1984 Deconstruction
Jan. 11th, 2017 08:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wingedbeastDystopias are on my mind for various reasons, not just political. Whether in fiction or in political, we reference ideas of various dystopias. The three books that make, I argue, the biggest impact on our discourse and our entertainment are 1984, Brave New World, and The Handmaid's Tale. So, I intend to go through a deconstruction of each of these in turn.
I'd read Brave New World first. I was in High School and I found it and I started reading and... well... I enjoyed it. It spoke to me for reasons that I'll get into when I get to Brave New World next. I first tried to read The Handmaid's Tale in college, for a class. It wasn't until much later, having saved my copy, that I gave it a full read. I've never been on the right, but I will say that, for someone as privileged as I was, I needed to take in a bit of education before I could see any truth to what The Handaid's Tale had to say.
For a long while, I thought of 1984 as a book people read just so they could make the references. To be clear, if only that, that's still valid. It's good to have a convenient set of references to make for linguistic short-hand. And, upon reading, I can say that it's a good read, but still valuable as a textbook of terms and language in story-form, one that gets its value from being a good example of storytelling.
I'm using the Nook version, in case anybody wants to read along (and is actually going to follow this).
The main character is Mr. Winston Smith. But, one thing about dystopias that 1984 does well is it shows us the character of the society in which the story is told. The society is a character and is, more than any individual, the bad guy in the piece.
Things to give us some introduction to that evil character. At the start of the book, electricity is off during daylight hours, in order to save money and resources in preparation for Hate Week. There's a thing that this society does, we can guess this is done yearly, called "Hate Week". Without more information, that's ominous tone setting, but will come into play later on. On each floor*, there's a poster just opposite the elevator shaft is the enormous (book's word, there) poster with a face and a caption reading "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU".
The exact shape of the device isn't important. It might as well be a TV screen. The important parts are that it can't be turned off and that it's getting power even electricity is, otherwise, denied the building in preparation for Hate Week.
We get some description of Winston, himself. The words to describe him, physically. "a smallish, frail figure, the meagerness of his body were merely emphasised by the blue overalls which were the uniform of the Party."
He's got fair hair and rough skin. But, he's in a Party uniform. The Party doesn't get a name. That tells us that there's only the one. No dissenting party.
When he looks outside, he sees the same poster everywhere with the same all-caps caption "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU". There are helicopters that fly and sometimes come down to the level of the roofs before flying on. One thing we know about the society and, specifically, those with power is they want you to believe that they can see everything you do. "The patrols did not matter, however. Only the Thought Police mattered."
It's not just that they want you to believe it. It's that, at any one moment, it could very well be true.
Think of all the times you rebelled. They weren't necessarily big things. They might have only been inside your mind. Many of them, most of the parts that were powerless to change anything but important for you to get a grip on yourself as your own being, happened when authority figures weren't looking. In Oceana, the name of the nation in which the story takes place, you don't have that option.
And, though we've been looking at this place through the lens of Winston Smith, now's where he gets characterization.
He goes onto try to remember when London wasn't like this, but his childhood memories are too vague. There might have been a time, but nothing he can recall concretely.
We go into a bit of expository narration. The three slogans of the party are "War is peace", "Freedom is slavery", and "Ignorance is strength."
The thing is, at this point in my life, having looked at various bits of history (all very amateurly, so don't treat this as studying anything), I can see how these would seem good, even true, to a mind detirmined to see them as such. And, being nearly as omnipresent as the "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU" posters, I can see how they'd work their way into the unconscious mind just through sheer repetition.
Next, we get a quick rundown on the four Ministies of Party Rule. The Ministry of Truth, where Winston Smith works, deals with news, entertainment, education, and fine arts. The Ministry of Peace deals with war. The Ministry of Plenty deals with economic affairs (and is therefore the reason why they're restricting electricity in prep for Hate Week).
We'll get more into what the Ministry of Truth does in a later installment, but the text makes a point to go into some detail on the fourth Ministry, The Ministry of Love, which maintains law and order.
Normally, fiction has a rule of "show, don't tell". But, I'm willing to give on that rule when the "tell" is followed up by a very clear "show".
This all sets the tone. Next up, we actually get to the point where our main character does something!
For those who want to read along, in the Nook version, we're up to page 16.
*Some of the language is changed over to American terms. I should use the Brittish, as those are the terms in the book, but it just feels more natural this way. I won't do this when quoting the book.
I'd read Brave New World first. I was in High School and I found it and I started reading and... well... I enjoyed it. It spoke to me for reasons that I'll get into when I get to Brave New World next. I first tried to read The Handmaid's Tale in college, for a class. It wasn't until much later, having saved my copy, that I gave it a full read. I've never been on the right, but I will say that, for someone as privileged as I was, I needed to take in a bit of education before I could see any truth to what The Handaid's Tale had to say.
For a long while, I thought of 1984 as a book people read just so they could make the references. To be clear, if only that, that's still valid. It's good to have a convenient set of references to make for linguistic short-hand. And, upon reading, I can say that it's a good read, but still valuable as a textbook of terms and language in story-form, one that gets its value from being a good example of storytelling.
I'm using the Nook version, in case anybody wants to read along (and is actually going to follow this).
The main character is Mr. Winston Smith. But, one thing about dystopias that 1984 does well is it shows us the character of the society in which the story is told. The society is a character and is, more than any individual, the bad guy in the piece.
Things to give us some introduction to that evil character. At the start of the book, electricity is off during daylight hours, in order to save money and resources in preparation for Hate Week. There's a thing that this society does, we can guess this is done yearly, called "Hate Week". Without more information, that's ominous tone setting, but will come into play later on. On each floor*, there's a poster just opposite the elevator shaft is the enormous (book's word, there) poster with a face and a caption reading "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU".
"Inside the flat a fruity voice was reading out a list of figures which had something to do with the production of pig-iron. The voice came from an oblong metal plaque like a dulled mirror which formed part of the surface of the right-hand wall. Winston turned a switch and the voice sank somewhat, though the words were still distinguishable. The instrument (telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely."
The exact shape of the device isn't important. It might as well be a TV screen. The important parts are that it can't be turned off and that it's getting power even electricity is, otherwise, denied the building in preparation for Hate Week.
We get some description of Winston, himself. The words to describe him, physically. "a smallish, frail figure, the meagerness of his body were merely emphasised by the blue overalls which were the uniform of the Party."
He's got fair hair and rough skin. But, he's in a Party uniform. The Party doesn't get a name. That tells us that there's only the one. No dissenting party.
When he looks outside, he sees the same poster everywhere with the same all-caps caption "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU". There are helicopters that fly and sometimes come down to the level of the roofs before flying on. One thing we know about the society and, specifically, those with power is they want you to believe that they can see everything you do. "The patrols did not matter, however. Only the Thought Police mattered."
It's not just that they want you to believe it. It's that, at any one moment, it could very well be true.
"Behind Winston's back the voice from the telescreen was still babbling away about pig-iron and the overfulfilment of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it; moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to."
Think of all the times you rebelled. They weren't necessarily big things. They might have only been inside your mind. Many of them, most of the parts that were powerless to change anything but important for you to get a grip on yourself as your own being, happened when authority figures weren't looking. In Oceana, the name of the nation in which the story takes place, you don't have that option.
"You had to live-did live, from habit that became instinct-in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement was scrutinised."
And, though we've been looking at this place through the lens of Winston Smith, now's where he gets characterization.
"Winston kept his back to the telescreen. It was safer: though, as he well knew, even a back can be revealing. A kilometre away the Ministry of Truth, his place of work, towered vast and white above the grimy landscape. This, he thought with a sort of vague distaste-this was london..."
He goes onto try to remember when London wasn't like this, but his childhood memories are too vague. There might have been a time, but nothing he can recall concretely.
We go into a bit of expository narration. The three slogans of the party are "War is peace", "Freedom is slavery", and "Ignorance is strength."
The thing is, at this point in my life, having looked at various bits of history (all very amateurly, so don't treat this as studying anything), I can see how these would seem good, even true, to a mind detirmined to see them as such. And, being nearly as omnipresent as the "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU" posters, I can see how they'd work their way into the unconscious mind just through sheer repetition.
Next, we get a quick rundown on the four Ministies of Party Rule. The Ministry of Truth, where Winston Smith works, deals with news, entertainment, education, and fine arts. The Ministry of Peace deals with war. The Ministry of Plenty deals with economic affairs (and is therefore the reason why they're restricting electricity in prep for Hate Week).
We'll get more into what the Ministry of Truth does in a later installment, but the text makes a point to go into some detail on the fourth Ministry, The Ministry of Love, which maintains law and order.
"The Ministry of Love was the really frightening one. There were no windows at all. Winston had never been inside the Minstry of Love, nor within half a kilometre of it. It was a place impossible to enter except on official business, and then only by penetrating through a maze of barbed-wire entanglements, steel doors and hidden machine-gun nests. Even the streets leading up to its outer barriers were roamed by gorilla-faced guards in black uniforms, armed with jointed truncheons."
Normally, fiction has a rule of "show, don't tell". But, I'm willing to give on that rule when the "tell" is followed up by a very clear "show".
This all sets the tone. Next up, we actually get to the point where our main character does something!
For those who want to read along, in the Nook version, we're up to page 16.
*Some of the language is changed over to American terms. I should use the Brittish, as those are the terms in the book, but it just feels more natural this way. I won't do this when quoting the book.
no subject
Date: 2017-01-12 10:30 am (UTC)I'd forgotten that Winston was frail. I do remember reading, though, that Winston Smith is the only person in the entire book who gets both a first and a last name, because he is the closest to being a whole person.
no subject
Date: 2017-01-12 06:55 pm (UTC)It may live up to authorial intent. But, I'll get into why I disagree later on.
That might be a theme as we look at other characters. Thank you for that.
no subject
Date: 2017-04-03 09:25 pm (UTC)Winston's feeling that the past is too far away & too dim to actually help him out with either hope or instruction is also creepily similar to how i felt as a kid. there was a constant awareness of the immediate danger and my immediate needs, and to live like that you HAVE to ignore the past. it doesn't matter if something was different five minutes ago or five years ago, it's not going to help you right now, so it's dead weight to jettison.
after a while, i guess that does brutal things to your ability to recall and properly evaluate the past. even when you're in a safe place, you're still alert.
hmmm.
(bluecarrot)
no subject
Date: 2017-04-03 09:36 pm (UTC)That's a perspective worth adding, thank you.