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.