1984 #2

Motif-The motif of censorship and being mindless of what is going on in one's society is starting to take a different turn in the second third of the novel. In the first part of the novel it is obvious that most citizens are mindlessly living their lives under the censorship that is all around them. In the second third of the book, Winston meets Julia and they start to hope that a conspiracy exists and their ideas start to go away from what is  accepted in their society. "When once you were in the grip of the Party, what you felt or did not feel, what you did or refrained from doing ,made literally no difference. Whatever happened you vanished, and neither you nor  your actions were ever heard of again"(165). Under all of the censorship, the citizens are molded into what the Party wants them to believe and after that there is no escaping. Orwell is trying to say that the only thing that we may have control over in this life is our own mind. If nothing is left after that, then you are not yourself and are living a mindless life. As long as you don't let the Party influence in any ways in order to control your mind, you will always know the truth. The truth is the only thing that we can hold onto and the only way that this can be achieved is to have control of our own mind. Once the Party fills your mind with lies then you are "vanished", which can represent your identity and who you are being taken away.

Setting- A change in setting in the second third of the novel was the natural scene where Julia and Winston escape to meet for a while. They want to go to a place where they won't be seen and therefore go to someplace that has many trees. In this setting, Julia and Winston feel like they have a sense of freedom and they can do as they please. They get comfortable with each other because of the openess of the environment. " He stopped thinking and merely felt. The girl's waist in the bend of his arm was soft and warm. He pulled her round so that they were breast to breast; her body seemed to melt into his"(125). When both are under the surveillance of the Party they would not have the freedom nor the bravery to get close to one another but since there is no sense of confinement they are able to do as they please. "The room was a world, a pocket of the past where extinct animals could walk"(150). When Julia and Winston are under the surveillance of the Party, it is often described as having a sense of confinement and something you can not escape. The room became their world.

Language-  The syntax throughout most of the novel and is very thorough and descriptive. It creates an intense feel as you read through the novel. When Orwell describes the antique shop he uses words that implies that Winston is in amusement of the past and history that was never told. ".. but the interior if the glass itself. There was such depth of it, and yet it was almost as transparent as air. It was as though the surface of the glass had been the arch of the sky."(147). As Orwell describes the glass paperweight, he says it with a sense of hope and awe. Winston is intrigued by the fact that a piece of history can be taken to the present and he appreciates it. But when he talks about the Party he describes it as something very dark and ruined. " He remembered better the rackety, uneasy circumstances of the time: the periodical panics about air raids and the sheltering in Tube stations, the piles of rubble everywhere, the unintelligible proclamations posted at street corners, the gangs of youths in shirts all the same color...." (160-161). Orwell uses words such as "rackety", "piles of rubble", and "uneasy" to show the reader the  

1984 #1

Dystopian Journal #1: How do the motifs, setting, and language contribute to our understanding of the society. Address each area separately and in depth.
Motifs- The biggest motif that I noticed was "censorship". Oceania lives in a censored society; absolutely everything is filtered through the government. The citizens of Oceania are all under surveillance through the telescreen that are scattered through the whole city. They wake up to the telescreens telling them what to do and when. Children go to school to become Spies and grow up believing that there was no past. Thoughtcrime is censorship of the mind and independent thoughts. It is almost impossible to think of an idea against the Party and not get vanished. Also, the Party erased all records of the past. Therefore they create what was the past. All the citizens of Oceania are only supposed to know what the Party wants them to know. "And the Records Department, after all, was itself only a single branch of the Ministry of Truth, whose primary job was not to reconstruct the past but to supply the citizens of Oceanis with newspapers, films, textbooks, telescreen programs, plays, novels-with every coneivable kind of information, instruction, or entertainment, from a statue to a slogan, from a lyric poem to a biological treatise, and from a child's spelling book to a Newspeak dictionary." (43)
Setting- The setting of Oceania is very confined and constrined to what the Party wants you to believe. A lot of the imagery in the book is dark and rotten. The houses are deteriorating and breaking apart because of the bombing. This contributes to our understanding of the novel because it shows how the environment that Oceania is living in is very dark and depressed. It also contributes to the characters and how they feel and the society as whole because it is shows how they are living in a depressed environment.  "Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no color in anything except the posters that were plastered everywhere." (2)
Language- The narrator speaks indifferently of Oceania therefore the tone is very lonely and dark. The language contributes to our understanding of the society by showing who and who isn't in favor of the party. For example Mr.Parson brags about his kids and seems intrigued to be a part of the Party as well as Syme. But Winston is indifferent of Big Brother and Oceania's society at times. At other times he wants to revolt and this is shown through the language and what type of words they use. Winston- " But he did not do so, however, because he knew that it was useless. Whether he wrote DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER, or whether he refrained from writing it, made no difference" (19) Syme- " By 2050- earlier, probably - all real knowledge of Oldspeak will have disappeared. The whole literature of the past will have been destroyed."(53)

Journal #5- The Stranger

Name- Vive ut Vivas

1. Nothing is impossible- As a little girl my parents and family always told me that nothing is impossible and I can do whatever I want to. From joining the circus to finding the cure to cancer. I realized that they were right and that all it takes is self motivation and setting your mind to the task 110%. As long as you have those tools nothing is impossible and nothing can stand in your way. 

2. Faith-Whether it is faith in yourself or in God, one must have faith in order to be happy. You must h ave faith in yourself to do whatever you want to achieve and never give up on that faith. Faith in God has always been important in my whole family, and they have thankfully given me these gifts. I believe that once you put your life in God's hands you must have faith that everything would be perfect. 

3.Always do things right- My mother has always told me that whenever you do something do it right. I adopted this idea and it has turned out that everything you do is being judged. Therefore you must always do everything right even the smallest of things so everything can turn out well. This turns in to a habit and you will become successful. 

4. We are all human- Every single person on this earth does not have any more rights or less rights than we do; we all have equal rights. Therefore we must treat each other with respect and we are all equal even though all of us are different. Everyone has the right to life and happiness and must be protected. No one should be treated with more kindness and respect, all should be treated the same.

5. Have courage- You must have courage to go out and accomplish the things you want to accomplish. Have courage to take on the tasks that no one else has done. It is part of life to experience new things and one needs courage to do things that has never been done before and take it one level farther than before. Have courage to challenge yourself and do something that you know you might not succeed. It is part of learning and become a stronger person.

6. Fail and learn- Failing is learning and only useful if you take away from the experience. If you don't fail you can't learn and learn from your mistakes; therefore you are a weaker person without failing. From experiences that I have learned from made me a smarter and stronger person. Failing and learning from failure is important to becoming a better person.

7. Hope- Hope is the only way we can actually have meaning to our life. What makes life worth living is hoping in something better and that way there is something worth living. Hope brings us joy and something will come out of it. If there is no hope then life has no meaning. I learned that if you are in a tough situation that the only thing you can do is hope that things will get better and work towards having a better life. I believe that hope makes us kinder and stronger people. From hope comes happiness. 

Journal #4- The Stranger

In the end Meursault realizes his whole life was pointless and that nothing has meaning to it. Since everyone is going to die nothing is worth living for. He would rather die than live in the moment. He comes to the realization that life has no meaning to it since we all come to die at one point in our lives. He accepts the fact that his fate was death and the same with everyone else and therefore there is no point in living if in the end it is death. I think Camus doesn't have a strong belief in this conclusion but I think he does accept what Meursault comes to realize in the end that we all die so life is pointless.

Journal#3- The Stranger

I think Camus separates his novel into two parts because it shows Meursault in two different situations and how  he reacts in both of them. It also shows how Meursault changes as a character from the first part to the second part.
In the first part the syntax is short and choppy characterizing Meursault because it is simple like him. "I caught the two o'clock bus. It was very hot. I ate at the restaurant, at Celeste's, as usual". The choppy and simple syntax in part 1 creates the character of Meursault in part 1 as a boring and simple person.
In part 2 the syntax is different. It is lengthier and more complex creating the Meursault in the second part as a more thought provoking character. " Because at the thought that one fine morning I would find myself a free man standing a cordon of police- o the outside, as it were-at the thought of being the spectator who comes to watch and then can go and throw up afterwards, a wave of poisoned joy rose in my throat". In this second part the complex syntax is used to create a more complex thinker that is Meursault. He is more hopeful in the second part and thinking about getting out of jail. Instead in part 1 he had nothing to hope for until the second part when his freedom was taken away.
A similarity I saw between the two parts was the contrast between lights and darks that remains as a motif. Also the sky and nature still remain a motif. The sense of loneliness in the book remains the same as well.

Journal #2- The Stranger

Option2-
The first person point of view allows the reader to follow along with every single thought of the main character Meursault. I noticed that the narrator, Meursault goes off on a lot of tangents while thinking and notices the slightest detail of things. I think Camus didn't use third person omniscient because he wanted to show Meursault's thought and feelings and by using first person he is able to do that. I think Camus's purpose with this choice is that it gives a sense of loneliness because every single narration is his thoughts and the things he does. Also we get to know Meursault better throught this point of view because it is in first person. It helps develop the theme of being a stranger in society.

Journal #1- The Stranger

 Salamano
Salamano is Meursault's neighbor who is known to have his dog around with at all times. The narrator describes him as having reddish scabs on his face and wispy yellow hair. I think that Camus is trying to demonstrate that you must live in the future and not the present Salamano. Through the chapters where Salamano is with his dog it is shown that he is always screaming at his dog and abusing him physically and verbally. Later Salamano is left alone because his dog probably died, he misses his companionship and saying how much he missed his dog. Salamano lived in the present because he would abuse his dog because of the temporary problems he had with him and wasn't thinking that someday his dog would someday die, he wasn't thinking of the future. And now that he is feeling hurt because of his loss he is trying to remember the all the memories they had together. He didn't appreciate what he had until it was gone.
Strange Little Woman
This strange little woman came to the cafe Celeste's and randomly sat down with Meursault. She is described as having jerky gestures and bright eyes and a little face. Through this woman I think Camus is trying to point out something in Meursault which is how he focuses his attention to the small details of the woman and doesn't really look at the big picture. I also thought it was interesting how Meurault says that she is peculiar if by the name of the book he is the stranger.
Marie
Marie is a lady that Meursault has a thing for and he thinks she does too. They eventually become boyfriend and girlfriend. Marie is described by Meursault a lot of the time when he notices her breasts. Marie wants to get married but Meursault repeatedly says that it doesn't matter. I think Camus uses Marie to show characteristics of Meursault. One of the characteristics is that he doesn't seem to make meaning of marriage showing that he is an existentialist.