Oedipus Journal #1

"Defiance becomes our duty in the face of injustice." Referring to at least two works you have studied, explore the ways in which writers have attempted to persuade us to accept or challenge this view.

In Oedipus The King, when Oedipus is accused of being the murderer of Laius by the blind prophet Tiresias, his first instinct is to defend himself, by denying that it is true. He turns against the blind prophet who he had trusted to give him accurate information, insulting him and accusing him of having lost his prophecy powers. His defiance increases as he says to Tiresias: "Come here, you pious fraud. Tell me,/ when did you ever prove yourself a prophet?" (443-444). Oedipus' cruel attitude is a major change from the well mannered, easygoing attitude we saw him possess when he was first introduced to us at the beginning of the tragedy. Because Tiresias is accusing Oedipus of something that seems completely ridiculous and completely impossible to him, Oedipus feels the need to defend himself and his honor against the unjust accusations. The author, Sophocles, uses the contrast between the two attitudes to show that defiance becomes one's duty in the face of injustice, or rather, it is instinctive for one to act out defiantly when they face unfair accusations.

Likewise, in the book 1984, author George Orwell persuades the audience to accept this view of defiance in the face of injustice. When Winston is caught and imprisoned by the Thought Police for committing thought crime and acts against the party, he clings to his own beliefs as long as he can. Even though O'Brien spends months trying to persuade him to accept the idealogy of the Party, for the longest time Winston will not forget his own values. When forced to speak in favor of the Party or be hurt by a shock machine, Winston publicly defends his own ideals even though he is hurt because of it. Winston's acts of defiance against the Party continue until he is completely brainwashed into loving the Big Brother. Orwell uses Winston's reaction to his situation (the injustice of being imprisoned for trying to live as an individual) to show the reader that when one is faced with an unfair or unjust situation, it is an instinctive reaction to show defiance.

Poetry Journal: XX Comparison

The work I will be comparing to Neruda's poem XX is the chorus from the song "Tattoo", written by Amanda Ghost and Ian Dench (performed by Jordin Sparks).

Don’t look back got a new direction
I loved you once, needed protection
You’re still a part of everything I do
You’re on my heart just like a tattoo
Just like a tattoo
I’ll always have you
I'll always have you

Neruda's poem (XX) is about a man coming to terms with the end of a relationship.  In the poem, the
speaker tries to convince himself that he has moved on from the woman he once loved, but we
can see that she is still important to him, and he actually still loves her.  One of the ways Neruda
highlights this idea is through the repetition of the line: "I no longer love her, that's certain".
Because the speaker uses this line more than once in this poem, it seems as if he does not believe
what he is saying, so he must say it multiple times to try to make himself believe it.  Although he
wants to move on and move forward with his life, the speaker cannot convince himself that he is
really over his previous girlfriend.  Another technique used by the poet to convey this idea is the use
of the terms "her" and "she" when referring to the woman.  Because the speaker dose not use the
woman's actual name when talking about her, we can see that he is doing his best to forget about her
by de-personalizing their relationship.  However, his love for her gets the best of him as we see through
the numberous amounts of times he brings her up (using "her" and "she" - 30 times).  Although the
speaker has attempted to move on from the relationship, he cannot because he still loves the woman.

Like the poem (XX), "Tattoo" is about the end of a relationship, and somebody being forced to move on.  Unlike the
speaker in the poem, the speaker in the song seems very willing to move forward.  We can see that she wants to
move on with her life through the line "Don’t look back got a new direction".  The speaker in Neruda's poem is
much more hesitant - he knows he will have to move on, but is not completely willing to let go of the
relationship yet.  Since the speaker in the song is much more accepting of the fact that she will have to move on,
she is also more willing to embrace the fact that since she used to love him, he will never be completely erased
from her life.  This point is emphasized through the use of the simile "you're on my heart just like a tattoo".  In
using this simile, the writer of the song emphasizes the permanent effects the relationship has had
(and will continue to have) on the speaker.  This idea is proved even more through the repetition of the line
"I'll always have you".  The reader leaves this song chorus knowing that the speaker is ready to move on from
a past relationship while acknowledging the fact that the person she used to love will be on her heart "just like
a tattoo" for the rest of her life.  The person leaving this relationship is much stronger and self-assured than the
speaker leaving the relationship in Neruda's poem.

Poetry Journal: XIII

This poem is about a relationship between a man and a woman. Although the man and women have had a physical relationship, they do not have a strong emotional relationship because the man has trouble fully expressing his feelings toward the woman. In addition, there is some kind of distance separating them that weakens their relationship. The man speaks of the woman possessively, as if he owns her. However, it is seen in more of a protective way than a controlling way, as he wants her to be happy and tries to cheer her up when she is sad. At the end of the poem, the man faces the consequences of his inability to share his feelings and ends up closing himself off from love.

The speaker of the poem is a man speaking to a woman from his past who he loved but lost. To me, it seems like he is speaking to her out of regret. The distant tone of the poem suggests that while the man knows it is too late to get the woman back, he still wants to attempt to tell her his feelings that he could never express before.

This poem was written to show how important communication is in a relationship. The speaker finds out that because he is unable to let the woman know how he feels about her early on, he is forced to deal with the consequences this brings - likely heartbreak. The last stanza of the poem hints that the speaker is now alone and closed off from love. Although in this poem the speaker tries to share his feelings, it is too late for him to win his love back. The poet is trying to emphasize that one must share their thoughts and feelings with the other person in a relationship soon, because if they do not, they will create distance between them and one person will eventually move on.

The poet uses the repetition of the word "something" in the fourth stanza to emphasize the speaker's inability to express himself. By using of this general word instead of naming the specific object at hand, the speaker is able to get by without fully communicating his thoughts. We see the speaker's possession of the woman through the terms he uses when addressing her: "sad and gentle doll", "my toy doll", "my sad tenderness". By calling her a doll and using the possessive pronoun "my", the speaker objectifies the woman and seems to take ownership of her. The simple yet intense verbs used at the end of the poem when the speaker has lost the woman convey a different mood than previous stanzas. In previous passages when the woman is still in his life, the speaker uses terms like "loved" and "dream" when speaking, but now that she is gone he resorts to terms like "burn" and "flee". We can see that the consequences he now faces that involve the loss of his loved one have changed him and his mindset.

1984 Journal #3: Topic C

In 1984, Orwell creates a very powerful vision of a society in which the amount of governmental control in the everyday lives of its citizens is overly exaggerated. Orwell uses this powerful exaggeration as a wake up call to demonstrate what can happen if our government obtains too much power, and if we, as citizens, allow them to maintain so much power. While the society of Oceania that Orwell has created conveys a powerful message of warning to the reader, I do not find it to be very believable. Some of the things the government does to control its citizens would be impossible in today's world. For example, one of the main ways the government abuses their complete power is through their manipulation of history. They erase events, make up new ones, and alter others, recording all changes in the history books that only they can write. In today's world, however, there are way too many places we look for historical facts for the government to shut down or destroy every last one of them. I also don't think that the people of our society today would allow for so much government control without rebelling, simply because we have experienced freedom and will never settle for living oppressive lives. The only sort of hope I was able to find in the book is what Winston discovers - that if there is any hope of overthrowing the government, it must come from the proles. In other words, it is up to the common people of a society to come together when they recognize any sort of abuse of power happening in the government and to take action against it before it is too late.

Group Essay Thesis

Possible thesis:

Throughout 1984, Orwell uses repetition of the governmental slogan "war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength". By doing so, he highlights the unquestioning belief in it by citizens of the society, ultimately expressing the the idea that humans find it easier to conform to an idea presented by others than to follow their own individual beliefs.

Please, please, please help make this better :). If it doesn't make sense, go ahead and fix it, or add any other thesis ideas you have. For this one, I was thinking that maybe places in the book where it is used are situations in which citizens of Oceania are showing some sort of agreement with it, like one time when it is used is during the Two Minutes Hate at the beginning of the book. This topic is kind of hard to analyze though. So I'll keep thinking.

1984 Journal #2: Topic B

In 1984, the protagonist Winston Smith is involved in a struggle against his society - the leader Big Brother and the Party . As the novel progresses, Winston begins to realize and accept his hatred towards the Party, and soon starts acting on his feelings by deliberately doing things that go against the beliefs and ideals of society. These illegal actions include writing his independent thoughts in a journal, starting an affair with a young Party member named Julia (sexual relations are illegal, especially between Party members), renting a small apartment above a shop in the prole district to carry on his affair, joining what he believes to be The Brotherhood (an organization against Big Brother and the Party), and reading a book written by Goldstein (the ultimate enemy of the Party). So far in the book, Winston has not been caught rebelling against the givernment. Therefore, I think Winston's resistance is successful to an extent. By doing the things mentioned above, he does not actually change the government that he disagrees with; however, he is able to live more freely and enjoyably than he had been before. Through his affair with Julia and the rented apartment, Winston gets a taste of how life used to be, before telescreens were created to monitor every action and the government started prohibiting the freedom to have relationships with whoever one chose. Even if his rebellious actions are going unnoticed by the government, just the fact that Winston is living free from complete control of the government (who does everything in its power to prevent independence) shows that his acts of resistance are successful, at least in his own life.

1984 Journal #1: Topic A

" It might well be that literally every word in the history books, even the things that one accepted without question, was pure fantasty [...] Everything faded into mist. The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth" (Orwell 66). The society in 1984 is governed by the strict regulations held by the government over written information about the past. Through the process of keeping only selective bits from the past and erasing or altering events in history that are unpleasing in the eyes of the government, the Party in 1984 is able to obtain complete control over the citizens of Oceania - therefore creating a positive identity for itself and preventing citizens from learning from history. For example, the citizens of Oceania are not taught anything that sheds a negative light on the Party and its actions - as far as they know, their government has always been perfect. By giving citizens an immediate and unquestionable liking of their perfect Party, the government prevents rebellion based on issues and wrongdoings of the past. Along these same lines, with no record of large scale rebellions, the citizens of Oceania will be less likely to rise against the government because they do not have a guideline to base their actions upon. In section one, Winston starts realizing how much he disagrees with the manipulation of history his job at the Ministry of Truth requires, and starts taking small actions against the Party. With disgust, Winston recognizes the Party's use of this method to control society, and the obliviousness the citizens posess that allows it to happen.