Friday, April 4, 2008

3rd Hour Disscussion Question

This section kind of reminded me of the Cold War with the children being spies and turning people in for absolutely no reason and other things that are happening. What are some of the communistic themes that we have seen in the book?

16 comments:

emilyh said...

One of the Communist themes is discouraging mainly the Party members, including Winston, to not buy things on the free market. A Soviet Communist theme, not Marxist theme, is that there is a dictator, Big Brother, which is seen as a savior and has almost complete control just as Stalin had. Also there are forced labor camps that people go to for punishment of certain crimes (opening a diary). There were several of these camps used for punishment for crimes during the Soviet Union, especially under Stalin's rule. Also Oceania's main enemy, Emmanuel Goldstein, is Jewish, and the Soviet Union persecuted the Jewish people. Another theme is the use of propaganda against Goldstein and Eurasia, in which they are made to be savage monsters that are an imminent threat to safety. This is similar to how Russia characterized German soldiers and how Germany characterized Russian soldiers during WWII. There is also the loss of the individual and the emergence of conformity, which is the main Communist theme in the book. Finally there is the "my friend is the enemy of my enemy" Communist/Cold War theme where Eurasia was the ally of Oceania when it was fighting Eastasia but now that Oceania is fighting Eurasia, its ally is Eastasia. This is very similar to when Russia was seen as a U.S. ally during WWII, but after we had defeated the Nazis, our next biggest threat became Russia. Then we were a lot friendlier to Germany, and helped the Berlin people in the Berlin Airlift.

Caryn S said...

Well I think Emily said it all. But I have one more thing to add. Communism, as was displayed in the Soviet Union, not Marxism, is largely fear-based. Stalin oppressed his people by killing off his opposition and therefore scaring the rest of it into silence. "Big Brother" does the same thing. The society in 1984 is so rigidly set up to prohibit opposition, all other citizens are scared into keeping to themselves any ideas that could be interpreted as opposing the government.

mollyd said...

In this book, the children spies are kind of like communist spies. Some people were accused of being communist with absolutely no proof or reason. This is just like the way the kid spies judge the adults. They make accusations without knowing any real information.

CatherineD said...

Some communistic ideas and themes that I see in the book are the idea of equality and of the use of propaganda. Equality is shown by having everyone be a commrade. There is no Mr. or Mrs. No one is allowed to be better or live in better conditions. Also, everyone is below the dictator. The Party uses propaganda and fear to create Party loyalty. For example, the have the two minutes of hate to keep everyone loyal. This reminds me of Russia when they would have their people live in fear of being murdered for being different or an idealist.

erin! said...

The kids are definetly like spies, because they turn people in for no real reason. A person may just be talking about something that the kid overhears but didn't hear all of it. Or, like the lady who wrapped sausages in the BB poster, it might have just been a mistake. People didn't want "traitors" in their community, much like the Americans and Communists, so they weren't always given a fair trial. In history we had spies and it was fun because it was just a game, but everyone was still paranoid about who the spies were, and what they were saying about you. It's really scary how much this book connects to the Cold War.

roser said...

Well, I must say the previous comments are over and above what I was thinking but here it goes...I think just the fact that the "Party" holds all control, and the people don't even think to question it. They basically say where, when, and what people eat, sleep, think, and anything else they are capable within boundaries to do, which isn't too much.

kennaw said...

I think this represents communistic ideas because not only does it have to do with spies, but it has to do with the party taking control of everyones lives. A communistic government is where you have to follow whatever the state says you have to do. The same goes for this book because the people have to follow their party, and they go to jail if the disobey it.

Kalyn K said...

Well, this book doesn’t show communism the way Marx had envisioned it, but it is similar to Soviet style communism. For instance, a main idea of communism all people are suppose to be equal and in the book this is shown with them calling each other comrade. Also the government, in Soviet style communism controls everything, just like in the book the “Party” controls everything.

evand said...

During the Cold War the communists allowed for no political opposition, just like in 1984.

Mikenn@R said...

In our U.S. History class we have been talking a lot about communistic ideas and the ways that countries like Russia, Korea, and China submit to those beliefs and as I read further on in 1984 it's becoming scary accurate how much these two worlds are similar. For one thing The society Winston lives in has a leader figure that nobody questions and is idolized. In real communist governments like Russia's, Stalin was a figure similar to Big Brother. They were both held very high in society and nobody dared say anything bad about either one for fear that they would be punished and ridiculed. Another thing that struck me in this book was the lack of privacy the people have. Communistic governments tighten the rules so there no longer is an option B. They want everything and everyone to be the same as long as it squares with their beliefs. And just like in real life, it is only a matter of time before somebody is going to speak out and say that the way things are being done is wrong. Winston is well on his way to ending the communistic themes in the book so far. Also, the spread of the read was a big fear to other non-communist countries and it made people skeptical of each other because nobody knew who they could trust. Spies were placed to help gain information and keep an eye on those who did not comply with the rules. And as the story goes on more and more characters have unveiled themselves as spies so it goes to show you you can never be too sure of anything or anyone.

KelsieL said...

Some communistic themes i see in 1984 are first of all, that of total control. This theme is portrayed because Big Brother has control over everyone in the government just like any other communist government. Propaganda is another theme because in 1984 propaganda is being played all the time, there is no way to turn it off. Propaganda also plays a big roll in communist governments.

lisal said...

One of the strongest themes the government portrays in 1984 is the ability to embed a single lifestyle in the people's heads. The government lies and cheats the people while making it seem like there has never been anything different. By taking away resources such as books the government deprives the people of the resources to develop individual ideas and a thorough sense of the past.

OliviaO said...

The Communist themes i see in 1984 are as follows. The government had all control over the population. People weren't allowed to speak their minds or against the party. People mysteriously disappeared that weren't model citizens. They taught the children in their schools to tattle on their parents to the government. Also another observation is that this book was written around the time of the red scare/the cold war.

hollyb said...

1984 provides alot of similarities to communism and the Cold War. Spies were present during the Cold war and put fear in many Americans like Winston in the book. Propaganda was also widely used through out the Cold War, which is obviously also in 1984. The United States feared and discriminated against the USSR which the prisoners from eastasia were experiencing.

catherinec said...

One communistic theme that I picked up on was the idea of “our children are the future”. Most of the democratic governments focus on the current events and problems and most don’t look into the future. Mainly, when political debates occur, presidential nominees say that they will do this and that, but most never do. This happens because our society is concentrated on what we could do now. In 1984, it looks as though the government brain washes the younger generations into thinking that their political views are completely reasonable in order to keep from their government from falling in the future. So what I’m trying to get at is that the communists in 1984 focus more on the children than the democratic governments.

Anonymous said...

This is Raeann-
This also reminded me of the hitler youth during WWii. Like the children in the Hitler youth these keds are branwashed everywhere they go and their parents can not protect them from the lies being told to them. These kids are more loyal to their govornment than the ones they love.