1984 - 16

• "Winston kept his back turned to the telescreen. It was safer; though, as he well knew, even a back can be revealing." (p. 3)

Citizens of Oceania are not only mentally controlled, but physically controlled as well. Winston realizes that the monitoring process is so tedious, that he needs to train assumed 'safe' features such as his back. Orwell introduces this concept in the beginning to demonstrate how it works against Winston in the end of the novel. Even though Winston believed the Party would never corrupt his mind, physical pain was the most powerful device used against him. Once Winston experiences the torture in the Ministry of Love, the Party has fully conditioned his mind to obey their purposes.

http://www.bronxbanterblog.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/shhh.jpg

1984 - 15

• "If all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed ... Then the lie passed into history and became truth. 'Who controls the past,' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.'" (p. 34)

The party slogan is quite frightening, because if one breaks it down into detail, there is absolutely no truth in this dystopian society. The Party has the ability to oversee, rewrite, and manipulate documents of the past, which allows justification for what is happening in the present. Orwell illustrates the vulnerability of the citizens of Oceania because each are not allowed to keep any of their personal records. Without individual memories, gradually their it will fade, eventually leading them to easily accept anything the Party tells them.

1984 - 14

• "'She listened at the keyhole. Heard what I was saying, and nipped off to the patrols the very next day. Pretty smart for a nipper of seven, eh? .... I'm proud of her. It shows I brought her up in the right spirit, anyway.'" (p. 233)
  

This passage describes Mr. Parson's gratitude toward his young daughter who turned him in to the patrols for committing 'Thoughtcrime." Unlike many other individuals who would be mortified at their own child revealing a crime they've committed, Orwell allows readers to see the future generation's seriousness about obeying Party rules. Mr. Parson's story shows how accepting the citizens of Oceania are, never questioning their punishments. One would think family members remain faithful and the young respect their elders, but here, Mr. Parsons is actually proud of his parenting.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2482/3966569138_54f8741e7e.jpg

1984 - 13

• "'It was a common punishment in Imperial China,' said O'Brien as didactically as ever." (p. 286)
  

Orwell alludes to Imperial China in this passage, a place where methods of torture were used as a tool for the releasing of information or confessions. Within the traditional Chinese system of justice, the government believed that torture could result in more substantive justice - in the sense that the guilty were more likely to be convicted and the innocent allowed to go free. In 1984, Orwell incorporates this tactic as a way for Winston to obey the power of the Party. Since he won't allow his mind to accept their irrational ways, O'Brien resorts to torturing Winston until he faces his breaking point.

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/late_imperial_china/summary/v029/29.2.park.html
http://www.thewrestlingschool.co.uk/Dead%20Hands%20Image%20Tied%20hands.jpg

1984 - 12

• "Four, five, six - seven times they met during the month of June. Winston has dropped his habit of drinking gin at all hours. He seemed to have lost the need for it. He had grown fatter, his varicose ulcer had subsided ... The process of life had ceased to be intolerable ... or shout curses at the top of his voice." (p. 150)

Orwell captures the feeling of love within this passage, showing that having a companion can cure an intolerable lifestyle. Throughout 1984, the citizens of Oceania are trained to not feel any sort of attraction toward the opposite sex. People are living in constant fear and hatred; emotions are controlled so harshly there is barely any freedom. However, for a small part of Winton's life, he finds Julia who undoubtedly makes life more bearable. Her presence even begins to cure Winston's addiction to alcohol and tobacco (vices he turns to in moments of stress and irritability), and his varicose ulcer is in control (something that frequently acts up).

1984 - 11

• "There was one about four and twenty blackbirds, and another about a cow with a crumpled horn, and another about the death of poor Cock Robin." (p. 151)

Orwell alludes to the poem "Cock Robin" as Winston describes Mr. Charrington's inability to remember the extensiveness of the story. In this poem, the death of Cock Robin is declared:

Who killed Cock Robin? I, said the sparrow With my bow and arrow I killed Cock Robin.

Numerous animals gather to prepare for Cock Robin's funeral when the Bull announces:

Who'll toll the bell? I, said the bull, Because I can pull, I'll toll the bell.

'Cock Robin' appears to have many verses with small detail. The fact that Mr. Charrington cannot remember these familiar rhymes reveal his age and distorted memory of the past. Clearly the brainwashing of the Party has conquered his mind.

http://dickens.stanford.edu/archive/great/great_issue7gloss.htm
http://www.mamalisa.com/images/mother_goose/cockrobin_national.gif

1984 - 10

• "As soon as Winston had dealt with each of the messages, he clipped his speakwritten corrections to the appropriate copy of the Times and pushed them into the pneumatic tube." (p. 39)
  

TIME Magazine, first issued on March 3, 1923, is a weekly news magazine who's main purpose is to break the news down into categories each delivering short news pieces that busy consumers can quickly understand and absorb. Orwell's choice to allude to TIME Magazine seems slightly ironic because in reality it's content is solely based on factual news, where in 1984, Winston works to change history in order to suit the Party's demands. Instead of documenting history and reflecting on historical events, the Ministry of Truth is forced to alter it, which completely contradicts TIME Magazine's purpose.

http://www.things-and-other-stuff.com/magazines/time-magazine.html
http://www.russiablog.org/ObamaTimeMagazineCover.jpg