Mayahuel Utopias & Dystopias

 At the end of Book 2 Winston and Julia are captured by the police and realize that Mr. Charrington was a member of the thought police all along. This is (for now) the end to their grand affair and rebellious hide out from the party's rule.  One question I had when I was reading was the timing of the whole thing. If Mr. Charrington was indeed watching them the entire time, aware of what they were doing, who they were, and who he was as a member of the thought police, why wait so long? It seems less smart to have waited until after Winston had read the book and understood more of the Brotherhood to capture him and Julia. Wouldnt it have made more sense for them to be captured at the very first signs of romantic relations/rebellion against the party? I found this moment very confusing. As we move forward with Julia and Winston, now in the party's eye, I wonder what will happen to them and I wonder how Mr. Charrington will influence the story. As an avid member of their rebellion...

 In the early portions of Book 2, we see Winston's first interactions with Julia, his new girlfriend. They make love in the woods and he is aroused by her sexual freedom. Winston claims that he loves her even more for sleeping with so many men because it means more rebellion against the party. While this is odd in its nature, it isn't really surprising for Winston. As I read further, there was a moment I kept thinking about that I found sort of disturbing.  As Winston talks more and more with Julia, he shares a memory of walking by a cliff with his ex-wife Katherine and getting the urge to push her off. He says it wouldn't have mattered either way because the party controls so much of everyone's life, and the oppression is inescapable.  I found this disturbing and weird. From the beginning of the book, Winston has had some (maybe not so) underlying misogynistic tones and overall disdain for women. His "love" for Julia seems to be more of an infatuation with re...

 In chapters 7-8, Winston becomes more obsessed with the lives of the proles and their role in overthrowing the party. However, it seems they could care less about the party and are unaware of how much they are being oppressed. Though the proles make up a large population of the people, they are so removed from the terrible life Winston describes under the rule of the party.  These people are somewhat unaware of what's going on, almost like our own world today. As I read I was seeing parallels to our world and the systemic issues within it. As recent events have shown us, it's as if people are living in 2 different Americas. One is riddled with oppression, violence, systemic issues, a dying environment, and much more. The other it seems is unaware of these issues, baffled by the recent "crazy" events that have spun out during the pandemic. In one way, it seems some of us are aware of a party-like issue that affects many aspects of our life (cough cough white supremacy...

 As I was reading the first chapter of 1984, the two minutes of hate stuck out to me. It seems like such an odd thing to force people to watch, yet it consistently elicits such a visceral reaction from the viewers. The line  "In a lucid moment Winston found that he was shouting with the others and kicking his heel violently against the rung of his chair." The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in." This moment seemed oddly familiar to me, in a not-so-dystopian way. Watching my father yell at the screen during the Liverpool Man City game Sunday morning, and the Superbowl later that night, I thought about this moment in the book. Though very different, and not so politically charged, these images seemed to elicit such violent reactions, even though obviously they have no effect. Ironically, we do worse after big rival matches than the characters in 1984 did during the Two Minutes...