show for his efforts or his mastery to the other fisherman. This is a very clear metaphor for Hemingway’s struggle in his old age to write and create a masterpiece that will then be devoured and taken apart to the point of nothing, which is what happened with Across the River and Into the Trees and what he believed would happened with The Old Man and the Sea.

Fourth quarter independent reading post #1

For my last independent reading assignment, I am reading The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. The Old Man and the Sea is a story of an old man that comes to terms with nature and his old age as he accepts his place within nature’s vast power that it holds over his life. Santiago is a fisherman who had and eighty-four days without catching a fish. On the eighty-fifth day Santiago baits a large marlin that drags his boat far out to sea to the point that he can no longer see land. Santiago fights for three day with the marlin all while struggling with his stubborn will that does not match his aged body. On the third day, the old man is able to kill the massive fish, but as he sails back to land, sharks gradually eat away the marlin as he futilely tries to fight them off.  When he returns to land, all that is left of the huge fish nothing more than a skeleton skeleton.  Santiago curses himself for allowing himself to stray so far out to sea but he is content with the notion of his magnificent catch and admires nature for its penchant for mysteries and marvels.

Since the book has a large emphasis on fishing and its cohesiveness with nature, for the research part of my independent reading, I was thinking of researching modern fishing throughout the world. I know that there is a problem with over fishing and I thought this might be an interesting tie in as a lot of the book is Santiago and his Cohesiveness and balance that he is able to find with nature while he is fishing. He spends a lot of time observing its tranquility. I think this might be an interesting difference as we now use fishing as a form of destruction to nature when it could and should be a way for us to get closer to nature.

I was also thinking of researching the history and culture of Cuba as the book takes place in Havana. It would help my understanding of the setting and the book more or I was going to research Hemingway’s motive and processes for writing his stories, how he thought of the stories and how he chose the setting; if Havana had any affect on him that caused him to write the old man and the Sea and set it in Cuba and how he chose his imagery and symbolism.

1984. themes

One of the themes and messages that I noticed in 1984 is the separation between the people living in the society of Oceania and our need for human interaction. Oceania is which is a nation that spans from London across North and South America, Australia and the southern half of Africa. The citizens of Airstrip One, what used to be England, all live in separation and lonely, empty, joyless lives. The citizens who are neither inner party nor outer party, otherwise known as Proles, are exploited by working in manual labor for almost no payment. They are hardly able to support themselves on the small amount pay they get from their labor work let alone a family. Lack of education keeps the exploited people from realizing the injustice and revolting and the exploitation of people keeps survival a constant worry for people which keeps bonds between people from forming; also keeping anti-party ideas and rebellions from arising. Separation is more prevalent among outer-party members; people who work in a government type job such as working in the Ministry of Truth or the Ministry of Love. Outer party members are better educated and better payed than Proles. Because of their higher education, outer party members are more able and probable to make observations about the Oceania society and government and forming ideas and create rebellious factions that are dangerous to the tight grip on power and control Big Brother and the Party have on Oceania. Because of this probability, outer party members are constantly monitored on telescreens and are always under the threat of the Thought Police. The constant threat of the thought police also keep people separated from each other which isolates any dissenters and keeps ideas from spreading. The party then manipulates and directs the emotions of its citizens toward Big Brother, who is supposedly the leader of the entirety of Oceania. The manipulation of the people’s love towards Big Brother provides them with a false satisfaction of human interaction.

 Winston Smith, the protagonist in the story, is an outer party member who lives a very lonely life. Winston is described as a somewhat sickly looking man who spends his time alone and by himself. Winston’s life does not seem to be out of ordinary and actually seems quite the norm. There is a restaurant that Winston regularly goes to called the Chestnut Tree Café. Most of the people in the café are alone and trying to drown their depression in alcohol. People who do have a family are alienated and live in a family void of any love or caring. Neighbors of Winston’s have children that are so severely manipulated by the culture of Big Brother that they constantly accuse and suspect anyone, including their mother and father of committing thought crime and being traitors. Their children are so heartless that they eventually turn their father over to the thought police where, like all criminals, he is tortured until he submits his love to Big Brother and, sometime after being released, is taken again and killed. Winston is one of the few who sees the lack of relationships and human emotion and love in society and sees through the Party’s ruses to distract the populous. Winston does not express or act on any of his thoughts due to the fear of the repercussions until he meets Julia. During his relationship with Julia, Winston finds love and gains confidence and joy while losing the fear of what he is doing. Their relationship is very much forbidden and Julia reckless and carefree attitude influences Winston into becoming more reckless and carefree. As Winston falls more and more in love with Julia, he cares less and less about the repercussions he is going encounter when they are eventually caught. Winston states many times that he no longer cares about what is going to happen to him and that all he cares about is being with her and their love. Since his love is now directed at Julia, it causes him to hate Big Brother, which causes more extreme versions of his anti-party thoughts. Before Julia, Winston simply observed and pondered what was going on around him. He did nothing besides keep a diary to danger the party or society in anyway. After Julia, Winston has been so influenced by her that he takes the initiative to approach a person who he suspects is a revolutionary and eventually try to join a revolutionary group. Because of his forward actions, he and Julia are caught and arrested. The party forces them to love big brother by breaking their love for one another and forcing that love toward Big Brother. When they are released, their love has been broken so that both are uncomfortable in the others presence and wish to stay separate from each other.

            I highly recommend this book. It is a compelling story that causes you to think about our society today and the parallels to the society in 1984. I would say that I did a good job with the close reading. I probably stayed closest in my reading approach to Nabokov.  I reread passages and found many symbols that can be traced throughout the story. I did, however, miss some motifs that I found later and I think my analyzation of character could be better. The story holds many truths that are relevant to our world today and holds messages that we should not lose in our society.

1984. the telescreen

A large symbol  throughout the story of 1984 is the telescreens that seem to be in every room and in every hallway that are always watching and recording you. Telescreens are small wall mounted devices that video and audio record your movements and conversations while also playing and speaking pro Big Brother propaganda. the Telescreens are installed in every room of every building and come with rules and laws that the people have to follow. People are required to stay within view of the telescreen at all times. If someone strays away from the camera, they are arrested and interrogated for thought-crime (the crime of thinking anti-party thoughts or anti-Big Brother thoughts). Telescreens are the main way that the thought-police keep an eye on the public and ensure that they don’t permit thought crime.Telescreens are an important symbol in the story of 1984 because, to the character and especially Winston, they are a constant reminder that the party is watching them and that they no longer have the luxury of freedom. The telescreen is the symbol for the party. The telescreen and poster of the man and phrase “Big Brother is watching” that goes along with and is always next to the telescreen is the calling card and the face of the party. The telescreens represent the possibility that at any moment in Orwell’s universe, you can be arrested and either tortured or killed. the telescreens are a window for the reader into the universe of 1984. The telescreens are a reminder to Winston and the reader of the oppression of the society he lives in and the possibility that anyone you meet or converse with can be a spy for the thought-police or could be loyal and working for the party and hold your life in their hands. This unknowing creates a discomfort for Winston and the reader. that he never knows and always has to be suspicious of everyone he sees and meets. It forces him to monitor his own actions; making sure that he doesn’t think or feel anything wrong or criminalizing. This unknowing forces Winston and everyone else in the 1984 universe to live their life in fear and without friends, love, or affection. The telescreens also prove themselves to be an effective way of enforcing their laws and keeping their power. The use of telescreens causes the demise of the relationship between Winston and Julia. The telescreens are the reason that they are caught and tortured. to continue their relationship, Winston and Julia rent out an apartment seemingly without a telescreen. after time passes a voice eventually comes from behind a cloth, revealing itself to be a telescreen and the man they rented the apartment from to be a member of the thought -police. They are then arrested and after this they are tortured until they give their love to Big Brother which ceases their love for each other.

1984. Orwell's style

The book that I read for the first-quarter independent reading was 1984 by George Orwell. 1984 is about a dystopian society where the poster of a man's face and the caption "Big Brother is watching you" is plaster everywhere in the city of London. The story is a bout a man named Winston, who is a Party member and works in the Ministry of Truth where he alters history to fit party ideals and keep the people ignorant, and his love with Julia, who is also a Party member. The two of them defy the Party through their love and are arrested and tortured until they love Big Brother. They are released but they don’t love each other anymore. The author’s style in this novel is very calm and methodical. Orwell does not use long, complicated and complex sentences. “Back in the flat he stepped quickly past the telescreen and sat down at the table again, still rubbing his neck. The music from the telescreen had stopped. Instead a clipped military voice was reading out, with a sort of brutal relish, a description of the armaments of the ne Floating Fortress which had just been anchored between Iceland and the Faroe Islands.” (24) The demeanor of the writing is calm and collected. I believe that the style of writing is linked to Winston’s character. The style of writing sort of mirrors Winston’s personality and disposition. Throughout the book, Winston is a very calm character. He seems to stand back and observe his surroundings and think about his surroundings. The narrator is conveying Winston’s thoughts most of the time; Winston’s personality is conveyed through the narrator’s voice. And the narrators voice is calm, which makes Winston’s demeanor calm as well.  Later in the book, when Winston becomes more frantic, so does the writing style. “He was falling backwards, into enormous depths, away from the rats… he had fallen through the floor, through the walls, through the oceans, through the atmosphere, into outer space.” (287) Here, Orwell uses more complex sentences that reflect Winston’s confusion at that point and uses more abstract descriptions, mirroring changes in thought of Winston. The calmness of the writing also adds a surreal effect to the story. It creates a sort of surrealism and dream-like state when the reader is observing and experiencing Orwell’s world of 1984, the reader observes disturbing concepts such as the children that live next door to Winston who are so entwined in and brainwashed by society that they accuse anyone and everyone, even their own parents, of being criminals. The calmness of the writing presents surrealism by creating a presence that kind of lays the reader back and lets him or her observe from outside. The writing is so calm that it presents things like the telescreen or the “Big Brother” posters in an objective light that actually makes the reader turn more against the oppressive society in the story.

1984. a pivot point

The book that I read for the first-quarter independent reading was 1984 by George Orwell. 1984 is about a dystopian society where the poster of a man's face and the caption "Big Brother is watching you" is plaster everywhere in the city of London. The story is a bout a man named Winston, who is a Party member and works in the Ministry of Truth where he alters history to fit party ideals and keep the people ignorant, and his love with Julia, who is also a Party member. The two of them defy the Party through their love and are arrested and tortured until they love Big Brother. They are released but they don’t love each other anymore. There is a pivotal moment in the novel when Winston is brought to room 101, which contains “the worst thing in the world” because it contains individually tailored torture methods according to the subject’s worst fear. In Winston’s case, they present a helmet that contains carnivorous rats on the other side of a small door across from Winston’s face. The purpose of the torture is to get Winston to ask for the torture to be done to Julia in place of him. After all the previous torturing that Winston has undergone and not breaking his will, he finally breaks from the fear of the rats and finally exclaims that he wishes that Julia would be tortured. “The mask as closing on his face. The wire brushed his cheek. And then- no, it was not relief, only hope, a tiny fragment of hope. Too late, perhaps it was too late. But he had suddenly understood that in the whole world there was just one person to whom he could transfer his punishment- one body that he could thrust between himself and the rats. And he was shouting frantically over and over: ‘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!’ He was falling backwards, into enormous depths, away from the rats. He was still trapped in the chair, but he had fallen through the floor, through the walls of the building, through the earth, through the oceans, through the atmosphere, into outer space, into the gulfs between the stars…He was light years distant but O’Brian was still standing at his side. There was still the cold touch of a wire against his cheek but through the darkness that enveloped him he heard another metallic click, and knew that the cage door had clicked shut and not open.” (287) This scene is important and pivotal in the novel ad a stark character change because previously, Winston had declared to Julia that when they are caught, and they torture them, if they can make him stop loving her and make him betray her, that they will have taken his soul.  This scene is the exact moment that he stops loving Julia and the exact moment when they take his soul. The falling backwards through the floor and earth described after he screams for it to stop is Winston’s feeling of losing which is the way that he lives out the rest of his life; without his soul and without love proving that the oppressive society has won.