I posted my comments on the following blogs.

1. https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7540801537110419825&postID=9045705686963075718&page=1


2. https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7540801537110419825&postID=987161476668555946

3. https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7512968390385282134&postID=4377996662793553500&page=1

4. https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3847190014274814227&postID=6949130175891315352&page=1

5. https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=40557025587559030&postID=1065731497734405136&page=1


6. https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3847190014274814227&postID=6543934728807101326&page=1on

Mood

The mood of this novel is definitely dreadful. Even though the boys enjoy their freedom and have some optimistic thoughts toward their future in the beginning, the horror and despair creep into their lives as time goes by. I believe that William Golding did a wonderful job of portraying boy's horror of the “beast," which is so imaginary and unreal, proving that our mental stability cannot be tranquilized when there is no one guiding us to the right path. Throughout the novel, the fearful mood approaches, eventually leading to a total disaster among the boys: the murder.

I truly felt depressed after finishing this book because not only the boys in this novel became savage and evil but also people in the real world. This world is becoming unimaginable with all different kinds of crimes, disasters, and thoughts. This novel saddened me for showing me the true nature of human kind, demonstrating the darkness buried deep inside our minds.

I then wondered what would happen to us, miserable sinners, without God giving us countless opportunities to repent our sins. I was so relieved that Jesus died on the cross to cleanse our sins because if He did not, we would all be going to Hell after we die. I felt very grateful to God who forgives our sins and barbarious nature.

Setting

I found the setting described in the following passage very peaceful and memorable:

"Simon tured away from them and went where the just perceptible path led him. Soon high jungle closed in... He came at last to a place where more sunshine fell. Since they had not so far to go for light the creepers had woven a great mat that hung that the side of an open space in the jungle for here a patch of rock came close to the surface and would not allow more than little plants and ferns to grow. The whole space was walled with dark aromatic bushes, and was a bowl of heat and light. A great tree, fallen across one corner, leaned against the trees that still stood and a rapid climer flaunted red and yellow sprays right to the top." (p.57)

In my opinion, this setting is memorable because Simon is having his own private time out of the group, peacefully wandering in the jungle. He is enjoying the aspects of pure nature. He sees dancing butterflies; warm, yellow sunlight; and the candle-like, green buds. He hears delightful songs of the bird, the sound of the busy bees, and the crying of the gulls returning home. Moreover, as the sun submerges, the green buds open up, transforming into white flowers reflecting the starlight.

This fascinating scene is totally contradictory to the other boys' nature, which is cruel, savage, and diabolical. I could imagine myself walking around the jungle full of tall trees and curious-looking plants in the sunshine. I wondered what Simon was thinking while he left his group to have his own quiet time.

Significant Passages

One of the most significant passages in this book is the following:

"What are you doing out here all alone? Aren't you afraid of me?
Simon shook.
"There isn't anyone to help you. Only me. And I'm the Beast."
Simon's mouth labored, brought forth audible words.
"Pig's head on a stick."
"Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!" said the head.
For a moment or two the forest and all the other dimly appreciated places echoed with the parody of laughter.
"You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you? Close, close, close! I'm the reason why it's no go? Why things are what they are?"
The laughter shivered again.

(p.143)

In this gruesome passage, the Lord of the Flies speaks to Simon. These words confirm Simon’s thoughts that perhaps the beast is only the boys themselves. This idea of the evil on the island being within the boys is central to the novel’s exploration of innate human savagery. The pig-head identifies itself as the beast and acknowledges to Simon that it exists within all human beings: “You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you?” Simon, startled by his discovery, tries to inform this to the rest of the boys. However, the boys mistake him for the beast itself and kill him!

This made me feel extremely angry, for the innocent was killed by the evil forces among the boys. I wondered if they really thought Simon was the beast. Perhaps the boys wished to kill the "beast" so much that they all misapprehended that the thin boy was the actual beast? I was very shocked and taken aback.


Another passage I want to introduce is from the end of the book:

"For a moment he had a fleeting picutre of the strange glamour that had once invested the beaches. But the island was scorched up like dead wood - Simon was dead - and Jack had... The tears began to flow and sobs shook him. He gave himself up to them now for the first time on the island; great, shuddereing spasms of grief that seemed to wrench his whole body. His voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckaged of the island; and infected by that emotion, the other little boys began to shake and sob too.
And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall throught the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy."

(p.202)

These lines occur after the boys encounter a naval officer who comes to rescue all of them. When Ralph sees the officer, his sudden realization that he is safe and will be returned to civilization plunges him into a reflective despair. This rescue is not a moment of joy, for Ralph realizes that he will never be the same after going through all of his horrible experiences on the island. Although he is saved from death on the island, he has lost his innocence and learned about the evil that lurks within all human beings. We would never fully understand how sad this situation is.

Theme

In my opinion, the theme of Lord of the Flies is to reveal the evil nature of human being in a civilization. There were no governmental structure that kept the boys in peace, which led to bloody sacrifices of the innocent. Golding demonstrates the conflict between civilization and savagery in the conflict between the novel’s two main characters: Ralph the protagonist, who represents order and leadership, and Jack the antagonist, who represents savagery and the desire for power.

As the novel progresses, Golding implies that the instinct of savagery is far more fundamental to the human nature than the instinct of civilization. He sees moral behavior, in many cases, as something that civilization forces upon the individual rather than a natural expression of human individuality. When left to their own devices, Golding implies, people naturally revert to cruelty, savagery, and barbarism. Among all the characters, only Simon seems to possess anything like a natural, innate goodness.

The reason why the theme of Lord of the Flies is important for teenagers living in 2008 is because we all live in the society in which everyone hides his or her evil qualities in their mind, trying hard to show only their good aspects. If there is no school or some form of stuctural government in our society, who knows if we are going to be part of Jack's group? You never know. If I were abandoned in a jungle and had to survive without anyone's help, I believe that the hidden nature inside of me will eventually come out to fit the situation.

Entry of Your Choice - Symbols

The Conch Shell

Ralph and Piggy discover a conch shell on the beach and use it to summon the boys together. The shell becomes a powerful symbol of civilization and order because it effectively governs the boys’ meetings, for the boy who holds the shell holds the right to speak. It is a vessel of political power among the boys. However, as the island civilization erodes and the boys become more savage, the conch shell loses its power and influence among them.

The Lord of the Flies

The Lord of the Flies is the bloody sow’s head which is used as an offering to the beast. In this way, it becomes both a symbol of the power of evil and a kind of Satan figure which evokes the beast within each human being.

The Beast

The Beast in the novel is not real; it is just an imaginary being that frightens all the boys. The boys’ behavior is what brings the beast into existence: the more savagely the boys act, the more real the beast seems to become. It stands for the instinct of savagery that exists within everyone. Only Simon is able to realize that the boys fear the beast because it exists within each of them.

The Fire

The boys build a signal fire to notice any passing ship that they are trapped in an island. As a result, the signal fire becomes a means of connection to civilization. It functions as a measurement of hope and strength of the boys. Ironically, at the end of the novel, the fire finally summons a ship to the island, but not the same signal fire; it is the fire of evil, the forest fire Jack’s tribe starts to kill Ralph.

Piggy’s Glasses

Piggy is the most rational boy in the group, and his glasses symbolizes the power of science in society because the boys use the lenses to focus the sunlight and start a fire. His glasses give everyone some hope to get rescued by a ship or a plane. When the Jack's group steals them from Piggy, it abuses both science and intelligence in its own civilization.

Main Characters

Ralph, the just:

Ralph is the leader of the group of boys abandoned on an island. He uses his leadership to make an ordered civilization among the boys until they all get rescued, while most of the other boys are interested in playing at the beach and avoiding work. He tries his best to build huts and maximize the chances of being rescued, and therefore the boys accept his power at the beginning. However, the group gradually becomes savage and ignorant due to the influence of Jack, making Ralph's position decline. The whole group except for Piggy leaves Ralph and hunts the poor two boys.

Jack, the evil:

Stubborn and savage, Jack is the antagonist of this novel. At first, he retains the sense of moral behavior that society instilled in him. However, as time goes by, he becomes obsessed with hunting and devotes himself to the task by gathering the boys and making his own tribe. The more bloody Jack becomes, the more he is able to control the rest of the group. He later mobilizes his tribe to kill Ralph.

Piggy, the intellectual:

Piggy is a smart, chubby boy who often helps the boys with new inventions or ideas. He is a loyal, supportive friend of Ralph, which is one of the reasons I like him. From the beginning, Piggy has a desire to be close to Ralph, and he is always there for him. Whenever Ralph feels confused, Piggy is the one to remind him of their duties and purposes. Once, Ralph thinks about giving up his leadership position; however, Piggy assures Ralph that he is a good leader and encourages him to continue. He is always on Ralph's side whenever some fights occur. Tragically, he later gets killed by Jack's tribe. :(

Simon, the benevolent:

Simon is an entirely different boy from all the other boys. He is very kind, humane, and deeply connected to nature. He acts morally not out of guilt or shame but because he believes in the inherent value of morality. He also was the first one to realize the boys' animal instincts. Unfortunately, he is murdered at the hands of the other boys.

Sam and Eric, the twins:

Sam and Eric are young twins who support Ralph in many circumstances. I felt sorry when they became part of Jack's tribe just because they wanted to be rescued.

Among these numerous characters, I liked Ralph the best. Although he was not successful in being the leader of the whole group, he tried his best and never gave up his will. Even though everyone joined Jack's group later on, he thought he was right and endured from all the hardships.

I posted my comments on the following blogs.

"The Shabby Little Room"

http://yanji-dystopia.blogspot.com/

"1984's Theme"

http://yanji-dystopia.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.html

"Choose One Passage and Evaluate It."

http://when9bearsattack.blogspot.com/2008/03/choose-one-passage-and-evaluate-it.html

"Entry of My Choice"

http://redapple92.blogspot.com/2008/03/entry-of-my-choice.html

"The Mood of 1984"

http://stkim.blogspot.com/2008/03/mood-of-1984.html

"4th Post on My Book: 1984"

http://madeinchina1984.blogspot.com/2008/02/4th-post-on-my-first-book-1984.html

"<1984>Theme"

http://when9chickensattack.blogspot.com/2008/03/theme.html

The Author: George Orwell

"It was curious to think that the sky was the same for everybody, in Eurasia or Eastasia as well as here. And the people under the sky were also very much the same—everywhere, all over the world, hundreds or thousands of millions of people just like this, people ignorant of one another's existence, held apart by walls of hatred and lies, and yet almost exactly the same—people who had never learned to think but were storing up in their hearts and bellies and muscles the power that would one day overturn the world."
- George Orwell

George Orwell, the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair, was born in Motihari, India in 1903. In 1904, Orwell moved with his mother and sister to England, where he attended Eton. He published his first writings when he was in college, but most of them were unsuccessful.

Orwell went to Burma in 1922 to serve in the Indian Imperial Police as an assistant superintendent. Then he returned to Europe and lived as a tramp and beggar, working low paid jobs in England and France for a year. He even tried to get himself arrested as a drunk to have some knowledge about life in prison.
During his life time, he wrote many well-known novels such as Animal Farm and 1984. He later died from tuberculosis in London University Hospital on January 21, 1950, soon after the publication of 1984.

Beautiful, Disturbing, or Memorable Settings

The Room 101 is the most disturbing setting described in 1984.
"Everyone knows it. The thing that is in Room 101 is the worst thing in the world," says O'Brien.

Room 101 is a torture chamber in the Ministry of Love in which a prisoner is subjected to his or her own worst nightmare or greatest fear. The nightmare—and therefore the threatened punishment—of Winston is to be attacked by rats.

Before the prisoners are summoned to that notorious room, they stay in a cell where they should not move one bit; they are constantly viewed by the telescreens, which are on the every side of the walls. Even if they move their hands slightly, a loud voice comes out from the telescreen, commanding them to spot their movements.

Everyone in the Room starves. No food is given, but constant beatings and tortures are always waiting for the prisoners. It is the place where "there is neither darkness nor light." People wait unconsciously for their death to come in the near future. They are hopeless, just hopeless.

I thought how miserable it would be to live in a place where I cannot do, eat, and say whatever I want and am inspected by a person whom I have never met. I am so proud of Winston who managed to survive from this intolerable situation.

Significat Passage

『 She always contradicted him when he said anything of this kind. She would not accept is as a law of nature that the individual is always defeated. In a way she realized that she herself was doomed, that sooner or later the Thought Police would catch her and kill her, but with another part of her mind she believed that it was somehow possible to construct a secret world in which you could live as you chose. All you needed was luck and cunning and boldness. She did not understand that there was no such thing as happiness, that the only victory lay in the far future, long after you were dead, that from the moment of declaring war on the Party it was better to think of yourself as a corpse.

"We're the dead," he said.
"We're not dead yet," said Julia prosaically.
"Not physically. Six months, a year - five years, conceivably. I am afraid of death. You are young, so presumably you're more afraid of it than I am. Obviously we shall put it off as long as we can. But it makes very little difference. So long as human beings stay human, death and life are the same thing."

"Oh, rubbish! Which would you sooner sleep with, me or a skeleton? Don't you enjoy being alive? Don't you like feeling: This is me, this is my hand, this is my leg, I'm real, I'm solid, I'm alive! Don't you like this?" 』 (p.135~136)

This passage is significant to me because it tells us how we can choose whether to be optimistic or pessimistic in our lives. While Winston is preoccupied by his shadowed future and thinks it is not worth to live knowing that he must die at some point in his life, Julia wants to enjoy everything to the fullest while she is still alive.

Like Julia, I enjoy every second of my life, and therefore I do my best in whatever I do. Sometimes I do not realize how thankful it is to be alive at this moment. There are millions of people who are suffering from war, starvation, oppression, and separation from their family, and here I am, comfortably sitting on my chair with no such worries.

I have been optimistic most of the time throughout my life so far. When some things turn out to be unsuccessful, I do not let myself down but move on to my new opportunities because I am not concerned of the
result of my accomplishments, but the process of them.
As Julia is not afraid of her future happenings, I will always be optimistic no matter how harsh my situation will be in the future.

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I would like to share another passage with you guys.

"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past."

This is the Party slogan of 1984 and is an important example of the Party's technique of using false history to break down the psychological independence of its members. The Party creates a past that was a time of misery and slavery from which it claims to have liberated the human race, thus compelling people to work toward the Party's goals. Every individual is forbidden from keeping mementos of his or her own pasts, such as photographs and documents. As a result, the citizens have a very short, fuzzy memory, and are willing to believe anything that the Party tells them. Because the Party's version of the past is what people believe, that past has become the truth, though it has no basis in real events.

I do not agree with this Party slogan because I believe only God can control the past and the future. We, humans, can only live in them. Thinking that we can control our own history is selfish and daring because God is the One who leads our lives.

Cimax

The climax of 1984 is when Winston is tortured by O'Brien in Room 101.
Expecting starvation and endless beating, Winston wishes to commit suicide.

A guard smashes Winston's elbow, and Winston thinks that no one can become a hero in the face of physical pain because it is too much to endure. When O'Brien tortures Winston, he tells him that Winston's crime was refusing to accept the Party's control of history and his memory. As O'Brien increases the pain, Winston agrees to accept anything O'Brien wants him to believe is true. He begins to love O'Brien because O'Brien occasionally stops the pain.

As I was reading the chapters which described the process of torturing Winston, I felt I was the one who was being tortured. I did not want to read further because everything was too gory and harsh to think about. I felt so sorry for Winston and wished if I could save him from his miserable situation. I cheered for him to not give up his philosophy and identity; however, it turned out that he was completely brainwashed and that he loved Big Brother at the end.

Nevertheless, I do not blame him for giving up because I can not imagine how hard it is to stand the severe physical pain Winston has gone through.

Main Characters

1. Winston Smith



Winston Smith is the protagonist of 1984. He is one of the most special characters in the novel because he is extraordinarily pensive, meticulous, and curious about every small detail that is going on in his life. He is desperate to understand why and how the Party exercises such absolute power. He also hates the Party passionately and wants to test the limits of its power by commiting innumerable crimes throughout the novel, such as writing “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” in his diary and having an illegal love affair with Julia, her girlfriend.

Winston knows that all the risks he is taking will increase his chances of being caught by the Party; however, because he believes that he will be caught no matter what he does, he convinces himself that he must continue to rebel. He continuously gives himself false hope for the future.

I liked Winston before he was tortured because he did not give up going against the horrible society though he almost knew how he will end up in the future. However, I was extremely disappointed when he betrayed Julia and admitted that everything O'Brien, one of the secret Thought Police, said about the Big Brother's society was "true," even though it was blatantly deceitful and contradictory. (For example, after he is brainwashed by O'Brien, Winston agrees that 2+2=5).


2. Julia

Julia is Winston’s lover and is the only person whom Winston fully trusts and shares secrets with. She is a pragmatic, pleasure-seeking woman who generally is content with her life. Julia is a total contrast with Winston except for her sexual desire. Unlike Winston, she is willing to accept the overnight changes in the history made by the Big Brother and doesn't think them as a big deal. If Big Brother says black is white, or two and two make five, no problem.

I don't really like Julia because she does not love someone with all her heart, having love affairs with various men. Moreover, she later betrays Winston when she gets tortured despite the fact that she has told Winston that she will NEVER betray him.


3. Big Brother



Big Brother is not a real person; however, he is omnipresent and omnipotent in Winston's society. He represents dictators, such as Joseph Stalin and Adolph Hitler, and is a mysterious, powerful, but deceiving figure. Winston is fascinated by Big Brother and is drawn to him in some of the same ways that he is drawn to O'Brien, developing a love-and-hate response to both of them which leads to Winston's downfall.

I hate Big Brother because he has created a extreme dystopia where everyone suffers from oppression, secret police, regulation and restriction of free discussions and criticisms, and so on. He wants the absolute power of the society and is illogical in many ways because he always hides his mistakes and wants to control the past and the future of his people.


4. O'Brien



O'Brien is a powerful member of the Inner Party who tricks Winston into believing that he is a member of the revolutionary group called the Brotherhood. We cannot be sure whether the Brotherhood actually exists because its explanation is left obsure. I believe it is simply a Party invention that is used to trap rebellions like Winston. Later, though, he appears at Winston’s jail cell to abuse and brainwash him in the name of the Party.

The interesting part of O'Brien is that when Winston asks O’Brien if he too has been captured by the Party, O’Brien replies, “They got me long ago,” which tells us vaguely that he himself was once rebellious against the Party. I dislike O'Brien because he is the one who has carefully deceived Winston to be trapped by the Big Brother's philosophy.

Current Situations Relating to the Novel

Even though the totalitarian government does not exist in these days, there is a similar government right beside where we live - North Korea. It is still in the communist state and has many same aspects of the environment which 1984 illlustrates. In North Korea, no one is allowed to criticize the government, believe in God, and have one's own privacy.

The totaliatrian government has begun in the 20th century, which includes the communist regimes of the Soviet Union and Cuba, as well as the totalitarianism of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. These countries have had the absolute control and power of their time.

Despite the brutality and lack of freedom, a totalitarian government often receives overwhelming support for its ideas and goals at the beginning. It tends to be very popular due to the government's promises of an ideal society. It also requires a charismatic leader and modern developments in communication to spread its message. In order for a totalitarian state to be built, the leader must have a will to transform the society into his version of "utopia".

In 1984, most of the Party members support their government because the Big Brother, the unknownly-present dictator of the society, deceives his supporters by making them think that they are living in a utopia, though they are actually living in a dystopia. The Big Brother uses telescreens to monitor every aspect of its member's daily lives and to share its ideals and fake "achievements" to everyone. For example, even when the citizens are forced to live with less food, they are told that they are being given more than ever; the strange thing is that they believe it!

Moreover, by using civilian spies, the government creates so much distrust for each other amongst its citizens. Those who disagree with the dictator are killed. The dictator may change the laws at any time to facilitate the achievement of his goals. This powerful instrument is used to exert control over the lifestyles of the citizens. The government also censors the media and commands all means of communication.

Just like this, the society portrayed in 1984 uses secret police or spies to secretly monitor everyone's private thoughts and behavior. The interesting fact is that everyone can be a spy in Winston's world. Children are effectively converted into spies and trained to watch the actions of their parents with extreme suspicion. For example, the fear Mrs. Parsons shows for her children foreshadows Winston’s encounter in jail with her husband, who is turned in to the Party for committing thoughtcrime by his own child.

Everyone who disagrees with the Big Brother's way of leading the government is unexpectedly killed or tortured! The Party controls every source of information, managing and rewriting all newspapers and histories for its own benefit. It does not allow individuals to keep records of their past, such as photographs or documents, because it wants to control the past and the future.

How horrible it is! =(

Major Theme

The Dark Sides of Totalitarianism

→ Totalitarian regime is based on the political power by means of secret police, propaganda disseminated through the state-controlled mass media, personality cults, regulation and restriction of free discussion and criticism, single party states, the use of mass surveillance (monitoring of behavior), and widespread use of terror tactics.

1984 is a political novel written with the purpose of warning readers totalitarian government. Orwell was deeply disturbed by the widespread cruelties and oppressions he observed in communist countries, and seems to have been particularly concerned by the role of technology in enabling oppressive governments to monitor and control their citizens.

In 1984, Orwell portrays the perfect totalitarian society, the most extreme imagination of a modern-day government with absolute power. Orwell portrays a state in which government monitors and controls every aspect of human life to the extent that even having a disloyal thought is against the law.

Technology

→ By using telescreens and hidden microphones across the city, the Party monitors its members almost all of the time. Additionally, the Party employs complicated mechanisms to control economic production and sources of information, and fearsome machinery to torture upon its "enemies". 1984 reveals that technology, which is generally perceived as beneficial, can also facilitate the evil.

This is important for teenagers living in 2008 because many of them think that the development and impact of technology are always favorable. However, according to 1984, too-advanced technology can control humans, even their minds. It can also manipulate us psycologically as the telescreens in 1984 monitors people's behavior—everywhere they go, citizens are continuously reminded, especially by the omnipresent signs reading “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU,” that the authorities are always scrutinizing them.