Lord of the Flies - Main Character

Main characters in this novel, Lord of the Flies, are Ralph and Jack. Ralph is the leader of civilized world and Jack is the leader of wild world. They both have unique characteristic, different perspective, different mind set, and different abilities so I really like both of them. Even though they didn’t work together that well, they wanted to control and make better society. They just have different views and opinions which caused collapse of the society. In the novel Jack seems like he is the bad and evil one but he was just trying to rule kids in his own justice. He did what he think is right. Not everything he did was right from our view, but he was just trying follow what he think is right. In the other hand, Ralph did more right things in our point of view. But he wasn’t determined and strong enough to keep everyone under control. He ruled the group as democracy. In the leadership wise, Jack has more potential but Ralph had more civilized though. If both of them had worked together, they probably had more fun, more comfortable time, and rescued when the first ship came to island. Ralph symbolizes democracy and weakness in power and Jack symbolizes dictatorship and powerfulness. Democracy took place by existence of couch. Whoever has the conch can speak and everybody should listen and respect them, but later everybody talked whenever they wanted to. When conch broke it was end of democracy and start of dictatorship Jack wanted to rule how he wanted to rule even before form of democracy. Jack wanted power. Ralph wanted justice.

1984 - connection to me

What if you are Winston in the story? What would you do? Would you try to change the government?
If I am Winston in the story, I wouldn’t just go out and go against the government without any plan. First I will pretend I am on Big Brother’s side and serve him. Obey everyone from thought police and Inner Party. Soon or later if no one can read my mind, I will be part of Inner Party. The higher position I am, more freedom I get. On the way to be part of Inner Party, I will meet many people. Among them, there will be people who are against Big Brother. I will gather them secretly and prepare for revolution. If I have good leadership, more and more people will gather around me and I will have more power. If I am careful enough and don’t have any spies in my group, soon or later I will meet Big Brother if he even exist and probably murder him. If he doesn’t exist I will probably tell the whole nation that there Big Brother doesn’t exist. Then the whole nation will be confused and be in chaos. Meanwhile I will get my group ready and attack the Inner Party. It’s like gambling but better than not trying anything. If this doesn’t work, I will bite my tongue and die. I will be the only one who will be blamed for doing this not others. Many leaders have tried this. It didn’t always work out but I think it worth a try. If I don’t make it to the end, someone might be motivated of what I did and try other plan. Giving up before even trying is stupid.

1984 - settings

There were lots of settings in the novel 1984. The most disgusting room is “Room 101.” This is the room where you get torture by your horror. Not anything physical but horror that is inside of you. Sometimes horror can make people crazy and takes over control of bodies. That is why people see ghosts if they really believe and be scared. I haven’t been really tortured by something I hate. If I had seen ghost, which I am most afraid of, I probably had ended up in mental hospital. I would never ever want to end up in Room 101. I always thought room 101 will be filled with torture machine like Chinese water torture or putting them into small box where they can’t even move at all. That guy who invented “Room 101” is a genius!
Also most beautiful place in 1984 is church where Julia had taken Winston. There weren’t any telescreen to watch them (I guess), and they were free to do whatever they want. That place is one of the few places that don’t have any telescreen. Places like this were really hard to find because telescreen was basically everywhere. I think that is why that makes this place meaningful and beautiful. Even now days there are cameras everywhere. Only place that doesn’t have camera is bathroom. I had many memories in bathroom when I was young. That was the only place me and my friends were allowed to play and yell besides outside. The place where Julia found will have many memories as my memories in bathroom. If the place has lots of memories, then that place is memorable and important to you. For me, PAHS is more memorable than my house.

1984 - significant passage

"And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth. 'Who controls the past' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.'" —pg 32
If every people believe 1+1=3, then it is true. Whoever discovered or made it first gets to justify what truth is. The first person who made one plus one equals two got to spread the truth that he made and has been passed down since now. This world is made up with rules and laws. If the first person decides to use pen as an ear-pick than it probably had been ear-pick. Even naming is a law that was made. If the person who made the first desk decides to call chair instead of desk, then we probably had called it chair. So whoever made it first in the past gets to control the present and future. I think that is one of this reasons why people want to invent their own product. Even species people name after their name. If you find new species or an animal you get to be the one who gives the name. This passage teaches somewhat life lesson. Right at this moment can be present to be but when this blog is posted it will be past. Whatever you do now will be the past. To control the future you should control your decisions that you make right now which will eventually become past. Don’t make stupid decisions that can ruin your future. Think before you act.


Passage from: http://www.gerenser.com/1984/quote.html

1984 - Mood of the novel

The mood of this novel is very dark. Since this is novel that has theme of dystopia, it can’t be bright. It’s even sad in a way. Winston is always being watched and he has to face the big, strong government under watch. People are forced to think and act how the government wants them to act. This means no individual freedom at all. How can the world be happy and bright if there aren’t any freedoms at all? This book also shows what will the world like if we don’t fight for our freedom. We won’t be humans, but animals doing what the master tells us. Thinking the world like 1984 can really exist, it makes me depressed and reminds me the importance of freedom and fighting for your own opinion. If there is a country like 1984 Oceania, it will be horrible. If you are not brainwashed, everyday will be like living in a cell with no friends. Your every move is being watched, your every word is being heard, and every people you meet are in danger. Will it be horrible? I ratter suicide or be brainwashed and think nothing. I will be depressed, sad, and dark like the mood of this novel. There isn’t any future to his country unless citizens really stand up and willing to change what has been on the country for long time. This country can exist if people give up fighting. Don’t give government full power where they take away everything you have within second. Who wants to live in the world like this?

1984 - Climax

Climax is when the conflict or problem needs to be solved the one way or the other. The novel 1984's climax is when O'Brien tells Winston that he is one of the thought police and tortures him. Winston and Julia always believed that O'Brien is on their side because of all his kindness and gentleness, but at the end everything was incorrect. When I first read this book it was boring, but when this turn over happened the novel was total different book. It was thrilling, exciting, and even nervous. When Winston was being tortured by O'Brien it even made me sweat on my hand. I just wished O'Brien can be the nice one again and stop torture Winston. He was the one who was behind this whole plan to get Winston in trouble and brainwash him. From the beginning, he told Winston the place where they weren't any telescreen and tried to fake Winston, but actually there was telescreen and he watched every single move of Winston. In the climax, he gets caught by O'Brien and be tortured to death. Later, his mind just corrupts and just believes everything that O'Brien says to him (Brainwash). If he says 1+1=3, then it is 3. Before brainwash, when others forced him to think the answer is 3, he believed his own faith and said it was 2, which is the right answer. After that being tortured by his weakness, rat, he betrays Julia. I really enjoyed this book. Not because of the dystopia that this novel contains, but the turn over makes me just dig in more to the novel.

1984 - main character

The main character of this story was Winston Smith, Julia, and O’Brien. At the beginning of this story, Winston stood up for himself and he tried to fight against the tyrannical government. He never gave up what he thought it was right and he tried hard to go destroy the government. Unfortunately, towards the end he failed to destroy the government. The person who he thought was against the government was actually head of the party, and woman he loved betrayed him. Later, he was tortured by O’Brien and ended up giving up his own will. At the beginning I liked him but he ended up being same person like rest of the crowd. He gave up himself because he couldn’t overcome his fear. The main characters should be more strong and brave to overcome any hardships they face. Julia on the other hand, I didn’t like her from the beginning. The women in the stories are bad in most of the stories. When Julia betrayed Winston, I had pity for him. If they really loved each other, they shouldn’t betray. They should try everything to save the lover from danger. O’Brien was nice guy at the beginning and helped Winston. At the end, he betrays Winston and tortures him head to toes. I really don’t like antagonists who make main character weaker. In most stories protagonist grow by facing antagonist but this novel was really different. Protagonist gave up under power of antagonist. All these main characters show what true humans are like. Humans are dirty, selfish, and irresponsible. In stories authors make main characters grow stronger as they face challenges but average humans grow weaker as they face challenges. I think even animals are better than some of the humans.