How does it happen?!

"...a being which hhad the shape of a man, but apparently of gigantic stature, sat in the sledge, and guided the dogs." (pg. 8) Foreshadowing is a great tool used by authors to keep the reader intrigued. Some foreshadowing may be obvious as they take place in a dream or are revealed in other forms. However, this foreshadow is quite different than others examples I have read. This is very vague and almost seems as if it is meaningless when we first read it. However, we then see Victor come on board the ship shortly afterwards and this gives us the idea that the creature could have been that man on the sled earlier and Victor was chasing him. This leads the reader, and definitely lead me, to think how could the story progress to such an absurd setting and situation. The use of this foreshadow causes the reader to become curious and motivates them, as it did me, to read further into the novel and figure out what happens. This is a great method of keeping the novel interesting and flowing. Without tools such as this, novels would not be as interesting and authors would have a harder time keeping the reader concentrated and interested in the novel.

So Many Stories!

"Strange and harrowing must be his story, frightful the strom which embraced the gallant vessel on its course and wrecked it -- thus! (pg 14) This is the last line of the letter IV where Robert Walton introduces the Frankenstein's story. Now sure, this novel could have done without the frame story. However, the impact of the several themes would not be as strong. Because of this, the frame stories are what improve how the themes of the novel are delivered. For instance, in the letters, we find that Robert Walton is an explorer who is determined to go into the unknown and discover great things. He is determined to do this and it affects his life in negative ways. Then when we hear about Frankenstein's obsession, we relate that to the obsession of Robert Walton's. Through this comparison, we think twice about the theme being made about how obsessing over a passion is bad for us. This may not be the only function of a frame story, but it certainly amplifies our attention to the themes of the novel.

Regretfully kind of true

"You want it to happen to the other person" (pg. 292) This is the quote from Julia when she explains that by saving themselves by wanting the other person to go through the pain, they really mean what they say. At first when I read this, I thought nah...they love each other. They were just willing to say anything at the time but they didn't really mean it. But as I thought about it and Julia explained it, it actually does make sense. At that moment of horror, selfishness oversomes your body and at that moment, you would rather have what is being done to you to another person. I think the realization of this shows the epitome of humanity's selfishness in the novel. This is the point in the story where no love or care for others is felt by either Julia or Winston and they have become the inhuman beings that the Party desires. Julia and Winston had now betrayed everything in their lives thus leaving them with nothing else but obedience to the Party.

I still don't understand why...

"A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself." (pg. 267) As I read through O'Briens explanations about the motives of the party and how the party wishes the future world to be like, I still have trouble wrapping my mind arounnd how anybody could want such a thing. The description of the what the Party desires the future world to consist of seems so inhumane that people of the Inner party such as O'Brien must have truly lost their humanity. This is the only rational thing I can think of that would cause anybody to want a world like this. The Inner Party have lost their human emotions and other related things therefore making such a thing acceptable. The people of the Party have just turned into robots that have lost touch with humanity. An interesting thing is that the proles are described in this novel as the animals, but they are more human than what the people of the party have become. To me it is just crazy that the twisted logic that O'Brien explaned to Winston could develop so fully.

Disappointment

"He loved Big Brother" (pg 298) Throughout the entire book, I always imagined Winston as being the hero of the novel. He is the one who stuck out and internally opposed and hated the party. He even went to far as to sneak off with Julia as much as he could. I had the idea that he would somehow outwardly revolt against the party and continue being strong in his own thoughts and beliefs. However, the last four words of the novel (the quote above) reversed my opinion about Winston and I saw him as an antihero. Yes, I think its harsh to say that he lacked courage after all that he was put through by O'Brien (who I really don't like), but he certainly is no hero by the end of the novel. This disappointment in the Party's triumph over Winston really emphasized the fact of hopelessness in the novel. When I read these last four words, I just felt as that if Winston was not strong enough to withstand the tortures of his conversion, then nobody would be able to. My image of Winston as a hero is what really made the end much more dramatic for me.

"Write it down and I'll sign it-- anything! Not room 101!" (page 236) After this quote, we are never told what room 101 acutally is. This then causes the reader to constantly wonder and anticipate what will be in that room. This quote represents only a small portion of suspense the author uses throughout the entire second half of the book. Once Winston joins the "Brotherhood" (or he thought he joined it), I got the feeling that somehow they were now going to overturn the Party. But shortly afterwards, he is caught by the thought police, and the rest of the book is his conversion from humanity to a heartless member of the party. However, the suspense is created because throughout the whole second portion of the novel, I thought somehow Winston would triumph and not just be like all the other people who went through the conversion process. So I keep thinking this throughout the novel, but then I reach the end and see that the Party had won. Although he says he "won the victory over himself", he truly lost it and allowed the party to triumph over him. The suspense created throughout the whole second half of the book, however, causes the impact of this ending to be multiplied. We see his defeat and it really almost hurt to read how he had become. The suspense of the story is what made me feel this way at the end of the novel.

Every Thought

"And the people under the sky were aso very much the same--everywhere, all over the world, undereds or thousands of millions of people just like this, people ignorant of one another's existence, held apart by walls of hatred and lies..." (pg 220) Stream of consciousness is what the majority of the book is composes of. Apart of the dialoge and the descriptions of what Winston and those around him are doing, the book is just all his inner thoughts just like the quote provided. Everyone has those times when we just sit around and think deeply upon an issue. It's through this thinking process that we can actually figure things out that we wouldn't have been able to do without the deep thinking. Through stream of consiousness in the novel, the narrator makes it natural to dwelve deeper and deeper into certain subjects. Through this, we get numerous themes from the book. However, we don't only get new themes from the novel, but we can better understand what the author is trying to get across in the novel. If it was just the author telling us this directly, it would be very dry and dull, but by using Winston's thoughts, the audience then pays more attention to the deep thought given on a certain matter which has a greater effect on the novel as a whole.