1984 Journal Part Two

Winston Smith is torn between his personal guilt over commitment to his job and his traditional trust/belief in the One State, and his overwhelming curiosity which is fueled by other relationships and a yearning for something more/better. In your opinion, why is Winston having a difficult time buying in to what Big Brother and the State are selling? Are his small acts of defiance (questioning) a form of protest? Why/Why not? Compare/contrast Winston's small rebellion to a more current act of rebellion within the United States (think Tea Party Movement, Occupy Wall Street, Anti-War Protests) in all facets - what they are fighting for, who they are rebelling against, the way their protests seen by the government, the way their protests are seen by the masses. Ultimately, the purpose of this blog is to examine how Orwellian we have become.

I think that Winston is having a difficult time buying into what Big Brother and the State are selling because he is able to see past the lies that they are feeding the citizens of Oceania. He also remembers the time before the Revolution when the Party hadn't come into existence yet. This allows him to see that the Party has been changing history and this makes him think that everything is a lie and is not logical. His small acts of defiance, like writing in the journal, are a form of protest. The Party would not approve of these actions because they like their citizens to be ignorant and to not feel and express their emotions. This makes these acts protests if the Party does not approve of them. These acts, may be small, but they are still protests. They are not quite on the same scale as most protests we see now, like Occupy Wall Street, where people are making large demonstrations of their anger towards Wall Street. Winston's protest are much more modest, but all the more dangerous. He is committing acts that intend to bring down the Party and Big Brother, which is much more than the protesters of Occupy Wall Street intend to do.