1984 Deconstruction: Part 5
Feb. 7th, 2017 10:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wingedbeastOkay, let's see if we can finish off the first Chapter, here. (This is why these deconstructions take so long.)
We're at the end of those Two Minutes of Hate, which seems to be both an obligation and a manipulation that's nigh-impossible to resist. And, while I said the Two Minutes of Hate represents something to be found in all cultures, it's never there just for its own end.
For a few years, I went to a Catholic Jr. High School. When, in the course of history, it came time to learn a few of the basics about the Greko-Roman Pantheon and the stories told of them, we saw the story of Apollo turning a woman into a tree. The opportunity was pounced upon with cutesy child-friendly smile. We were asked to compare these gods to the god of Christianity.
The Greko-Roman would, as a prank, cause one to fall in love with a woman and the woman to fall in terror of the god, resulting in said woman begging to be converted into an entirely different taxonomic Kingdom to escape said god. And... well... they weren't exactly going to teach the rape and, otherwise, ethnic cleansing of the Canaanites. They certainly hadn't taught us about what happened to the Amalekites. The Flood and The 10 Plagues were only discussed in cutesy fashion, and never taking thought to empathize with the victims.
This is why villains will, often times, get more attention and better songs and more characterization than the heroes. Scar and Gaston both need to tick us off in special ways. Because, otherwise, we're just left looking at Simba and wondering why he deserves to be the ruler of all the land based solely on the fact he was born. When the villagers come for Belle and The Beast, you need to hate Gaston enough to overlook the fact that The Beast is a largely absent abductor of people.
(Insert shameless plug for my Black Hat Brigade series here.)
One of the themes I see coming for this series is that the sins identified, the sins of these fictional societies, are not unique sins. They come up precisely because they are everywhere in all societies. If you're so incredibly certain that your society or your particular subculture is pure in this regard, that certainty blinds you to what you might see if you looked.
That said, let's skip past most of the next paragraph (these are some sizable paragraphs) of the aftermath to what Winston fears.
We get some more specifics on just what communication Winston knew was going on. There's a bit to be said about how that communication is in Winston's imagination and based far more in his view of O'Brien as a man of power and position than anything. It's only his predisposition to like one person and dislike another that leads him to his assessment of which one is more in resistance and which one is more orthodox.
But, that fades us out of Winston's flashback, through some personal speculation about the potential existence of a resistance group called The Brotherhood, back to Winston writing in his diary.
Once again, I come headlong against the notion that Winston is the closest to whole of all the characters and, once again, I can't hold with it.
This is a big move. More than even writing down some minor events, this is a big move. He even admits, in a bit more writing, that he's risking immediate execution by writing this down, claiming not to care. But, he obviously does care, else he'd have done this long ago.
It wasn't the horror of The Two Minutes of Hate, that a nation would do such a thing with its citizens or that those around him were so fully affected that did it. He'd been going through that every day for long enough that it isn't noted for any level of novelty.
What moved him to do this was a thought, pulled out of nowhere but a mind that wants to be a rebel at the same time that it wants cozy up to someone in authority and power, that O'Brien might have agreed with him.
With that notion of Winston Smith, I don't want to insult anybody else he'll meet by suggesting that he has some level of completion as a person over them. To whatever degree that he lives in a world of broken people, he's as broken as anybody else.
In the next chapter, we'll meet some of those anybody elses. In the Nook, Chapter one ends on page 29.
We're at the end of those Two Minutes of Hate, which seems to be both an obligation and a manipulation that's nigh-impossible to resist. And, while I said the Two Minutes of Hate represents something to be found in all cultures, it's never there just for its own end.
The Hate rose to its climax. The voice of Goldstein had become an actual sheep's bleat, and for an instant the face changed into that of a sheep. Then the sheep-face melted into the figure of a Eurasian soldier who seemed to be advancing, huge and terrible, his sub-machine-gun roaring, and seeming to spring out of the surface of the screen, so that some of the people in the front row actually flinched backwards in their seat. But in the same moment, drawing a deep sigh of relief from everybody, the hostile figure melted into the face of Big Brother, black-haired, black-moustachio'd, full of power and mysterious calm, and so vast that it almost filled up the screen. Nobody heard what Big Brother was saying. It was merely a few words of encouragement, the sort of words that are uttered in the din of battle, not distinguishable individually but restoring confidence by the fact of being spoken. Then the face of Big Brother faded away again and instead the three slogans of the Party stood out in bold capitols:WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.
For a few years, I went to a Catholic Jr. High School. When, in the course of history, it came time to learn a few of the basics about the Greko-Roman Pantheon and the stories told of them, we saw the story of Apollo turning a woman into a tree. The opportunity was pounced upon with cutesy child-friendly smile. We were asked to compare these gods to the god of Christianity.
The Greko-Roman would, as a prank, cause one to fall in love with a woman and the woman to fall in terror of the god, resulting in said woman begging to be converted into an entirely different taxonomic Kingdom to escape said god. And... well... they weren't exactly going to teach the rape and, otherwise, ethnic cleansing of the Canaanites. They certainly hadn't taught us about what happened to the Amalekites. The Flood and The 10 Plagues were only discussed in cutesy fashion, and never taking thought to empathize with the victims.
This is why villains will, often times, get more attention and better songs and more characterization than the heroes. Scar and Gaston both need to tick us off in special ways. Because, otherwise, we're just left looking at Simba and wondering why he deserves to be the ruler of all the land based solely on the fact he was born. When the villagers come for Belle and The Beast, you need to hate Gaston enough to overlook the fact that The Beast is a largely absent abductor of people.
(Insert shameless plug for my Black Hat Brigade series here.)
One of the themes I see coming for this series is that the sins identified, the sins of these fictional societies, are not unique sins. They come up precisely because they are everywhere in all societies. If you're so incredibly certain that your society or your particular subculture is pure in this regard, that certainty blinds you to what you might see if you looked.
That said, let's skip past most of the next paragraph (these are some sizable paragraphs) of the aftermath to what Winston fears.
Of course he chanted with the rest: it was impossible to do otherwise. To dissemble your feelings, to control your face, to do what everyone else was doing, was an instinctive reaction. But there was a space of a couple seconds during which the expression in his eyes might conceivably have betrayed him. And it was at exactly this moment that the significant thing happened-if, indeed, it did happen.
Momentarily he caught O'Brien's eye. O'Brien had stood up. He had taken off his spectacles and was in the act of re-settling them on his nose with his characteristic gesture. But there was a fraction of a second when their eyes met, and for as long as it took to happen Winston knew-yes, he knew!-that O'Brien was thinking the same thing as himself.
We get some more specifics on just what communication Winston knew was going on. There's a bit to be said about how that communication is in Winston's imagination and based far more in his view of O'Brien as a man of power and position than anything. It's only his predisposition to like one person and dislike another that leads him to his assessment of which one is more in resistance and which one is more orthodox.
But, that fades us out of Winston's flashback, through some personal speculation about the potential existence of a resistance group called The Brotherhood, back to Winston writing in his diary.
His eyes re-focused on the page. He discovered that while he sat helplesly musing he had also been writing, as though by automatic action. And it was no longer the same cramped handwriting as before. His pen had slid voluptuously over the smooth paper, printing in neat capitals-
DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER
DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER
DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER
DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER
DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER
over and over again, filling half a page.
Once again, I come headlong against the notion that Winston is the closest to whole of all the characters and, once again, I can't hold with it.
This is a big move. More than even writing down some minor events, this is a big move. He even admits, in a bit more writing, that he's risking immediate execution by writing this down, claiming not to care. But, he obviously does care, else he'd have done this long ago.
It wasn't the horror of The Two Minutes of Hate, that a nation would do such a thing with its citizens or that those around him were so fully affected that did it. He'd been going through that every day for long enough that it isn't noted for any level of novelty.
What moved him to do this was a thought, pulled out of nowhere but a mind that wants to be a rebel at the same time that it wants cozy up to someone in authority and power, that O'Brien might have agreed with him.
With that notion of Winston Smith, I don't want to insult anybody else he'll meet by suggesting that he has some level of completion as a person over them. To whatever degree that he lives in a world of broken people, he's as broken as anybody else.
In the next chapter, we'll meet some of those anybody elses. In the Nook, Chapter one ends on page 29.
