Category: English 9

Avatar Book Talks – “1984”

Joshua on

 

Winston Smith

Josh                                                    Indirect Characterization 

  

 

The main character of my novel 1984 is Winston Smith. A normal man living in a not so normal version of London where an ultra-authoritarian government has control over everyone. Winston is a character with very strong views and values and its shown with his thoughts and actions. Winston lived in fear of the state and wanted to make change for the better. Behind closed doors Winston always thought the state had too much power over the people and was always paranoid that the government would find out about his thoughts and opinions as it would surely get him arrested. Winston would also rebel against the government with his actions by being in a relationship with Julia and joining the brotherhood. Winston is described as a skinny frail man by the author and in the official movie Winston wears glasses and has brown hair. As a character we know Winston has very different ideas and views than what the government wants him to have in this quote “Listen. The more men you’ve had, the more I love you . . . I hate purity. I hate goodness. I want everyone to be corrupt to the bones.” it shows show that he was into the idea of free love, something that would be a serious crime in Oceania. In the story Winston impacts Julia’s life heavily. The big thing I noticed is that their relationship and Winston convincing Julia to join the brotherhood sealed the deal for their right to free thinking as they were caught by the government and betrayed by the organization they thought wanted to help them. Maybe if they never interacted Julia would still be running around London and sleeping with various party members instead of going through torture and brainwashing.  Going into Winstons head and seeing his experience firsthand, learning about his views on the government that oppresses him every day and watching the roller coaster of events unfold in his life was an interesting journey, a great read.  

*NOTE: I wrote my paragraph with STEAL in mind Its just organized differently and is more like TALSE* 

 

 

MY BOOK TALK:

http://blabberize.com/view/id/2000749

 

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Script:

 

The book i have read this term was 1984. This dystopian fiction written by George Orwell tells the tale of Winston Smith, a man who lives in an alternate version of London where a revolution had put in an ultra-authoritarian government in power. This government rules over the country with an iron fist, watches its citizens every move and stripped all its citizens of most of their rights like free thinking and even loving someone. Our main character Winston has other plans, everyday Winston grows more scared of the power this government has over him and everyone around him. Hearing about fellow party members getting arrested and executed for ridiculous crimes or having 24/7 surveillance in your home would break anyone. He has decided he has had enough and that he wants to rebel. he does this through ways like attempting to join a resistance group and having a relationship with a woman named Julia. The character creation process was easy as I could use the Winston from the movie as a reference and the book itself had described Winston well. A Connection I made to the real world reading this all the chaos going down south of the border, whether it was police violence or the multiple NSA surveillance controversies you can see why 1984 is still considered a relevant book to this day. This book overall was a great read. The way this book presents the forbidden love between Winston and Julia, the whole atmosphere and world this book builds in depth, and the constant fear of where and when the government will catch Winston and Julia is well executed, I absolutely recommend this book to anyone interested in exploring dystopian worlds like this one or anyone who finds interest in studying politics and government.  

 

HCE 9 – English Write

Joshua on

 

Josh                                     Birds on a wire 

 

 

All though it’s only an image you can read and examine all the details and see its about inclusivity and understand how strong the message is. It takes about a few seconds to figure out that this image is commentary on anti-immigration and hate which nowadays are very common topics when it comes to politics. On the left we have a green bird that looks different from the black birds and is probably from a different region of the world and on the right, we have a group of black birds protesting the green bird’s arrival. They hold up signs like “Migrants not welcome”, “Go back to Africa” and “Keep off our worms” in an attempt to get the other bird to leave. You can see that the way this right bird looks at the other birds it feels threatened by this mob. The birds on the left are clearly discluding the green bird from their side of the wire. The wire the birds stand has a split in the middle separating the migrant bird and the group of protesters I see this line as the split between the two different worlds and cultures. The colours of the birds can symbolize and mean something as black is often seen as the colour of evil around the world while the green bird stands out as a beautiful colourful bird in such a black and white photo. Another important detail I noticed was the fact that the right side is more distorted and messier while the right side is clean and clear, I see this as a representation of the foreign bird’s emotions and its feelings of being isolated and unincluded. This was a very interesting image to examine and I enjoy the use of birds to address hate and xenophobia, the use of symbolism and the subtle details really tie this painting together.