1984 Reading Guide
1984 Reading Guide
Events
Winston began his diary on April 4th, 1984. This diary, any diary, is forbidden by law. He was inspired to start this diary when he saw the book of “smooth creamy paper” in a junk-shop that party members were forbidden to go into. He rearranged the TV to a different part of the room so that he would have a small space that was not visible by “Big Brother”, and that is where he began his diary. He drew a blank in the very beginning and then suddenly began writing what he called a “stream of rubbish”. It concerned films of war.
Winston describes the Two Minutes Hate as “The next moment a hideous, grinding speech, as of some monstrous machine running without oil, burst from the big telescreen at the end of the room. It was a noise that set one’s teeth on edge and bristled the hair at the back of one’s neck. The Hate had started.” The Two Minutes Hate was a video of Emmanuel Goldstein, the enemy of the Party. He was once a very important member of the Party until he “engaged in counter-revolutionary activities, had been condemned to death, and had mysteriously escaped and disappeared.” The videos were always of Goldstein attacking the party, promoting freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and freedom of thought. He thought it was vile, but also plausible. The videos created hatred for him and much frenzy among the viewers.
The Parson’s children attacked him “in play” as a traitor and thought-criminal. The boy led the chanting and the little sister imitated him. Winston felt the boy’s eyes had a calculating ferocity to them, almost as if he knew Winston was writing a diary. The boy hit him in the back of the head with an object using a catapult, and yelled “Winston!”
Winston recalls that the Party lied by saying that Oceania had never been in an alliance with Eurasia, even though he knew there had been one sometime in the last 4 years. The records of history reflected the lie in London-they
Events
Winston began his diary on April 4th, 1984. This diary, any diary, is forbidden by law. He was inspired to start this diary when he saw the book of “smooth creamy paper” in a junk-shop that party members were forbidden to go into. He rearranged the TV to a different part of the room so that he would have a small space that was not visible by “Big Brother”, and that is where he began his diary. He drew a blank in the very beginning and then suddenly began writing what he called a “stream of rubbish”. It concerned films of war.
Winston describes the Two Minutes Hate as “The next moment a hideous, grinding speech, as of some monstrous machine running without oil, burst from the big telescreen at the end of the room. It was a noise that set one’s teeth on edge and bristled the hair at the back of one’s neck. The Hate had started.” The Two Minutes Hate was a video of Emmanuel Goldstein, the enemy of the Party. He was once a very important member of the Party until he “engaged in counter-revolutionary activities, had been condemned to death, and had mysteriously escaped and disappeared.” The videos were always of Goldstein attacking the party, promoting freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and freedom of thought. He thought it was vile, but also plausible. The videos created hatred for him and much frenzy among the viewers.
The Parson’s children attacked him “in play” as a traitor and thought-criminal. The boy led the chanting and the little sister imitated him. Winston felt the boy’s eyes had a calculating ferocity to them, almost as if he knew Winston was writing a diary. The boy hit him in the back of the head with an object using a catapult, and yelled “Winston!”
Winston recalls that the Party lied by saying that Oceania had never been in an alliance with Eurasia, even though he knew there had been one sometime in the last 4 years. The records of history reflected the lie in London-they