Michelle Chung 3/11/2020 PD 5

Blogger #4


Aim: Why and how does Winston resist the manipulation of language?

Do now: Silently stare at your classmates. Silently write one sentence for 3 classmates regarding what they are thinking… 

Mrs. Fusaro is Big Brother. What are you accusing your classmates of thinking? Your accusation will save you. 

Sharing out: Results

-20 points because people were talking out of order

+10 points because someone said they were “diligently working on the assignment”

-10 points for “lying” (assumed)

Analysis:

• Since Mrs. Fusaro took away points when people were honest or when people tried to defend other people, this created an “every man for himself” mindset for everyone in the room
• This is much like what Big Brother does in 1984
• Biased and unfair
• Influenced and manipulated people’s responses with rewards or punishments
• Fabrication; manipulated people into saying what he wanted to hear (put words into someone else’s mouth using false assumptions)
• Forced people to think a certain way with fear
• Manipulated people into flattering him or “kissing his feet” (metaphorically)

Thoughtcrimes (Crime think):

• Ingsoc- Newspeak word for “English socialism”
• Limiting language limits thoughtcrime; if you don’t have the words for what you are thinking, then you can’t think (against what the government wants you to think)
• “WAR IS PEACE; FREEDOM IS SLAVERY; IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”

Group Activity:

With your teams, pretend you are the Borough President of Staten Island. Create three mottos for Staten Island which embody double think (contradictory statements)

“Corona is health. Opioids are medicine. Drug dealers are peacekeepers.”

- Despite how contradictory these statements are, you can manipulate people into thinking anything you want, no matter how ridiculous it may seem. 

Although 1984 is just a novel, many of the things we thought were impossible can actually happen. The best example was the do now, which is a simulation of what it was like living under Big Brother, and explains why the people in 1984 acted the way they did. Knowing this, we can go into the future staying true to ourselves by understanding how people work, and how we can prevent an incident like the one in 1984 from ever happening in real life.