THE WHOLE BOOK!

This book was crazy. It left me with so many questions that were never answered. I waited to see what happened, but now I'm almost.. disappointed? I thought the story would have more of a clear ending. The way it ended makes it seem like there is going to be a second book... But Orwell is dead.. So that's not possible. One of the questions I've thought about this whole time is "Is fear more powerful than love?" I believe that yes. Fear is. Fear stems from love. We see that in this story. You can love someone, but you also fear them at the same time. I believe that wholeheartedly. When you give someone your love, you give them the power to hurt you. That has to be a scary thought for everyone. I just want the answer to all my questions, but I'm thinking I'll just have to make up my own. There will more than likely be another Winston. Julia is more than likely going to die like Winston did. It's obvious, I just wish the book told me all of that.

Part Three; Chapter Six.

I can't believe it! Winston gave in. He died loving the party. Or at least I think he died. I'm not quite sure. Like I knew would happen, the book didn't answer every question. When Winston and Julia met up, however, some of my fellow students suggested that when Winston referred to Julia as "bigger" that she could maybe be pregnant. Holy, plot twist! I don't know what ended up happening to her, and I wish we did. One thing I would like to know is, what happened to her in Room 101? What is Julia's biggest fear? In the book, there was hardly anything she seemed to be afraid of. Julia comes off as so brave. I just wish that the book could have gave us more information in the end. I wish there was a 1985 book? The sequel to this one. It could show us what happens to each of them. Like a "Where Are They Now?" book. I just wish Winston would have stayed true to himself. That may be my "optimism" speaking.. but still, I wish he would have stuck up for himself in the ending. At least now I know Winston and Julia are not in love... No happy ending... :(

Part Three; Chapter Five.

Winston finally did it. He betrayed Julia. I'm not exactly surprised. Winston is so completely terrified of rats that I feel that he is willing to do anything but face them. I guess I can relate. If I was faced with my biggest fear I don't think I would be able to hold it together. Especially when I knew the one thing that could save me. In Winston's case, it is giving up and betraying Julia. I feel that this is going to take a significant toll on Winston. Even though he may not love Julia, the one thing he did not want to do was betray her. In the long run, by now, she has probably betrayed him. Its a natural human instinct to protect yourself before others.
Now that I know what Room 101 is, I can see why everyone is so terrified by it. I was way off when I thought it had anything to do with Big Brother, but I guess in the long run everything comes back to him. Winston is being tortured because of Big Brother. Winston was caught because he was against Big Brother. Winston is going to die because of Big Brother. I'm almost dreading reading the last chapter. I'm not quite ready to figure out what happens to all of them. However, I need to know. But, I'm scared the last chapter is not going to contain all the answers to my questions. Like, what is happening or happens to Julia? Will Winston completely transform and love the Party? Will O'Brien find a new Winston? These questions are ones that are going to bother me until they are answered.

Part Three;Chapter Four.

This chapter may have been short, but it had so many confusing details. Winston appears to be completely compliant with the Party. He is acting as if he actually believes everything that O'Brien and the Party has been drilling into his head as long as he has been there. It's a positive thing that he is regaining his strength, but I bet that is not good for the Party. They want to keep him weak, because when he is weak they have power over him. I also was intrigued by the fact that Winston still believes he loves Julia. I wish the guy could just make up his mind, honestly it would help me out a lot. I have been so back and forth with whether or not there is actually love between Winston and Julia. I'm a hopeless romantic, so I guess with every story like this one I secretly hope they will be in love and live happily ever after. However, in this story, I don't know if that is the case. I'm especially not sure now that O'Brien is taking Winston to Room 101. We have no idea what is in there. Winston has no idea what is in there. But O'Brien says it is the place where Winston will learn to love Big Brother. I don't know if they will just take him in there to torture him into loving BB, or if they will have some kind of evidence as to why Winston should love them. Maybe in Room 101 Winston will even be reunited with Julia! (there may still be hope!) Honestly, I have no idea what will happen in Room 101, but I'm very interested to finally see what all the hype is about.

Part Three; Chapter Three.

At this point I feel so completely bad for Winston. The poor man is being tortured through his mind more than his body. If I was asked any one the questions that O'Brien is asking, I would answer the same way Winston is. He is still remembering the truth and sticking by what he knows to be true. As much as O'Brien is trying, he is not able to change Winston's mind at this point. I also felt bad for him when he went to see his body in the mirror. I can't imagine how horrible it would be to look into a mirror and see a completely different person. He has been treated so horribly that he can't even recognize himself. That alone could take away a man's spirit and will to live. The next thing that happens that I find to be very tragic is the fact that in the end O'Brien tells him he will die. I question now, what is Winston feeling? How will he react? If he knows he is going to die he might just give up. He might let O'Brien kill him now. I think that if I were him I would be scared. He knows his future. I think Winston will do all he can do now to control the present. He will get out all of his beliefs and views before they kill him. He seems like the type of guy who will go down fighting. Even O'Brien says he is a "difficult case", I completely agree. Winston is going to cause more problems for the Party while he is still alive.

Part Three; Chapter Two.

I really enjoyed reading this chapter. It was so interesting to me that after all he was doing, Winston still loved O' Brien. He still considered him to be his friend. He still enjoyed talking to him. In our society, Winston would be considered to be experiencing some kind of PTSD. There are many stories in our society where a victim can fall in love with their attacker because they literally are broken down so much emotionally that they don't know any different. In my opinion, that is what is happening right now to Winston. Also, he asks a lot of questions in the end that I think we are all wondering. Like, what happened to Julia? I would imagine she went through a lot of the same things that Winston did. All of the torture techniques that used with him were probably used on her as well. From the way O'Brien answers, it is easy to see that Big Brother does not exist. Big Brother is what the Party has created. Without a strong force like Big Brother, the Party would have no control. Right now I am thinking that Winston will be released and they won't kill him right now. I believe he is smart enough to act like he has been "cured" or that he will actually change his way of thinking. It is also very interesting to me that O'Brien is calling Winston insane. In all reality, O'Brien is the psychopath that is torturing people and changing their way of thinking.

Part Three; Chapter One.

While reading this chapter, one man that comes through the room that Winston is being held in caught my attention. It was the man with the "skull" face. He was interesting to me because he had some kind of idea what "Room 101" was. The man was so against going in to that room. He offered for them to kill him right there, or to even kill his children right in front of him. This shows that whatever happens inside that room must be pretty horrific. I would imagine it to be some kind of torture room. But I don't understand what they could possibly do in this room that is worse than any of the deaths the man would rather experience. I imagine there will come a time where Winston will have to go into "Room 101" and that is the only way we will truly know what happens in there. The ending was also pretty interesting. O' Brien walking in was not what I expected to happen. But, it seems that Winston saw it coming. Even O' Brien himself says that Winston saw this coming. Maybe after all Winston knew all along O' Brien wasn't who he claimed to be. He is definitely a part of the Thought Police and I imagine his only goal is to catch vulnerable people like Winston and Julia. 

Chapters Three and Four.

Reading chapters three and four completely changed my perspective on the activity we did during class. My group chose the question- Are Winston and Julia in love? I have to say that through the whole project I was leaning more towards no. I thought that there was no way that they actually could love each other and not just the rebellion. But, the conversations they had in both chapters, completely changed my mind. They seem to almost be the same person, but different at the same time. They have a lot of the same ideas and principles, but sometimes their opinions vary. However, I believe that is how all relationships are. I now get the impression that Julia and Winston may be in love. They actually seem to care for one another. Winston even admits in the chapter that his feelings changed from feelings of lust, to actual feelings of love. From the way Julia acts when she finds out Winston is afraid of rats, I think she genuinely cares for him. I think that my opinion on their love might change a few more times throughout the book, but as of right now I really think they truly love each other and not just the rebellion.

Part Two: Chapter Two.

My first question that I had while reading this chapter was, how can Winston attribute their entire relationship to being solely a political act? Winston and Julia have their first encounter and it seems as if there is a real relationship between the two of them. But, in the end he relates it all to Big Brother and rebelling against him. I think the relationship is going to continue between the two of them. My question now is, are they going to take their rebellion to another level and actually try and overthrow Big Brother in some way? I think that together they could if they had more people helping them. I just think there is a lot going on right now, and Julia and Winston are both still trying to figure out what they want to do or what their plans are.

Part Two; Chapter One.

Today in class, Mrs. Johnson brought up a very interesting question. Why does Winston trust Julia? In this chapter she passes him a note that says, "I love you." Winston, without much hesitation, takes this very seriously. He thinks of all the possibilities, that she may be a spy, that she may actually love him, truthfully he does not know what it means. But, he wants to find out. He spends a countless amount of time figuring out what he is going to say to her, or even when he is going to get to talk to her without a telescreen watching. When they finally talk in the cafeteria, they arrange a second meeting. They meet in a crowded area and at some point they begin to hold hands. This is a very dangerous act to engage in while in a public place. They are taking a huge risk being together, but Winston wants to continue it and wants to see the girl again. At the end of the chapter, they arrange their next meeting. I think Winston knows how dangerous it is to trust Julia, but he wants to. There is something about her. He feels connected to her in a way already, whether it is love or hate, he has feelings for her.

Chapter Eight.

In this chapter, we see Winston trying to uncover new details. For most of the chapter, he is walking through the village of the proles. He is observing them. At some point in time he encounters a man who is much older than he is. Winston decides that he is going to talk to the old man, and see if the man can provide Winston with any new details of the past. Through many efforts, Winston doesn't get very far with the man. The old man tends to get distracted with memories, but not memories Winston is very interested in. This frustrates Winston to the point where he leaves the old man at the bar. While walking back home, he walks past the shop where he bought his diary. There are many memories that come along with the store, but then something very strange happens. He sees Julia, the dark-haired girl, walking along the same street. Winston is still not sure how he feels about her, but she always seems to provoke a lot of thoughts whenever he does see her. I think something will develop further between the two of them further along in the book.