Goldstein's Book Notes 1984 #9

Chapter 1—Ignorance is Strength

·         Three kinds of people—High, Middle, Low—aims of these groups are irreconcilable

·         High—remain where they are in society

·         Middle—change places with the High

·         Low—abolish all distinctions and create equal society among men

·         Need for hierarchical society was required specifically for the High

·         Development of television ended private life

·         Collectivism à “abolition of private property” (Orwell 206).

·         Four ways a ruling group can fall from power:

o   Conquered

o   Masses are stirred to revolt

o   Allows strong Middle Group to come into being

o   Loses its own self-confidence and willingness to govern

·         Consciousness of masses needs to be influenced in a negative way

·         Big Brother is the guise in which the Party wants to world to see

·         Essence of oligarchic rule is not inheritance—persistence of certain world-view and a certain way of life

·         Proles lack education—therefore lack ability to rebel

·         Crimestop à protective stupidity—stopping short at the threshold of any dangerous thought

·         Reasons of alterations of the past:

o   Precautionary—necessary for people to believe they are better than their ancestors

o   Safeguarding— infallibly of Party

·         Doublethink à accepting two contradictory beliefs simultaneously

·         Euphemisms—contradictions are not accidental—deliberately exercises in doublethink

Chapter 3—War is Peace

·         Three super states:

o   Eurasia à consisted of northern Europe—and Portugal

o   Oceania à consisted of Americas, Atlantic islands, British isles, Australasia, and southern Africa

o   Eastasia à comprises of China and countries south of it

·         Three states are constantly in war

·         War has changed its character

·         Primary of aim of war is to use up products of the machine without raising general standard of living

·         Early 20^th century—people dreamed of a rich, leisured future—world is more primitive than it was before

·         There could not exist a society where wealth should be equally distributed while power remained in a small privileged caste—could not remain stable

·         Essential act of war is destruction of products of human labor

·         All Party (Inner) members believe in this coming conquest as an article of faith

·         Party’s goals:

o   Conquer surface of the earth

o   Extinguish the possibility of independent thought

·         Philosophies of super states:

o   Oceania—Ingsoc

o   Eurasia—Neo-Bolshevism

o   Eastasia—Obliteration of the Self (Death-worship)

·         Physical facts could not be ignored—philosophically, 2 + 2 = 5, but in designing a gun or an airplane they had to make four.

·         Thought police is only efficient in Oceania

·         “Cut off from contact with the outer world, and with the past, the citizen of Oceania is like a man in interstellar space, who has no way of knowing which direction is up and which is down” (198).

·         Peace that would be of permanence would be seen as a permanent, everlasting war.

1984 #3

George Orwell continuously depicts a restricted utopist society through characters, such as Syme, to remind readers of the unorthodox world Winston lives in. As Syme and Winston are discussing the eventual influence of Newspeak within society, Syme attempts to convince Winston regarding the evolution of Newspeak by informing that “In fact there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking—not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness” (Orwell 53). Orwell infers how individualism and self-thinking is considered as a crime or misdemeanor, thus illustrating the possible outcome an individual may face if he or she shows signs of orthodoxy. The contrast Orwell makes regarding orthodoxy and unorthodoxy is representative through Syme and Winston: they both are members of the Party, yet Winston is portrayed as a character that contains a nature to rebel against society’s demands. He continuously questions and challenges the Party’s regulations in hopes of ultimately understanding one’s true identity and role within society. 

1984 #1

In George Orwell’s fictional novel 1984, a text-to-text connection to Heart of Darkness is portrayed through Orwell instigating an utopist society in the recollection of Winston Smith’s experiences. As Winston identifies the “Two-Minutes Hate” (Orwell 11) as a period of momentary anger towards Goldstein, the speaker describes the reaction of the workers as

“At this moment the entire group of people broke into a deep, slow, rhythmical chant of ‘B-B!...B-B!...B-B!’ over and over again… a heavy, murmurous sound, somehow curiously savage, of which one seemed to hear the stamp of naked feet and the throbbing of tom-toms (16).

The group’s reaction correlates with Conrad’s description of the natives in Heart of Darkness. Since Conrad associates the natives as savages, a connection is made to Orwell’s 1984 since he illustrates the group’s reaction as “savage”, and “stamp of naked feet and the throbbing of tom-toms”. The dehumanizing characteristics Orwell illustrates about the group relates to how Conrad also described the natives in a dehumanizing way. 

Heart of Darkness (End)

            Conrad incorporates visual imagery through colors and denotation in hopes of contrasting Marlow's gradually changing view of imperialism through the novella. Marlow’s interaction with Kurtz’s intendant is representative of Marlow’s original belief that an individual should not lie, yet defies it by stating that “The last word he pronounced was—your name” (Conrad 124). Originally, Kurtz’s intendant is committed to the idea that Kurtz’s memory must be preserved because of his remarkable nobility, however, the Kurtz she imagines does not exist at all. Marlow converses with the intendant knowing the concrete Kurtz: all the terrible things he has heard throughout the journey, and Marlow keeps in mind Kurtz’s last few words before he died as he is talking to the intendant. Marlow goes against his original belief of lying by convincing the intendant that Kurtz’s last words were of the intendant’s name. Marlow’s confusion is brought through the section of the text where he states: “But I couldn't  I could not tell her. It would have been too dark—too dark altogether…” (124). The denotation of “dark” is representative of the negativity of emotions that are created during scene, and ultimately relates to Marlow originally believing that he hates and detests lies, as he mentions earlier in the novella. The fact that Marlow lies about Kurtz’s last words shows that the intendant believes wholeheartedly in Kurtz’s nobility and thus entirely believes and embraces the rationale for Western imperialism as compared to where Marlow’s view of imperialism is deteriorating. 

Heart of Darkness (116-142)

            Joseph Conrad deliberately links Marlow’s eventual “enlightenment” through Kurtz’s encounter to the Myth of the Cave by symbolizing Marlow’s emotions within the novella. Marlow relates to how he “had turned to the wilderness really, not to Mr. Kurtz” (Conrad 108), which ultimately contradicts his statement where he was originally desperate to contact Kurtz. Marlow further states that “for a moment it seemed to [him] as if [he] also were buried in a vast grave full of unspeakable secrets” (108), thus forcing Marlow to realize that his perception of the Company is deteriorating through the events that led up to his encounter with Kurtz. This is representative of Myth of the Cave because of the overall meaning it offers: an individual will adhere to enlightenment once he or she is aware of the placebo-like reality compared to the physical reality. In this circumstance, Marlow is aware of his original reality being a sailor who is journeying through the heart of the Congo to contact Kurtz, but his true reality is when he realizes Kurtz’s secret and realizes Kurtz’s “unspeakable secrets”. Ultimately, Marlow is forced to be aware of Kurtz’s position as he figuratively puts his feet in Kurtz’s shoes, thus creating an concoction of realities between Kurtz and Marlow.