SURPRISE

I wouldn’t say that George Orwell used suspense in these novels. I believe that he constantly surprised the reader with new plot twists. In Animal Farm I was surprised when Napoleon exhibited his first act of violence by having all of the animals executed who confessed to seeing Snowball. The ending shocked me when Napoleon was acting like Mr. Jones. He walked on two legs, wore clothes, drank alcohol, and restored the old name of Manor Farm.

1984 was filled with surprises. Winston rented the room in Mr. Charrington’s store because he thought there was privacy there. He and Julia enjoyed their time there and then a voice came from a telescreen behind a painting. He had been fooled. You can’t trust anybody in Oceania! I thought it was interesting how at the speech during Hate Week they changed enemies from Eurasia to Eastasia. Then the crowd actually believed that they wrote the wrong name on the banner. They are so brainwashed that they didn’t even consider that they were right and the government changed their mind.

I don’t know why Winston trusted O’Brien. I was really surprised when O’Brien was interrogating Winston and revealed that he had left the telescreen on during their conversation about overthrowing the government. I didn’t think that the Party would release Winston back into the world after his torture. I totally thought they would kill and continue torturing other victims. I didn’t like the ending because Winston had failed and didn’t make any difference in Oceania.

Sympathy

Orwell uses sympathy to make us realize how our actions affect others. We see the pigs as the enemies to the other animals, even though they are supposed to be the leaders of the government. As the animals are forced to work harder, food rations are decreased and living conditions get worse we really sympathize with the animals for having other peoples’ greedy decisions affect them.

The fact that the pigs see themselves as “more equal” makes me think of our own government and how they are some of the richest people in the country. I was watching 60 Minutes and they did a story on Congress members, specifically Nancy Pelosi, experiencing economic gain after executing financial transactions based on insider information. How is it fair that people in government can use their power the get insider information? Martha Stewart went to jail for the same thing. Congress should have the same civic duty as ordinary citizens and have to abide by laws which they have passed.

In 1984 we see Winston living in a crappy apartment and forced to eat government issued stew and coffee. The food isn’t even good! The stew is runny and tastes metallic. The coffee is weak and is sweetened with fake sugar. We sympathize with Winston and realize how unfortunate it would be if we had a government that controlled every aspect of our life.

Room 101

Room 101 is where members of the inner party finish torturing criminals that are brought to the Ministry of Peace. It is also referred to as where there is no darkness. Winston and Julia promised that no matter what they would never stop loving each other. The Party could make them confess to crimes that they did not even commit, but they could not force their hearts to stop loving the other. That is before they knew about Room 101!

The torturers beat the crap out of Winston to get him to admit to everything they wanted him to. The electrocution made Winston realize that the Party has complete control and there is no hope of overthrowing the government. In order to get Winston to “love Big Brother” he is sent to Room 101 where he is faced with his biggest fear, rats! The ultimate fear is used to get the victim to agree to anything and in this case betray Julia. The rats were latched into a caged on Winston’s face and they were ready to eat his face off. The only way for him to escape was to say, “Do it to Julia! 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!” It turns out that Julia had already done the same thing and betrayed Winston. They met after being released into the real world and knew what the other had done.

Control

1984 depicts a society where Big Brother is watching you at all times. This is scary because there would be no privacy. Is Facebook some form of this omniscient government? Over 800 million people use Facebook so Facebook’s executives have personal information about those 800 million people in the world and use it to personalize advertisements. People post things on Facebook thinking that only their friends will see it. Privacy settings on Facebook provide a false sense of security because computer wizards and employers will find a way to view your profile. This is different than 1984 because the citizens are aware that they are being watched.

The Party in 1984 fully controls people’s lives. The government censors the media so that only what the Party wants to be read is what is written. Love is prohibited and marriages are only formed so that children can be made. If you oppose the government you will be tortured. And if you try to hide your opposition you will be found out because there are telescreens and microphones everywhere. The citizens are forced to control their facial expressions because if the government thinks you are thinking about opposing the government you will be convicted of “Thought Crime”. Even the children are trained to be spies. There isn’t even love within families because children will turn in their parents for opposition to government.    

Similarities

I found many similarities between Animal Farm and 1984, which is not surprising since they were both written by George Orwell. They are both about how Stalin governed the Soviet Union.

In Animal Farm Napoleon, who represents Stalin, has this big idea to build a windmill. But then the windmill is broken so Napoleon orders the animals to build another windmill. In 1984 Big Brother has implemented multiple three year plans. Both the windmill and three year plans represent the five year plans that Stalin had implemented but didn’t work out.

Both governments lowered the rations of the people it ruled. The revolution in Animal Farm was started so that the animals would have better living conditions and more food for themselves. But, their rations actually decreased and the pigs gave themselves more food. In 1984 the chocolate rations were decreasing, but the government ordered the media to print that rations had increased so that people would be more thankful to the government.

In Animal Farm the original seven commandments that were agreed upon by all the animals was changed by the pigs. However, because the other animals couldn’t read the new rules Squealer told everyone that they remembered them wrong and they have always been that way. This is just like in 1984 when the government ordered the media to rewrite the history so that the Party could never be proven incorrect.

In the beginning of Animal Farm Napoleon promised to lead the revolution in the best interest of the novel but then returned the farm back to Manor Farm. This is like how O’Brien let Winston think that he could be trusted, and then O’Brien turned Winston into the Ministry of Love.

In both novels the most patriotic character was betrayed by the government he had worked for. Boxer worked the hardest on Animal Farm, but instead of retiring Napoleon sent him to be made into glue. In 1984 Parsons was a loyal member of the Party his daughter turned him into the Ministry of Love because he spoke against Big Brother in his sleep.

George Orwell was able to turn one idea into two novels.

Hypocritical Government

THE ORIGINAL SEVEN COMMANDMENTS IN ANIMAL FARM:
1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.

2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.

3. No animal shall wear clothes.

4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.

5. No animal shall drink alcohol.

6. No animal shall kill any other animal.

7. All animals are equal.

Throughout the book all of the original commandments were broken by the pigs. Number one was broken when Napoleon brought Mr. Whymper to the farm and began doing business with humans. The pigs also began walking on two legs themselves. In the end the sheep began bleating, “Four legs good, two legs better.” Number two was broken when Snowball was exiled and Boxer was sent away to be made into glue. Number three was broken when the pigs began wearing Mr. Jones’ old clothes. Number four was broken when the pigs began sleeping in the farmhouse. The animals thought that was against Commandments but Squealer told them it said “No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets.” The pigs broke number five when they drank whisky in the farm house. It was explained that the original commandment had said, “No animal shall drink alcohol to excess.” Napoleon blatantly broke number six when he ordered the slaughter of the animals who confessed to seeing Snowball. Once again the animals were told that the commandment read, “No animal shall kill any other animal without cause.” And finally number seven was broken near the beginning when the pigs were given a larger ration of food because they are smarter.

This government is hypocritical by not abiding by their own rules and being cruel by feeding their people false information.

This is the only commandment left at the end of the book:

All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.

This is essentially commandment seven. There is fault with this commandment because it is impossible for something to be more equal than another thing. With this commandment they are trying to say that the government is better than other animals.

Life As We Know It

This is the cover of my Animal Farm/1984 Soundrack. I chose the name, Life As We Know It, because the characters in both books experienced extreme contrasts from their original lifestyle. The cover art is just an example of how something (in this case a barn fire) can drastically change a person or animal's life. The soundtrack includes 5 songs that reflect the plot of both Animal Farm and 1984.

1. Somewhere Only We Know by Keane

2.  Wake Up Everybody by John Legend

3. Carry Me Down by Demon Hunter    

4. Tired of Being Sorry by Enrique Iglesias

5. Hail to the Chief

This album will be available soon in record stores near you!

Hail to the Chief

The song, Hail to the Chief, is the closing song of the soundtrack for Animal Farm and 1984. It is also the ultimate sign of respect to the leader of the government. When you hear this song you think of a strong President who is working in the best interest of his or her constituents. The last line of 1984 inspired my choice of this song for the soundtrack, “He loved Big Brother.” This song doesn’t have any lyrics but it does have a very clear meaning of patriotism. During the entire book Winston is anti-government, but in the end he is proud of the Party for defeating Africa and is proud to be a member of the Party. He gets brainwashed or “cured” from his heretic views in the book which is why he experiences this drastic change of heart. Winston is turned into a perfect citizen of Oceania. During the book he had to force himself to yell at the telescreen during the 2 minutes hate. I’m sure now Winston would have no problem turning red faced from spewing hatred at Goldstein. The patriotism Winston feels is synthetic because he did not choose to follow Big Brother on his own free will. So this song actually may have less authentic meaning to him.

Wake Up Everybody

The song, Wake Up Everybody by John Legend, reminds me of the beginning of Animal Farm when Major tells the animals of his dream that the animals will revolt against Mr. Jones. This song has an inspirational sound because Major was trying to make the animals think of a better place. The song isn’t angry or intense because the beginning of the revolution wasn’t violent, yet.  

Major’s speech makes Napoleon begin the revolution because “the world won’t get no better if we just let it be”. Napoleon basically says their conditions would be better if they remove Mr. Jones from power and become their own leaders and this song reflects that. “Time to teach a new way” not only refers to the revolution but also how each animal was learning the alphabet and how to read. The song lyrics say “Wake Up Everybody/ Can’t do it Alone”. This is the emotion felt on Animal Farm when the revolution started because everyone had to work together to make it happen. The song also talks of teaching the children because they are the future. In the book, the plan was to spread the revolution to other farm slowly so the animals would have complete control eventually. Instead the overthrow occurred very quickly on Manor Farm.

Carry Me Down

The song, Carry Me Down by Demon Hunter, reminds me of the scene in Animal Farm when animals are coming forward and confessing to heretic acts that Snowball forced them to do. This then leads to the death of each of those who confessed. The song has an angry tone which is appropriate because it is about death. The band also has an ironic name, Demon Hunters, because Napoleon was hunting down the demons who were betraying him.  While reading this scene I was surprised that so many animals were willing to confess even though they knew they would be slaughtered. The lyric, “don’t be afraid to lie” made me think of how the animals confessed to silly things like seeing Snowball in a dream. They may have been lying about that because they didn’t want to live in Napoleon’s world anymore. “If you see me losing faith” makes me think of the animals turning from Napoleon and listening to Snowball, which is why they died. “I’m better off without” could mean that the animals confessed in the best interest of the farm. They knew if they stayed around any longer Snowball would force them to do even worse actions. 

Tired of Being Sorry

I love Enrique Iglesias. The song, Tired of Being Sorry by Enrique Iglesias, reminds me of the scene when O’Brien is going to release the rats on Winston’s face. The lyric, “I don’t want to fight” makes me think of Winston contemplating how he is going to get out of this situation. In the novel he is tied to the chair but he still tries to break free. He is also doesn’t want to fight the Party anymore so he betrays Julia to make the torture stop. The lyric, “I’m tired of being sorry” reflects how Winston is finally turning on his rebellious characteristics after enduring torture. This torture makes him regret all of his anti-Big Brother actions, and he is “tired of being sorry” so he joins the Party. The lyric, “Crying out for you” is ironic because Winston screams Julia’s name to blame her. This is the only act that Winston promised he would never do, and the Party forced him to by making him face his worst fear, rats. If Winston hadn’t betrayed Julia the rats would have eaten his face and made the novel have a less meaningful ending. It’s all ok because Julia also betrayed Winston.

Somewhere Only We Know

The first song on the soundtrack is Somewhere Only We Knowby Keane.

This song describes the scene in 1984 when Julia and Winston stay in the room above the shop for the first time. They are amazed that they aren’t being watched by Big Brother there. There is no telescreen in the room so they feel free to do otherwise prohibited things. They eat rich food from the black market, read the Brotherhood book, and have forbidden sex. It is truly somewhere only they know. Winston wants to spend more time there but he can’t because it would become suspicious. This song sounds both reminiscent and happy because being in the room with Julia makes him happier than he is in the real world. The lyrics “I walked across an empty” and “I came across a fallen tree” also makes me think of when they went to the forest to have sex for the first time. They talked about going back to the forest again, but they never did go back. This is reflected in the lyric, “And if you have a minute, why don’t we go”. It makes me think of Winston yearning to go back. Instead they began meeting in the room which is what this song is about.