Thoughts on 1984 and Parable of the Sower

At several points in Parts 1 and 2 of the book, Winston faintly recalls aspects of life before the Party that he is sure he didn't experience. When Winston looks at the upstairs room in Mr. Charrington's shop for the first time, it triggers a sense of familiarity. He seems to know what it feels like to sit in a similar room and not be watched all the time by a telescreen, even though he can't identify any specific memories of the experience. Another one of these incidents occurs when Winston hears Mr. Charrington say the St. Clement's rhyme. Winston feels as if he can hear church bells ringing, but he doesn't remember ever having heard church bells in his life. When O'Brien pours glasses of wine for Winston and Julia during their meeting, Winston also vaguely recalls seeing a device that poured some kind of liquid into a glass. I think part of the reason why Winston has these recollections is that he really did experience these aspects of pre-Party life, but the...

When O'Brien describes to Winston and Julia how the Brotherhood functions, some of what O'Brien says holds striking similarities to how the Party operates. O'Brien talks about how members of the Brotherhood must be prepared to "corrupt the minds of children" and "distribute habit-forming drugs". The Party, through organizations like the Junior Anti-Sex League and the Spies, already corrupts children to think in a way that aligns with Party ideology. Party members also drink Victory Gin, which, like certain drugs, makes the drinker more cheerful. The effects of the gin may just be caused by its alcohol content, but knowing the lengths the Party goes to to ensure loyalty, I wouldn't put it past the Party to insert drugs into alcohol. The members of the Brotherhood are also told to obey orders without questioning the reasons behind them, similar to how Party members are expected to accept rewritten records as truth without thinking too deeply about the ...

When Winston is working at the Ministry of Truth and finishes altering a written record, he burns the message that detailed the change by putting it into a tube that leads to a furnace. I thought the nickname for these tubes - memory holes - was rather fitting. The people working at the Ministry rewrite previously written records to make them match with current events, so while they are rewriting, they have memories of the original records. The slips of paper the workers receive that tell them what changes to make provide tangible evidence of these memories. However, the Party wants everyone to believe that its records have always remained the same, that no changes were ever made. Therefore, to comply with the Party's wishes, the Ministry workers put their slips of paper that document alterations into the memory holes to be burned, thus destroying their memories of ever rewriting the records. Another name I found quite appropriate was the Spies, a group run by the Party that essent...

The Party constantly changing records of the past to make Big Brother and certain Ministries look good reminds me of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) and their efforts to make the Southern cause during the Civil War seem heroic. After the Civil War ended, the UDC essentially tried to rewrite history in the Southern U.S., funding the creation of monuments that commemorated Confederate leaders, forming textbook review committees that rejected history textbooks for even hinting at criticizing the South, and even writing their own textbooks. For an example of the strict rules that the UDC used when examining textbooks, take the pamphlet “A Measuring Rod for Textbooks”, in which the author, a member of the UDC, tells schools to reject any textbook that calls the Civil War a rebellion or calls Confederate soldiers rebels. This organization wanted to remove all mention of the Confederacy being in the wrong, much like how the Party in 1984 rewrites their records to make all their ...