First Impressions

Section 1: Victor Lo

     The novel, “1984,” written by George Orwell introduces a town known as Airstrip One in England, where the government controls the thoughts and actions of people. The main protagonist, Winston Smith is a worker in the Ministry of Truth. A 39 year old single man, Smith walks into his apartment where he is constantly being watched through a poster, stating, “Big Brother is watching you.” Even in the comfort of his own home, he is watched by the telescreens found in each room. Smith starts to write diaries in private, and goes through his memories of the past. As he finishes his thoughts within his mind, he sees that he has committed a thoughtcrime by disrespecting Big Brother in his writing and fears the Thought Police catching him.

     In the first twenty pages, Winston Smith is introduced as a thin and reflective individual who inside, hates the lack of rights given to him. He sees writing in his diary as a form of rebellion. I personally believe that using this type of person given the situation is a great way to explain and provide information of how life was like, and should go through the conflict between government and individuals well. Other characters such as a beautiful, dark haired girl named Julia are introduced, along with a member of the Inner Party, O’Brien. The novel however, didn't provide many details personally and emotionally of them.

     I must say for the setting of the novel, I personally found it very interesting and appealing since it was not really a world I expected initially seeing the title. Like noted before, the town in England in which Smith lives in is very dark, and has a dictatorship/totalitarian-like government. This setting can greatly enable the reader to see the people in a different point of view considering it provides different insight and government style that many of us have.

     For the overall tone of the book, I believe it is very negative, dark, gloomy, and tension-filled. I find this very enjoyable considering I think it will provide some suspenseful events, and different unpredictable things will occur. Also with this, I think I will continue see a lot of negative insight towards the government by Winston Smith.

     In my final opinion of the book, I did enjoy the first twenty pages which included factors such as the setting, tone, and characters. Therefore I hope that it remains roughly at the same level and continues its pace. However, the biggest thing I wasn't used to was the language. I found reading a few pages the first time fairly complex sometimes, which caused me to read it again to further understand the events throughout the novel.

First Impressions by Riya Shah

The story starts off with a man named Winston Smith who returns home from work. Due to the events that happened at his workplace, which I’m assuming is a government job because he works for a ministry, he decides to start writing a diary. He writes “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” multiple times on a page, and is then afraid of being caught by the “Thought Police”.

 The book started off as very boring and quite confusing. There is nothing about the main character that is really that interesting, except for the fact that he’s against “Big Brother” or the government. He does not seem determined to do anything about his opinion because he is too scared of the “Thought Police”. Now I don’t really know how the Thought Police operates, like if they get to know your opinion through a protest against the government for example, or by having the ability to read your mind. However, after Winston writes “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” and hears a knock on his door, he instantly becomes paranoid thinking that the Thought Police have already come to get him. This gives the reader an impression that the Thought Police can read people’s minds. Other than that, the main character does not show many signs of importance or individuality at this point of the book. However, an importance the Winston holds could be that, in a way, he resembles Winston Churchill because Winston Churchill also fought against government, which could give Winston Smith some hope to give make change. Another connection is that since the author lived in England, and Winston Churchill led England in 1940- 1945 and in 1951- 1955, the author may have written Winston Smith to be Winston Churchill.

The tone could be informative because it shows what could happen if people continued to do what they were doing in 1949. It shows that the author might have wanted to promote a change in government, and may have been a strong believer in Winston Churchill, and used him as a role model. He may have wanted to promote change because of what happened after World War 2 and may have thought that there would be a World War 3.

The story takes place in Oceania, England, which isn't an actual place, it is made up by the author. It is one of the places in the story that the author made up. The main character, Winston Smith, lives in Oceania. Oceania has its own official language called "Newspeak". Considering this is a science fiction novel, and the author's motivation to write the novel may have been to promote change, it is interesting that he made up his own place, with their own system of government and laws.

 I hope the story picks up and tells us more about the character, and explain things like “Two Minutes Hate” and its purpose. I really like history and law, so as the story progresses I’ll probably start to like the plot, and the characters.  

 First Impression by Lesley Kong

    Looking down at the hall, there is a big portrait that is tacked against the wall. Having a huge face, of a man that is aged forty five. With a mustache and with other features. BIG BROTHER WATCHING YOU. Like having a caption right underneath the huge portrait. Winston Smith; likes to have the word (victory) engraved in everything that he sees and the materials used. For example, "victory mansion" and "victory smoked cigarettes". When the telescreen makes any sound, even a low volume whisper, he always likes to have his back towards the telescreen. A few days later, Winston is at the Ministry, for the preparation for the "Two Minute Hate". But at this Ministry meeting, Winston only knew two people, with the look on their face. But before the Hatred begin, it will be needed to be processed for thirty second. When Winston saw the dark haired girl, this started to raise the climax. Since the presentation had disturbing pictures, that have made the audience fall back in their seats. Instantly, he made eye contact with O'Brien's eye. And at that moment, they both knew what they both are talking about. He focused on the back of the page with large print. "DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER."  This felt more dangerous than writing in a diary.

 My first impression of the Nineteen Eighty-Four, written by George Orwell, was not as interesting as I thought it would be; because it felt like the beginning was spiritless. The setting sounded like an old building hallway, where old picture were being hanged at nearly every corner of the house .At felt like as the hall smelled like boiled cabbage and old rag mats.   

The first character I have met was Winston Smith, I thought of him as insight of Winston Churchill when he explained the pictures.Then I had an image of Churchill in my mind. I also thought this character always engraved the word " victory" in the material he used and the things he saw. The way Winston explained the place he visited , and stayed was as of authority. It felt like how Winston described other character was just a brief description of their appearance, like the girl he saw at the Ministry, he just briefed described her contour but in no details. The book's character's and setting are not closely related to the subject matter, since we're still in the process of the book.

The tone of the book, Nineteen Eighty-Four is condescension, convectional, and intimate. I think it is condescension because when Winston Smith engraves the word " victory", that makes him feel more superior. and it is describing that he like doing things individualism.it is also intimated because the character all give a similar picture that shown in my mind.

First Impressions by Sonia Pallikunnel

The book 1984 by George Orwell is descriptive of the events. The story takes place in a town called Airstrip One in London, England. The main Character Winston Smith works for the ministry of truth in his hometown of London England.  Preparations for "Hate Week" are taking place. Posters that read "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU" were posted even in his apartment, and was in a large font. The slogan for the "Hate Party" is 

 "WAR IS PEACE 

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY 

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH" 

     In the first 20 pages, Winston Smith is referred by George Orwell as a man that does not really have as much privacy. This is because of posters posted saying "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU" and having a telescreen transmitting and receiving any noises Smith would make. He does not know at what point he is being watched/monitored. Smith seems to be a rebel, going against the government.     

      This book interests me, because of the fact that it is suspenseful. It seems to be a dark themed story, as the first few pages seem very dark and lonely. He describes a dark hallway and other features that seem to be dark, therefore getting that suspenseful feeling.  However, I did not really like the fact that it is too descriptive. I like descriptiveness but I find it hard to take in all the details at once. I feel like if the descriptions were spread out more, it would of not have been that crowded. I look forward to reading this book and get a better understanding of the novel.