Elias' Thoughts on Utopias & Dystopias

     So I felt a little silly reading the rest of this section, as in it we are told that although the party can monitor you extensively, they can't actually get inside your head and read your thoughts. I'd previously written about how that possibility would completely eliminate all chances of rebellion, so I'll have to retract my earlier statements. Maybe I misunderstood the passage last night, but "Thought Police" would be a pretty misleading name if they don't have access to your thoughts. Anyway, while reading this passage, specifically the section in which Julia and Winston are talking about their inevitable arrest, I wondered how a society like the one in 1984 could ever come about. I mean, if a normal citizen was told about the plans to change to a society like the one in 1984 , they would undoubtedly reject the idea on account of the fact that it would be taking away their freedom. The only way to do it would be through subtle changes in the governmen...

      Some things I noticed in the beginning of Book Two were the bits on sex that made me a slightly uncomfortable while reading. For starters, Winston admitting to Julia his horrific desires/fantasies regarding her, only to be met with her laughing delightedly felt like a weird and gross decision on Orwell's part. Generally reading about what Winston says he imagined is uncomfortable to me, but the way he says it like it's no big deal, as well as her reaction, make my experience less even less enjoyable. After this, I didn't particularly like Winston describing Julia's sexual habits as foul and impure, but I recognize that this is attributed more to the values ingrained in the dystopian society in which they live rather than Orwell's personal biases.      I also feel like for a society with such stern control on human freedoms, Winston and Julia being able to sustain their relationship and activities for so long seems unrealistic. At the beginning of the ...

    Reading these chapters, a couple of small things stuck out to me. The first thing was the similarity between proles in 1984 and the lower caste workers in Brave New World. It's interesting to me that both books would have a lower and working class, easily manipulated, and unintelligent group of people. I suppose it was due to the disparities between the classes back when the books were written, but the only difference really is that the lower caste people in Brave New World were engineered in a literal sense, whereas the proles in 1984 are "engineered" by societal processes, which in my opinion is much more realistic, as well as actually present in our world. The other thing that stood out to me was the concept of history being.. fake? Like it reminded me a lot about the anti-masker or flat-earther argument of "so you're just gonna believe what officials tell you?" but change that to like "well were you there when people were wearing top-hats?"...

     So for my first blog post, I want to talk a little bit about (as the title would suggest) the similarities and differences between 1984 and Brave New world so far, and how they compare to the present. The most jarring thing I noticed in both books is the aversion to love that the depicted societies have ingrained in their societies, as well as the super weird culture they've created regarding sex. In both books, romantic attachment is heavily looked down upon, in Brave New World it's emotional connection, and in 1984 it's physical attraction, but I suppose it seems like emotional disconnect is pretty prevalent in 1984 as well. Regardless, I feel like these rigid rules about sex and marriage are super strange, and thankfully similar cultures aren't too prominent nowadays, at least in America. I'm aware of the Christian value of preserving yourself until marriage, but that's vastly different from the encouraged sexual activity with other citizens and/or pro...