This blog will have a greater weight than your previous blogs.
Read Margaret Atwood's article, "Orwell and Me" from Guardian Unlimited. I will provide both a URL and the full article.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,978156,00.html
Consider the following in your 750 word response:
- What you have learnt in ENG4U
- What it's like to experience your adolescence (a critical and confusing phase of your life) in our post 9/11 world.
- Frye's The Educated Imagination
- Atwood's last question
- What you will do with your life
Orwell and me
Margaret Atwood cried her eyes out when she first read Animal Farm at the age of nine. Later, its author became a major influence on her writing. As the centenary of George Orwell's birth approaches, she says he would have plenty to say about the post-9/11 world
Monday June 16, 2003
The Guardian
I grew up with George Orwell. I was born in 1939, and Animal Farm was published in 1945. Thus, I was able to read it at the age of nine. It was lying around the house, and I mistook it for a book about talking animals, sort of like Wind in the Willows. I knew nothing about the kind of politics in the book - the child's version of politics then, just after the war, consisted of the simple notion that Hitler was bad but dead.
So I gobbled up the adventures of Napoleon and Snowball, the smart, greedy, upwardly mobile pigs, and Squealer the spin-doctor, and Boxer the noble but thick-witted horse, and the easily led, slogan-chanting sheep, without making any connection with historical events.
To say that I was horrified by this book is an understatement. The fate of the farm animals was so grim, the pigs so mean and mendacious and treacherous, the sheep so stupid. Children have a keen sense of injustice, and this was the thing that upset me the most: the pigs were so unjust. I cried my eyes out when Boxer the horse had an accident and was carted off to be made into dog food, instead of being given the quiet corner of the pasture he'd been promised.
The whole experience was deeply disturbing to me, but I am forever grateful to Orwell for alerting me early to the danger flags I've tried to watch out for since. In the world of Animal Farm, most speechifying and public palaver is bullshit and instigated lying, and though many characters are good-hearted and mean well, they can be frightened into closing their eyes to what's really going on.
The pigs browbeat the others with ideology, then twist that ideology to suit their own purposes: their language games were evident to me even at that age. As Orwell taught, it isn't the labels - Christianity, Socialism, Islam, Democracy, Two Legs Bad, Four Legs Good, the works - that are definitive, but the acts done in their name.
I could see, too, how easily those who have toppled an oppressive power take on its trappings and habits. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was right to warn us that democracy is the hardest form of government to maintain; Orwell knew that to the marrow of his bones, because he had seen it in action.
How quickly the precept "All Animals Are Equal" is changed into "All Animals Are Equal, but Some Are More Equal Than Others". What oily concern the pigs show for the welfare of the other animals, a concern that disguises their contempt for those they are manipulating.
With what alacrity do they put on the once-despised uniforms of the tyrannous humans they have overthrown, and learn to use their whips. How self-righteously they justify their actions, helped by the verbal web-spinning of Squealer, their nimble-tongued press agent, until all power is in their trotters, pretence is no longer necessary, and they rule by naked force.
A revolution often means only that: a revolving, a turn of the wheel of fortune, by which those who were at the bottom mount to the top, and assume the choice positions, crushing the former power-holders beneath them. We should beware of all those who plaster the landscape with large portraits of themselves, like the evil pig, Napoleon.
Animal Farm is one of the most spectacular Emperor-Has-No-Clothes books of the 20th century, and it got George Orwell into trouble. People who run counter to the current popular wisdom, who point out the uncomfortably obvious, are likely to be strenuously baa-ed at by herds of angry sheep. I didn't have all that figured out at the age of nine, of course - not in any conscious way. But we learn the patterns of stories before we learn their meanings, and Animal Farm has a very clear pattern.
Then along came Nineteen Eighty-Four, which was published in 1949. Thus, I read it in paperback a couple of years later, when I was in high school. Then I read it again, and again: it was right up there among my favourite books, along with Wuthering Heights.
At the same time, I absorbed its two companions, Arthur Koestler's Darkness At Noon and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. I was keen on all three of them, but I understood Darkness At Noon to be a tragedy about events that had already happened, and Brave New World to be a satirical comedy, with events that were unlikely to unfold in exactly that way. (Orgy-Porgy, indeed.)
Nineteen Eighty-Four struck me as more realistic, probably because Winston Smith was more like me - a skinny person who got tired a lot and was subjected to physical education under chilly conditions (this was a feature of my school) - and who was silently at odds with the ideas and the manner of life proposed for him. (This may be one of the reasons Nineteen-Eighty-Four is best read when you are an adolescent: most adolescents feel like that.)
I sympathised particularly with Winston's desire to write his forbidden thoughts down in a deliciously tempting, secret blank book: I had not yet started to write, but I could see the attractions of it. I could also see the dangers, because it's this scribbling of his - along with illicit sex, another item with considerable allure for a teenager of the 50s - that gets Winston into such a mess.
Animal Farm charts the progress of an idealistic movement of liberation towards a totalitarian dictatorship headed by a despotic tyrant; Nineteen Eighty-Four describes what it's like to live entirely within such a system. Its hero, Winston, has only fragmentary memories of what life was like before the present dreadful regime set in: he's an orphan, a child of the collectivity. His father died in the war that has ushered in the repression, and his mother has disappeared, leaving him with only the reproachful glance she gave him as he betrayed her over a chocolate bar - a small betrayal that acts both as the key to Winston's character and as a precursor to the many other betrayals in the book.
The government of Airstrip One, Winston's "country", is brutal. The constant surveillance, the impossibility of speaking frankly to anyone, the looming, ominous figure of Big Brother, the regime's need for enemies and wars - fictitious though both may be - which are used to terrify the people and unite them in hatred, the mind-numbing slogans, the distortions of language, the destruction of what has really happened by stuffing any record of it down the Memory Hole - these made a deep impression on me. Let me re-state that: they frightened the stuffing out of me. Orwell was writing a satire about Stalin's Soviet Union, a place about which I knew very little at the age of 14, but he did it so well that I could imagine such things happening anywhere.
There is no love interest in Animal Farm, but there is in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Winston finds a soulmate in Julia; outwardly a devoted Party fanatic, secretly a girl who enjoys sex and makeup and other spots of decadence. But the two lovers are discovered, and Winston is tortured for thought-crime - inner disloyalty to the regime.
He feels that if he can only remain faithful in his heart to Julia, his soul will be saved - a romantic concept, though one we are likely to endorse. But like all absolutist governments and religions, the Party demands that every personal loyalty be sacrificed to it, and replaced with an absolute loyalty to Big Brother.
Confronted with his worst fear in the dreaded Room 101, where a nasty device involving a cage-full of starving rats can be fitted to the eyes, Winston breaks: "Don't do it to me," he pleads, "do it to Julia." (This sentence has become shorthand in our household for the avoidance of onerous duties. Poor Julia - how hard we would make her life if she actually existed. She'd have to be on a lot of panel discussions, for instance.)
After his betrayal of Julia, Winston becomes a handful of malleable goo. He truly believes that two and two make five, and that he loves Big Brother. Our last glimpse of him is sitting drink-sodden at an outdoor cafe, knowing he's a dead man walking and having learned that Julia has betrayed him, too, while he listens to a popular refrain: "Under the spreading chestnut tree/ I sold you and you sold me ..."
Orwell has been accused of bitterness and pessimism - of leaving us with a vision of the future in which the individual has no chance, and where the brutal, totalitarian boot of the all-controlling Party will grind into the human face, for ever.
But this view of Orwell is contradicted by the last chapter in the book, an essay on Newspeak - the doublethink language concocted by the regime. By expurgating all words that might be troublesome - "bad" is no longer permitted, but becomes "double-plus-ungood" - and by making other words mean the opposite of what they used to mean - the place where people get tortured is the Ministry of Love, the building where the past is destroyed is the Ministry of Information - the rulers of Airstrip One wish to make it literally impossible for people to think straight. However, the essay on Newspeak is written in standard English, in the third person, and in the past tense, which can only mean that the regime has fallen, and that language and individuality have survived. For whoever has written the essay on Newspeak, the world of Nineteen Eighty-Four is over. Thus, it's my view that Orwell had much more faith in the resilience of the human spirit than he's usually been given credit for.
Orwell became a direct model for me much later in my life - in the real 1984, the year in which I began writing a somewhat different dystopia, The Handmaid's Tale. By that time I was 44, and I had learned enough about real despotisms - through the reading of history, travel, and my membership of Amnesty International - so that I didn't need to rely on Orwell alone.
The majority of dystopias - Orwell's included - have been written by men, and the point of view has been male. When women have appeared in them, they have been either sexless automatons or rebels who have defied the sex rules of the regime. They have acted as the temptresses of the male protagonists, however welcome this temptation may be to the men themselves.
Thus Julia; thus the cami-knicker-wearing, orgy-porgy seducer of the Savage in Brave New World; thus the subversive femme fatale of Yevgeny Zamyatin's 1924 seminal classic, We. I wanted to try a dystopia from the female point of view - the world according to Julia, as it were. However, this does not make The Handmaid's Tale a "feminist dystopia", except insofar as giving a woman a voice and an inner life will always be considered "feminist" by those who think women ought not to have these things.
The 20th century could be seen as a race between two versions of man-made hell - the jackbooted state totalitarianism of Orwell's Nineteen Eight-Four, and the hedonistic ersatz paradise of Brave New World, where absolutely everything is a consumer good and human beings are engineered to be happy. With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, it seemed for a time that Brave New World had won - from henceforth, state control would be minimal, and all we would have to do was go shopping and smile a lot, and wallow in pleasures, popping a pill or two when depression set in.
But with 9/11, all that changed. Now it appears we face the prospect of two contradictory dystopias at once - open markets, closed minds - because state surveillance is back again with a vengeance. The torturer's dreaded Room 101 has been with us for millennia. The dungeons of Rome, the Inquisition, the Star Chamber, the Bastille, the proceedings of General Pinochet and of the junta in Argentina - all have depended on secrecy and on the abuse of power. Lots of countries have had their versions of it - their ways of silencing troublesome dissent.
Democracies have traditionally defined themselves by, among other things - openness and the rule of law. But now it seems that we in the west are tacitly legitimising the methods of the darker human past, upgraded technologically and sanctified to our own uses, of course. For the sake of freedom, freedom must be renounced. To move us towards the improved world - the utopia we're promised - dystopia must first hold sway.
It's a concept worthy of doublethink. It's also, in its ordering of events, strangely Marxist. First the dictatorship of the proletariat, in which lots of heads must roll; then the pie-in-the-sky classless society, which oddly enough never materialises. Instead, we just get pigs with whips.
I often ask myself: what would George Orwell have to say about it?
Quite a lot.
29 comments:
Beginning of this year, I firmly believed that I have learned nothing in my previous three years of the English education in my high school life. I believed that the English education was repetitive. You start with reading a novel or a play and answer some questions in a full sentences, or seldom write essays here and there. That was what English class meant to me. I also believed that nothing I will learn with year will greatly enlighten me, or awaken my senses or any nonsense like that. I was completely “been there, done that”, and did not look forward to this class. Well, who knew that I was entirely wrong.
When we first read the play Hamlet, I was absolutely certain that I knew everything about the novel. I have read and watched the movie a couple of times and knew exactly what was going to happen next in the play. Sure, I knew that storyline, but what did not know was what was beneath the lines. I did not know such terms like :filial obligation, or what the revenge triangle was. This is when I started to doubt my ever so sure aspect of the course. Before, I would read the play but mentally ignore the lines which I did not understand, and did not try to understand. What’s funny is that my ignorance did not bother me at all. Same goes with the play Death of a Salesman. I have read this play last summer and the storyline was still clear and distinct in my head. In fact, the novel was such an easy read, that I read it in one day. I once again told myself that I knew everything about the play. At the end of the play, my reaction towards the play were as such: “that was lame, so what was the purpose of this novel?”. Now that I reflect upon myself, I realize how pathetic, skeptic, and apathetic I was. I was simply not willing to admit to my ignorance.
Growing up, I had confidence that I was the smartest child ever. I pretty much had everything that I wanted. I had a artist mom who dressed me up with all the prettiest clothes and a dad who I thought was the best looking man ever. I took so many private lessons that I thought I was most talented child ever. To name a few lessons I had: there was a piano, guitar, violin, harmonica (yes, harmonica, I own five of them), swimming, taw kwon do, jujitsu, ballet, ping pong (yes, you may laugh)… and the list goes on. I believe my point of realization hit me when I moved to Canada at a young age of seven or eight - around ten years ago. In Korea, I had everything. I was doing excellent in school and had all the friends I could ask for. When I moved to Canada, I was nothing more then a foreign girl who was only able to understand the most basic form of English. This is when I became more cautious of my surroundings. Instead of being the leader, I observe the others.
High school was the time when I realized that how fast a person can change. I saw people I knew quickly being sucked into drugs, drinking or even sex and fall down. I did not know how I should feel. Was I supposed to feel pity towards them? Or even contempt? I was lost and unsure about everything. During my teenage years, which I am still experiencing I had to face tragic death for the first time. One of my family friend’s brother has passed away in a tragic hit and run accident. I kept on questioning myself that what the purpose of his life was. Was it a death that left sorrow and grief, or was his death actually meant something? It made me angry that it was such a sudden death. From this experience I have learned that life is short and we do not know what is about to happen. Most importantly, you do not realize the importance of a person, unless they physically leave you. You do not notice how much they meant to you until they are gone.
With the understanding of death, next, I questioned the purpose of church. I wondered why I had to attend it weekly, when I know that I believe in God. The mass seemed repetitive and very structured. I wanted to let my faith grow in depth. There are people who attend church with a blank mind, and there are people who do not attend church but expands on their faith in their own time. With all the confusion, one thing I know for certain is that the more exposure to various ideas will expand my view of the world.
More knowledge I gain from studies will help me to answer the unanswered questions. By reading the Educated Imagination by Northrop Frye, I was extremely surprised. What he said was mostly true. But what surprised me the most was that his ideas were the ideas and the knowledge which I always had within me, but I just never explored them deeper. Frye states that as humans we all have freedom to explore our imagination, but it is our society which oppresses our free will. This is clearly pictured out in George Orwell’s novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four. Orwell resembles what the philosopher Hobbes would say about our society. To answer Atwood’s last questions, I believe Orwell will say, that humans need government control to suppress us, because we will kill each other if we do not have a figure to control us. But as humans we do not stop questioning the power because of our free will and spirit. We will not be humans if we did not have them. It is like a never ending cycle. The person above will always want to shut out the population, and the population will want to know what is going on. It is like the Chomsky’s triangle. We will never see the elites who are controlling us, and will not rebel against them. It is ironic that many of us do not notice that we are being controlled, or that some of us accept the fact.
As humans, we may have ideas but we cannot express all of them. That would be impossible. He says that as humans we need to see the true reality of the world, and need time to study the literature. By doing this, it will support us to fix the problems in our society. For me, Frye further stressed the point that education is the most important in a beings life. We are useless if we do not educate ourselves, and be able to see things in a various point of view. Our opinions are also useless if we cannot back it up with proofs.
With rest of my adolescence, I am certain that I will constantly ask myself of various questions. Some will be answered through my reading and talks. Some may never be answered. What I know for certain is that knowing more will not harm me. It is true when people say, “knowledge is power”. Knowledge is fascinating that the more I know makes me feel more ignorant. It exposes me to new ideas which I was never familiar with. The more exposure I get forces me to learn more about the subject. I have also learned that nothing is truly impossible if you put your heart and soul into it. Everything depends on the choice you make in life. One choice can make or break you. Therefore, with erudition, you can make the most plausible choice for you and your uncertain future. You can choose to be ignorant and feel good, or uncover your knowledge.
Many events have happened throughout history that have affected various civilizations. For instance, some of these events would include the impact of the two World Wars, the Cold War and the Suez Crisis. In terms of the latest generations the most influential event so far that has triggered many other situations and reforms was the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This event had very serious implications on a global scale due to the fact that the most powerful military nation in the world was the victim in this situation. This event has had a huge impact on the way many people live their lives today. Not only did those terrorist attacks affect how the west views the rest of the world and how westerners go about their daily lives but this has also had an effect of how adolescents have been brought up, what those adolescents will do with their lives and how Margaret Atwood’s essay and George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four would play a role in the lives of the citizens of this modern world.
On 9/11 the whole world was in shock due to the most powerful and influential country on the planet being attacked on their home soil. Many did not think that an act of this scale was even possible against the United States but Osama Bin Laden and his followers pulled it off. The ensuing events that have resulted from this event have had an affect on nearly every nation all around the world, especially in North America. With the implementation of bills such as the Patriot Act, the U.S is slowly beginning to put a stranglehold on their massive population for matters the American government justifies as “matters of national security.” Personally as a person who has grown up in a post 9/11 society I find that most have become increasingly paranoid. When I say most, I do include myself in this group for many reasons. Paranoia about gas prices, the true intentions of the U.S in the middle east and even whether or not the terrorist attacks were even initiated by Osama Bin Laden and not the U.S government itself in order for the U.S to be given a valid excuse to enter the middle east, take over Afghanistan and then claim Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. With this excuse the U.S marched into Iraq and “liberated” it’s people. These theories are just some of the things that have been spawned in a post 9/11 society. The experience of growing up in this era has no doubt been unique, as have many generations before this one. With the increased paranoia in the general population it makes the population easier to control and thus western society has started to take steps away from what it means to live in a democratic society, in a way our society has turned into, “The government of Airstrip One, Winston's "country"…”. Our society is becoming increasingly more brutal and each day we continue to step towards Winston’s society from Orwell’s novel.
The influence of the 9/11 terrorist attacks did not only have an effect on how the majority of the population thinks but also what field of work the population with get involved with. The impact of the attacks, as mentioned, was profound and changed how people live their lives. For example, initially I wanted to go into media of some sort, but as I continued to learn about the world that I live in I chose to do something that will hopefully, have a lasting and positive impact on many lives, I chose to study criminal law. As I did because of such actions such as 9/11 many have chosen to strive for something more influential then they may have if 9/11 did not happen. Also because of the attacks many enlisted in the army and have lost their lives. Perhaps if 9/11 did not occur the planet would be either a much better place or much more worse off and we will probably never know. The fact is that because of 9/11 the course of history has changed forever and has had a huge impact on the way people go about their lives today and also what exactly they will venture into later on in their lives.
The impact of George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty Four , affected the life of one of the most important female writers of a generation, Margaret Atwood. The astonishing accuracy of George Orwell’s writings has left many scholars scratching their heads due to the fact that Orwell was able to predict so many things with regards to our modern society. The way Atwood describes what Orwell described in his ground breaking novel, sums up our society in one statement, “The constant surveillance, the impossibility of speaking frankly to anyone, the looming, ominous figure of Big Brother, the regime's need for enemies and wars - fictitious though both may be - which are used to terrify the people and unite them in hatred, the mind-numbing slogans, the distortions of language, the destruction of what has really happened by stuffing any record of it down the Memory Hole…”. This description of just some of the content included in Orwell’s novel shows just how shockingly true his predictions have turned out to be. The constant state of war the U.S is in, the surveillance that occurs in the public both on the streets and from outer space, the figure that is the U.S government and its agencies looming over the suspected “terrorists” and so on just prove Orwell to be correct. With these facts in made it is clear what kind of affect the 9/11 attacks had on our society and how both Atwood and Orwell were both right.
9/11 had a very hectic affect on our society and the world has changed ever since then. Some of these changes include how adolescents were brought up, what kind of profession each person chooses to follow as a result of 9/11 and how both George Orwell and Margaret Atwood have made very accurate depictions of what exactly our society would become. 9/11 has changed the course of history, how we live, think and go about our lives, whether we want to admit to it or not.
With life comes great learning it all depends on how u thrive to incorporate it into your daily life. I have never had a class like ENG4U before. It’s been a gift being sent into Mr. Liconti’s class and I truly believe throughout my whole four years at Our Lady of Mount Carmel this was The Class. I have gained more knowledge about Literature, History and Language then I had learnt in all my existence. Of course I’ve learnt history in my history class, and learnt about people in society in the Individuals and Families class, but with all of them it has been facts with no significance and importance to them. I have been unable to expand my thoughts and re-think the answers because there is only one right. I have not only learnt one answer I have learnt many, I have learnt the inside and out, the up and down, and the wrong. The best part about this class was that you were given and shown as many answers but it was just a matter of what you believed and what you took into consideration. This class has not only opened my learning to a different level it has thought me about me. I want to expand the learning of literature and read until my brain explodes. My question is: how could one class sum up my whole being in life? I’ll carry this class and my learning’s with me for as long as I will be able to remember. The most important teachings to me are about the society we live in and how we are just mere products, a tragic hero and how it lays within us all, and the meaning of literature and how it’s so important in our society. I’m walking out of Mount Carmel with more knowledge than a student that has aced in Calculus or Chemistry; I have the understanding of how humanity works and the kind of problems I will be faced with and the choices that I should make in the future and to me that’s more important than mixing particles together.
War is a fight made by man for man, 9/11 is a war against two individuals having a personal dispute involving the innocent. To grow up and be twelve when 9/11 occurred I wasn’t in any way educated about it but was only told what happened, how it happened, and that all Middle Eastern cultures are terrorists. I had some knowledge that the U.S was at war but because after a while there was no real talk about it I figured it just stopped at a certain point. Now I look at it and find myself shocked because six years of my life has been in a war like state and I wasn’t even aware. I had no concept of what was going on and how many innocent people were dieing. I never took 9/11 as a war I looked at it as the US going into the Middle East to find and capture Osama bin Laden. Its disgusting how this war is based on killing the innocent. It’s corrupt and we’ve already lost so many soldiers that even though the US has won there’s no gratitude and nothing to gain from all the pain. I remember watching an interview on T.V and it was with a U.S soldier, he was saying that when ever he goes to bomb or destroy a village he puts his IPOD on and listening to explicit lyrics to get all revved up. This too is disgusting because it shows that any man can be programmed to kill and not even think twice about it. Now that I have read 1984 and remember this interview it’s astonishes me of how much this is like 1984. Soldiers have become thoughtless criminals believing that they are doing this in the countries honor. There is no honor anymore and there’s nothing to have honor for, it’s not about peace with one another but greed in who’s the more superior. I just recently watched a documentary in my law class about 9/11 and it covered the whole basis of it. While watching it I felt like I was watching a whole new incident because I was being informed so many things that I had no idea before. I was literally crying in my classroom with the stories of what happened to every individual while others would be making fun of how the person said a funny word. Ever since 9/11 I believe everyone has become de-sensitized, not with just what occurred on that day but with what is happening to our society today. Because of 9/11 there has been more surveillance than ever before. Then again I can’t remember when there never was any surveillance because most of my life was spent with 9/11 and the changes I just never really took them into thought. Living in this society today and hearing about the society yesterday makes me wish that I would have had a chance to live before all the growing technology. When will enough be enough? There was a time where it was good but now it’s becoming to the point where it controls people’s lives. I tell my mom and dad all the time that they were so lucking growing up in the 60’s and 70’s because people were not controlled. Up until World War II that’s when things started but it wasn’t as bad as it is today. I like to think that World War II came up with the idea of controlling society and 9/11 made it. Were being caged and more and more people are just walking into them.
Having a controlled society and living in the post 9/11 world ties in with the Educated Imagination, and I believe everyone should take the time to read it because they will gain the knowledge of what and how society is like and what it will soon be like. In the Educated Imagination Northrop Frye’s basis is language. Without language there would be no society, without literature there would be no model of words, without the meaning of words there would be no human expression. With learning about the Educated Imagination Northrop Frye took all my thoughts and all my contemplations that I have had throughout my life and expanded on them into what is The Educated Imagination; I find it so fascinating because all my questions are being answered. Literature repeats itself, there’s never any story that hasn’t been told. Every idea and every thought has been triggered by the same re-occurring feature; everything in life has been influenced and compared. One of my favorite quotes from The Educated Imagination is, “There is no direct address in literature: it isn’t what you say but how it’s said that’s important there.”(24). Language is being taken away in our society we live in now and the perception of human expression will soon be taken away as well. Literature is loosing its importance and once it does there won’t be any recollection of why we have words. In society today no one has any time; there is never enough time and to gain at least a minute back everyone will take the short cut. The thing is if language ends up being cut then so will the meaning of words and without the thought of words then our society will crumble. Nothing is being taken seriously or given any thought and even if it is it’s shoved into the corner with all the others.
To have George Orwell be here in the twenty-first century would be a mind boggling experience. I think George Orwell would have a lot to say about George W. Bush and the stupid decisions he has made throughout the years since 9/11. I think if he were to come back the first words he’d say is, “I told you so”. I don’t think it’s a matter of what he’ll have to say if he was here, I think it’s a matter of if we understand his teaches from before then we will have no problem with understanding them today. He would have the exact same thing to say as he did when he wrote his books, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Why do we need someone to tell us in current situations, why can’t we let them be legends and listen to what they had to say. We humans feed on what others have to say, I say form your opinion and if you can back it up with evidence then stick with it. We should take Orwell as what he left with and keep it because he couldn’t get anymore right.
Having to graduate this year is probably the happiest time for me because I can finally get out. I have been waiting for this moment for a long time and it has finally come. Next year I won’t be going into university because I need time to re-gain myself and think of what I want to do with the rest of my life. I always need a plan and this year I have not been able to make that plan and I’m shaking in my boots because I don’t want to not be prepared. I’m as well taking a year off, or maybe half a semester off I really haven’t decided, to make some finances so I don’t walk into university empty handed. My passion is to study criminology and hopefully become a lawyer. Yes a lawyer, it doesn’t seem like I have the personality to make it but I do have the intellect. Hopefully throughout my years in university will help me gain the ability to be the rude one, even though my parents have taught me otherwise. I want to go into being a family lawyer dealing with custody and divorce, maybe even be a pro-bono lawyer for mistreated wives. If that doesn’t work out I know I want to do something with bringing justice. I keep on contemplating my ability to succeed to be a lawyer, which is another reason for me staying back. After university I want to travel and see the world for what it is, I have never been anywhere in my life not even a plane and to go and to be able to see Italy is my biggest dream. I want to be able to come out of university not only to be employed but to have knowledge about all sorts of things; I want to be educated to my fullest ability. I have slacked throughout my whole high school years and I need to make up for them. The world we live in is such a harsh world, before going into university was pursuing your passion even if it was painting art, but now you have to go into university and come out with a booming carrier so that you don’t end up falling into poverty. I want to help the poor and look after Ontario first before heading into a third world country. I want to help the less fortunate, and the hungry children or the abused wives. I want to stop global warming and stop animals from being extinct. I want to do so many things that when I look back on my life I don’t just think of the family I have made but the affects I have made on the world. Who knows maybe ill get so wrapped up into making money that I won’t even think about others. The future lies ahead its only how I start today that will impact my tomorrow.
As a child I was graced with a neighbor who believed in educating the imagination at a young age. Though I had no understanding of the greater picture I was being introduced to I did realize that there had to be something important about literature and its roots. I began primarily learning of literatures foundation within mythology and classic stories and soon became captivated by mythology and reading. All the while I wondered why I was not being taught about such wonderful things in school and why it was constantly cast aside as unimportant. As I grew into adolescence I began to search for a deeper answer and meaning to literature and the reason behind the delusions of our society. It was not until ENG4U that I have truly been shown the answers I have sought.
As most adolescence I question a lot of things, but most of all I question society and the media. We have been constantly deluded with the media’s world of happiness and happiness through acquired items such as drugs or makeup. The 9/11 crisis seemed to only help the world the media had so deviously crafted. Security all around us was increased ten fold and everyone was being watched; some more then others just because of their skin color or race. Thus people became more close minded and withdrew into their own little worlds, becoming isolated and prone to believing in the lies the media spun to make it all better. Though constantly bombarded by the media I have always questioned its validity and have not completely fallen victim to it. Upon reading the Educated Imagination by Northrop Frye I was blown away by everything he said because it was true. Since I have realized that you must learn to filter what is being thrown at you by the media and sort it out properly and not be overrun by it. I have also learned the even greater importance of the understanding and learning of the foundation of literature. Within myth and classical archetypes that we have what we have today. You can not possibly even begin to truly understand something if you do not know what comes before it. Such was the case with what we have read within ENG4U. I had read many of the Shakespearean plays when I was younger, but I could find it very boring because I found no meaning behind it and only saw a vague connection to some of the myths and classical stories I had read before. I was blown away when ENG4U taught me to make the connection between them and showed me the deeper meaning and symbolism behind the play Hamlet. Never before had I known about such things as filial obligation and the revenge triangle; I had finally learned the full circle of what tragedy really was as well.
I felt truly lucky to have Mr.Liconti as my teacher because he did not just spit out the storyline, he gave us a more in depth look into each book we had to read and told us what he thought. It was honestly refreshing for someone to tell it like it is and not completely disregard facts. As Margaret Atwood says, “people who run counter to the current popular wisdom, who point out the uncomfortably obvious, are likely to be strenuously baa-ed at by herds of angry sheep” is a true statement that I believe in. great people such as George Orwell and Northrop Frye point out the obvious and the path in which will likely be followed and for that they are ‘baa-ed’ at by those who do not want to hear reality. But just because the majority does, does not mean you should shut down and conform to them as well. People shut down and lull themselves into the false sense of security that our corrupted society and media have made for them. They do not want to hear the truth because it ruins their fragile illusions. People are accepting the mentality of followers too rashly in a blind fear because of the fact that they do not want to deal with real life and the problems they face.
One look at the 9/11 case is proof enough that people do not want to deal with reality. Also everyone needed to blame someone for what had happened to they blindly point their fingers at an entire race, country and religion as the so called bad guy. But “it isn't the labels - Christianity, Socialism, Islam, Democracy, Two Legs Bad, Four Legs Good, the works - that are definitive, but the acts done in their name,” the terrorists of the 9/11 made it quite public that they were doing such horrible things in the name of their god. Thus the religion they followed was labeled as bad and was full of terrorists, which is not true. I am sure George Orwell would have plenty to say if he was still alive, most likely he would say ‘I told you so’ because what he has predicted in his book 1984 has actually started to happen. But of course not many would believe that what has happened in his novel is actually happening right now because they are close minded and do not want to face reality.
As a career choice I have decided upon becoming a graphic designer because within this field it is imperative that you know about the world around you and the way society functions. Without any knowledge of this you can not make any type of impact on it with your work. This is something I truly began to understand after reading the Educated Imagination. There was no way I could make a real impact on society with my work if I did not know about the world and people I was trying to impact and the on going events of it all. I find it very interesting to learn new things and try to make a different in some way. Also I find this business is very well suited for me because not only does it let me be artistic but it also lets me be exposed to the latest software and programming for design which are my two favorite things. If I can have a hand in shaping the way the future sees things and somehow get through to others the importance of the things that I have learned I will truly be satisfied. This field also lets me branch off into a variety of other job options if I ever choose to change jobs though I highly doubt I will want to.
In all, I believe that the ENG4U course has taught me a lot and has exposed me to new things that I think I might have never have been exposed to anywhere else. It is better to gain knowledge then to hide from it. With the new knowledge I have been given I plan to expand on it and continue to learn more because it will only help me along the way in life. I realized now that with every step I must make my own choices and decisions and not sway to what the falsified world tries to whisper to me. The only way for me to do that is to be informed which will thus form my own opinion so that I am not another, as Mr. Liconti would say ‘pigeon’.
Atwood, Orwell and You
Throughout high school I have always dreaded English. I never saw a point to it, to me we had learned the same thing over and over every year, which was how to write an essay, read and answer questions. I had never seen the point to learning Shakespeare; the man had been dead for over 300 years, how could he apply to my life today. My outlook on English has changed to almost the extreme opposite this year. One of the most important things that I have learned in eng 4u1 is why literature is important and why English is an essential course in all four years. Thanks to Eng 4u1 I have learned how to read. Something I thought I had been able to do, but I never understood the novels I had read before. Eng 4u1 opened my eyes to show the importance of Greek mythology, archetypes, convention and the bible. Eng 4u1 has also ruined many books that I will read in the future because I now understand the monomyth, also that authors write only what they can relate to and this is based on previous literature, and so one could argue that there is nothing new in art or literature. Eng 4u1 has also opened my horizon in making decision and forming opinions. I no longer criticize literature or issues solely based as to what I is portaged in the media, I have learned to look at issues from all perspectives and develop my own opinion.
Growing up in a post 9/11 world, has greatly affected the way many people live life. Much discrimination has sprouted because of one group’s actions and the Middle East is seen as large group of terrorists, and they have become the new “bad guys” in the world. Not only have middle eastern people been discriminated against, also the entire Islam faith is seen as a group of terrorist and many people do not recognize the difference between faithful Muslims and terrorists. This event has an extremely great affect on my life because of my background. I am Egyptian, which is considered to be part of the Middle East since 9/11.There have been many issues that my family and I must deal with, such as crossing the border no has become a pain because of our last name. The negative affect the media has taught the majority of citizens that anyone from the Middle East is seen as a terrorist, many people argue that there is no prejudice and the media does not affect us in such a way that we are more inelegant then to allow the media to control us in such away. In many times my friends and I are called terrorists as a joke. Growing up in a post modern 9/11 world and in a Middle Eastern family I see both sides of story. The media in the Middle East is much different then the media here at some points it sound as if there are two different wars going on. However in most of the Middle East America is seen as the bad guys as well. Through growing up in a post 9/11 world, media has an even greater affect on our opinions of others; also discrimination targets a specific group.
Northorp Frye’s the Educated Imagination to me was one of the most critical texts done throughout the semester. It allowed me to understand why I read, how to read and the importance of the study of literature. It was after the Educated Imagination I began to understand the purpose of English class and why it had been so essential to take throughout the four years of high school. I also learned how to develop an opinion. Northrop Frye introduced the idea that our opinions are subject to past recognitions of the same object. We compare everything to what we know as our “best”. As we educate ourselves this best continuously changes and gets better and better. Our opinions also become educated and we begin to develop an educated opinion. Northorp Frye opened my eyes and has shown me the importance of reading and literature. If only we had done the Educated Imagination first I would understand how to read Shakespeare and the death of a salesman. However I don’t know if I would have been ready, or have the ability to wrap my mind around Northorp Frye’s ideas.
As we have read 1984 we have been able to make many connections to the society in the book to our own society. The question arises is what would Orwell do? I could see Orwell laughing at our society telling us “I told you so, I even wrote a book to warn you!” I think it is more likely that George Orwell reveal to us how blind we really are and how much we are controlled by our governments without acknowledging it. Societies such as 1984 are very difficult to change because everyone is programmed and controlled by the government that this government is the write one. This struggle is seen through Winston as he tries to change society. However many of us are becoming like the citizens in the society of 1984. We have become controlled and blind of much of the things happening I our society. This is seen in our children as they grow up learning everything from the television. Or the affect media has that will control continents to become prejudice against a certain faith and background. Orwell would also take a stand up against the path society is heading to because we are extremely close to becoming a complete 1984 society and he would attempt to lead us.
I am uncertain what the future has in store for me or what I want to end up doing, however all I know is that I want to be happy. No matter where university takes me or what job or career I end up with I’d simply like to be happy and satisfied with my life. Id like to live life knowing that I’ve done everything I can do to make a difference and use all the gifts and talents given to their fullest potential.
“The secret of a good life is to have the right loyalties and hold them in the right scale of values.”- Norman Thomas
Over the past years in high school, I believe I have not learnt as much about the history of literature or let alone this many ways of interpreting a novel, drama or play. In the grade 12 ENG4U course a reoccurring theme appears, a theme of what it means to be human. This is a learnt through the verity of novels, dramas and plays read in the course. In Orwell’s novel 1984, this theme proves to appear once again in the ENG4U course. When learning/ discovering what it means to be human we relate our lives to society, after reading 1984 we would wonder what George Orwell would have to say and we also relate the question to our own lives wondering what we will do.
When asking one self what it means to be human we relate it to our own life experiences. Our adolescence is a critical and confusing phase of our life and living in the post 9/11 world we have experienced a very influential society. By an influential society, teenagers are a major marketing target for “hot” or “it” items. The media controls the younger generations from forming a media constructing reality. We build our world from our understanding of the media. The media controls our perception of the world, just like Big Brother controls society in 1984. Big Brother eliminates history not letting the public be educated of past but only present, which is not necessarily true news. Experiencing our adolescence in the post 9/11 world has created a paranoid society. We secretly live in the same society has the characters in Orwell’s 1984 do. As a society we are oblivious to what is going on around is that does not mainly concern us, we are conforming to the news and information that is being told to us. At the same time out society is being watched secretly. With surveillance in towns, cities and pretty much everywhere, we are another potential target for being watched. With technology where it is at it is possible for an individual to simply go to google map something and within seconds a satellite can zoom in into the streets and witness actually people who are completely unaware someone is able to record there movements.
After reading George Orwell’s novel 1984 about a controlled and influential society, one would wonder what Orwell would have to say about our post 9/11 society. One may believe he would say “I told you so” because his predictions in 1984 came alive in the twentieth century. He might also explain the importance to Northrop Frye’s The Educated Imagination, we fight reality verse illusion. Everything dissolves into the past and where we never know what is coming next, can not give us any sense of reality, although we call it real life. We can not desirer between what is real and what is fake.
As an adolescent we wonder what we will do with our lives. Although the society around us looks likes the “real” world, we know we have just seen that there is a great deal of illusion, the kind of illusion that propaganda and slanted news and prejudice and a great deal of advertising appeal to. We have an image in our mind born and fostered by the imagination, yet real enough for us t make the world we see. There is also the world we want to live in but the word want is now impersonal and unselfish in us. We need to realize what we want, in order to do anything with out lives. We need to fight the illusion and face reality. As a society we need to think for ourselves and not be told to do by illusions that is and that is better for you, listen to your inner voice making independent decisions for yourself. Asking our selves what we will do, can be challenging since we are already “programmed” into not thinking 100% for ourselves but listening to what other influential media spoke persons or items. Speak and act for ourselves.
When answering the question what it means to be human it shows we relate society to the definition of mankind, if one were to have read 1984 they would wonder the thoughts of George Orwell now in the post 9/11 world and we then figure out what we must do with our own lives to be classified a human.
I grew up longing to educate my imagination- constantly writing, feeling an overwhelming desire to read as much as I possibly could. My eldest brother’s collection of university novels and texts has been raided countless times over the years. Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale was a favourite of mine at the age of 13. Little did I know, at that time, she found her inspiration for this novel in George Orwell’s 1984. When I won the English Award for my grade eight graduating class, I believe I was the only one excited for high school English courses. These, however, soon proved to be disappointing. Each year I felt myself craving more and continuously found myself unfulfilled. Poetry units consisted of a single 80-minute period where the subject was given little recognition and then pushed aside for drier things such as grammar lessons and awful repeats of elementary school spelling books. I heard the groans of my classmates when the teacher announced we’d be studying poetry or writing a short story or reading Shakespeare. While I felt excited for this, it never satisfied me in the end. The teaching was mechanical, the significance was never discussed and the learning was restricted to technical analysis of texts. Because of this, I found myself at home, like the nerd I am, flipping through my own collection of Shakespeare trying to make sense of it all. I found myself immersed in history books making small but incomplete connections between literature and history and the English language.
ENG4U shocked me on every level. It tied the ends and completed connections I could not make sense of. It was English on a worldly scale, relatable to everything. This was the type of course I had hoped for. I had had Mr. Liconti as a grade 11 Graphic Design teacher where I created a design for his lab jacket of Northrop Frye and a quote from the Educated Imagination. After this exposure to Frye, I had read many quotes and excerpts but never an entire essay. Frye’s Educated Imagination reached me on a personal level because I felt as if he explained so many concepts I could never articulate: “Art begins as soon as, ‘I don’t like this,’ turns into, ‘This is not the way I could imagine it,’” (Frye, The Motive for Metaphor). As Frye continued, I began to trust him and realize the undeniable truth in what he was discussing. If one can come to understand it, you reach a point of realization that you are what Frye is saying: “A writer’s desire to write can only have come from previous experience of literature, and he’ll start by imitating whatever he’s read, which usually means what the people around him are writing,” (Frye, The Singing School). While I’ve gained knowledge as I read, both about literature and the world and the uses of language, I’ve never been able to connect its importance to life and man the way ENG4U has taught me. ENG4U has also taught me several concepts about literature that previous teachers have failed to teach. While most English classes were exposed to the concept of tragedy, myth and the tragic hero, I had not learned these things until this year. It was not until this course that I found myself relating to Shakespeare’s work and seeing for myself why it is still so prevalent in postmodern times. ENG4U has created an even greater desire to continue learning and understanding literature and the world.
Growing up in the post 9/11 world has not felt strange to me. I suppose you could relate my generation to that of the children of the Party members in 1984. Unless we seek to understand, we have no concept of the hypocrisy or the lunacy in this. When 9/11 happened, my grade seven teacher announced it to the class, and while I acted upset and appalled, I did not even know what the Twin Towers were at that time. I did not know that with this terrorist attack, a new breed of people to hate had spawned. I can just barely remember a time when Middle Eastern people were not being subjected and discriminated against as terrorists. With time, the tools to understand came to me. I would credit a majority of this knowledge to history courses. I know that a superpower’s manifestation of a dangerous enemy is only a repeating aspect of history. I know that the Middle Eastern people are not the first to be branded suspicious. The paranoia, now, is evident. The theories over the American motives for going in to Afghanistan and fighting a war of terror with Iraq are running wild and I find myself well aware of them. I find myself questioning the North American ‘democratic’ governments and the media hand in hand. Our governments will not allow the media to project that the involvement in Iraq is corrupt. Nobody wants to delve into the deception and manufacturing of information in the media. And nobody wants to call this censorship of the media or recognize the similarities of this issue with the censorship by Joseph Stalin or Napoleon. Iraq has been and is an ongoing product of over a decade of deceit and fabrication by the United States.
If George Orwell were to have anything to say about present day society, it would be that the society in his novel has shown its ugly face to us today. If you believe that history repeats itself, 1984 as a prediction of the future is not hard to imagine. Total democracy is the most difficult government to hold up. Real democracy would be a country without a police force or prisons. It would be a country free of surveillance and spies. Big Brother is alive. This is not a secret when I work in a nation-wide retail corporation that has a camera over my head during every minute of my work shift. If I can receive a phone call at my cash desk from someone on another level of the building telling me to stop playing with my hair, then 1984 has become 2007.
I realized I wanted to be a Graphic Designer in grade 10. I plan to get a degree in Creative Advertising and either become a deceptive advertising mogul marketing impossibility to younger generations or use my graphic design and advertising skills to speak to people. If I can use the media to get people more aware of the media, I will be content. I want to market sexuality, beauty and real life, as it exists for real people. If I can make a difference in society and the world, no matter how small or large it is, I will truly feel like I have achieved something.
“The world of the imagination is a world of unborn or embryonic beliefs: if you believe what you read in literature, you can…believe anything,” (Frye, Giants in Time).
On the first day of class we were presented with a term known as “transvaluation” a noun derived from its base word “transvalue” which in its basic form means to re-estimate the value of an expected standard. At the time I did not realize the importance of this term but as we progressed through the texts, its idea became increasingly more valuable to me. This is because transvaluation is a concept that must be applied to be sincerely understood. It is essential to apply this concept in your adolescence, to educate your imagination and to become an individual.
The adolescence of today is bombarded with the Medias hedonistic views. These views are based on superficial values such as material wealth and an abundance of women so “Now it appears we face the prospect of two contradictory dystopias at once – open market, closed minds” (5) therefore, these superficial values are the open market and the closed minds are all the adolescence who conform to them. This can again be applied to any situation once it has been effectively put into action. This is evident in Orwell’s 1984 where the population can be controlled to hate whomever the Party tells them to; simultaneously this is happening in reality with the change between the Alkada terrorists and Osama bin Laden to Iraq and the weapons of mass destruction. This draws the line between democracy and totalitarianism and poses the question of whether a controlled democracy is any different “But now it seems that we in the west are tacitly legitimizing the methods of the darker human past, upgraded technologically and sanctified to our own uses, of course.” (5) In reality it is still just the same open market – closed mind ideal. The totalitarian government does not give their population and freedom and the democratic government lets the population think they are free but controls the majority of its experience. Today, the adolescence needs to look at what they are being told and question how true the accusations are. It is pretty obvious now there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and we still have not found Osama bin Laden. It should now seem possible that there are many other things that we buy into which are equally as false.
Known as mob rule, people will follow beliefs without knowledge of the cause. Dr. Northrop Frye thinks this is what leads to the totalitarian state and has his own ideas on how to solve this. He believes it is possible through an educated imagination. Frye says that if our experience is limited then we can be excited over something that in the end we find out to be second rate or phony. The common person will act in this way when influenced by an idea they have not experienced themselves, depending on their level of ignorance they will believe almost anything they are told. Orwell shows us this through his novel Animal Farm “When Boxer the horse had an accident and was carted off to be made into dog food, instead of being given the quite corner of the pasture he’d been promised.” (1) Orwell wrote this story about the injustice of the animals on the farm but it was the principal he really wanted to convey. The reader should then understand that they should not believe everything they are promised, but the only way a person will be able to do this is with an educated imagination “[the] educated imagination, and education is something that affects the whole person, not just bits and pieces of him. It doesn’t just train the mind: It’s a social and moral development too” (Frye 95) with a social and moral development it is possible to form an opinion and with that opinion you will be able to question the other ideas that are forced upon you. Frye calls this the educated imagination but essentially this is the concept of transvaluation. Frye explains this because it helps the reader to understand the true meaning of this concept. It shows that in order to use transvaluation to its full potential the person must first educate their imagination.
At the end of Atwood’s essay she asks what George Orwell might have to say about this post 9/11 world. Orwell was a writer with two popular books set in two opposite dystopias. In his novel 1984 he shows us the possibility of how the world may be, although “Orwell has been accused of bitterness and pessimism – of leaving us with a vision of the future… [The] boot of the all-controlling party will grind into the human face, for ever” (4) however as we know the Newspeak dictionary in his novel is written in past tense and in modern English, this shows that Orwell had hope in society and I believe he would have hope for society today. I think that he would agree with Dr. Frye in that we should educate our imagination and with the concept of transvaluation so we do not believe everything we are told. Opposite of Orwell’s 1984, Animal Farm shows that the promises made are not always true and that lies will always be told. Atwood tells us that we should not believe everything; she says “The whole experience was deeply disturbing to me, but I am forever grateful to Orwell for alerting me early to the danger flags I’ve tried to watch out for since.” This is the main point Atwood took from reading his book and I think Orwell intended all of us to understand this as well.
Now it is time for me to choice what I will do with the rest of my life. High school is over and it is now time to move on to post-secondary education and a more adult life. I feel that there has been one concept I’ve learned in my formal education that I will take with me into these coming years and that is the same concept we were told about on the first day of class. There will be many decisions I will need to make and various obstacles that will stand in my way but I feel more confident now to know there is something that I can use to evaluate my choices. To look at the accepted standards and to question weather these morals are right for me. This is a concept we all use at one time or another but with this course I feel that it has been set in stone and it is now serves a solid reminder to me that you should never follow anything unless you truly believe in the cause.
The study of English is essential in that it gives the individual the ability to communicate what develops in their mind. Using this study as an outlet man is given the opportunity to express what issues affect them at the greatest magnitude. A recurring theme that has been traced in the works studied from ENG 4U1 is that of man’s search for a place of belonging and how to identify with the presented surroundings. Throughout the course this theme has been highlighted to me in discovering contrasting concepts of time and its affects on the public, the wrath of societal influence on the human imagination, and the method in which we should respond to these injustices.
In the western society in which we reside all aspects of life are fast-paced. There is a push for the mass population to have and expect more action in the form of information and property. This is taught as an acceptable way of daily living and thus, through this habit, the mass population can be controlled. For instance people cannot watch one channel on television without wondering what is going on in the next. In response the ability to see two shows simultaneously is provided as the screen can now split in half. Further, people cannot afford to watch commercials due to the fact that they will be mesmerized by information that wastes time. As a privilege there are channels that can be ordered commercial-free. The consumers always get what they want. Television updates the population on communal and world affairs where not a moment of action can be missed. There is a point where it becomes suspicious that the main use for news broadcasting is to give warning to all the negative problems that seem to flood the surrounding society. This gives the illusion that crime and misdemeanor are the dominant reality which increases the apprehension and tension consuming the public. Television presents itself as a classic case of John Punjente’s theory that the medium becomes the message. Due to its restriction of what is shown to the world, it creates a world subject to its own perspective. A bias is formed and the public becomes accustomed to living with fear and hatred towards whomever the news claims to be the source of societal concern. This gives higher authorities the capacity to feed the public any idea that eases their anxiety. This process causes the public to resort to the notion that nothing has the chance to get better. It is too difficult to commence a movement that will overthrow all of the calamities that roam the world. As a result, no action evolves from the public and apathetic behaviour is generated. Suffering and injustice no longer spurn an instant human reaction as the lives of the unaffected public will be indifferent. The human spirit is not stirred to stand up as the voice of the vulnerable. It is not seen as their direct responsibility. In this sense the opposite nature of time is supported by the public in that they stare time in the face and often feel that it will never run dry. This is a common adolescent opinion and procrastination is a consequence of the apathetic conduct they have been raised by. They cannot register the severity of time. From Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the character Hamlet assesses the colossal power of time. He strives to control each event in its entirety. Hamlet transforms into a persistent individual whom does not settle for less than perfection. This in turn is his heroic flaw. He possesses the skill of interpreting infinite alternatives for every action but consequently he realizes that perfection is unattainable. It is something that belongs to his imagination and will hover in his mind forever as his utopia will not be duplicated in his surroundings. Hamlet is not satisfied with the situation that encircles his life and the challenge for the present generation is to find the will to persevere when this same feeling is experienced. It takes a strong and hopeful imagination to encapsulate the agility necessary to properly exude this trait. Consistency and the kind of discipline which was once enforced to encourage self-control and reflection are essential. Once more present day discipline seems to be used as a motive for maintaining conformity to societal values rather than uniqueness.
Society has now provoked the habit of training the public’s imaginations into dreaming a corrupted dream, yet it is not authentically theirs. Rather it is based on the values of an unstable society. The individual makes time to dream of becoming more beautiful and imagining different methods to survive with more class and respect. The public has become so primitive in the mind that all focus is aimed towards survival – as an informed individual constantly presenting the current material and ideological trends, more or less saying the right thing at the right time. Due to societies’ dependence on consumerism, it is often effortless to accomplish one half of the ideal individual if you are blessed with wealth. If you lack this asset you spend the rest of your life working for it as money will buy happiness. From Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Willy Lowman’s experience portrays his infatuation with this image. It is quickly clear that this imaginary lifestyle causes the deterioration of this common man. He convinces himself and his family that attaining this reality is the gateway to mankind’s utopia. He exemplifies a man of pure submission to societal values. Although he is repeatedly denied of any success he persists in a futile manner that is worth the audience’s pity. He and Hamlet share their pursuit for the non-existent. Today, when an individual decides to create a legacy it is usually that of Willy Lowman’s glorified notion. It is so difficult to leave this fantasized world as peers desire it along with the individual deeming it a reasonable endeavour. These people are numb with the influence of society. It becomes impossible to live a satisfying life according to society. There ought to be a risk that the individual takes to break this convention.
If George Orwell were to visit this world for a day, he would shrug his shoulders and ask what we are going to do with our lives. He would question whether we are planning on acting on behalf of what we’ve uncovered and what would be our means of an educated retaliation. It is certain he would be displeased but his level of surprise would only categorize or society as ordinary. Nonetheless it would take an ignorant person not to notice the encouragement of self-revelation in his eyes. We need to realize the relentlessness chaos that society has created. Just as the soldiers in Finley’s The Wars did not comprehend the pit of doom which was their ultimate fate, those men bought into the war as the public today accepts the materialistic culture because it is what the current development suggests. These ideas are so readily processed and are ground into apple sauce so that the public merely needs a spoon to eat with. Society has made it extremely easy to commit to their reality due to the effortlessness of comprehension. All the advantages are available and negative results minimal. The truth of the matter is that once you are in the midst of such a dream all your expectations are shattered and innocence is lost when the real situation materializes. The reasons for learning these concepts from ENG4U1 are to validate our quest for identity and allow it to propel us and become a driving factor to the way we live our lives. We are not alone in this struggle and the key is continue educating ourselves and subsequently never ignore the big picture or make a regrettable mistake. The works studied give us the courage to invent a personal dream different from what society projects. Their astonishing proofs should be no match against our imaginative reality. Furthermore in literature we come across ideas that appear to be answers to our personal questions about life. Authors are not human kind’s decision makers. They are wrapped in the same struggle as everyone else. In writing what their imagination creates, their ironic perspective encourages the audience to exemplify the same attitude in their daily lives. The victorious are those who attempt to preserve humanity in the ways that are familiar to them. Each individual ought to live in the name of the legacy they wish to leave in memory, a legacy which you create with your imagination with your own ideas. If you can create one genuine desire then it will convey through your actions and leave something with your peers, your family, or even authoritative figures. You have the power to control your belief system and the way you view people and your environment. You can show Claudius the oppression that forceful power creates and give the soldiers whom murdered Robert Ross the guilt of destroying a man who died in martyrdom but you cannot force them to change. All you can do is work with those who value your motives and never let the righteous break your spirit. As long as you are giving the human spirit the dignity it deserves, you are fighting for the right cause.
Surely every individual is bombarded by the aggression of societal authority especially in the technological world that we are a part of. This course has presented us with the knowledge of abused power and every human’s need to be recognized of their unique worth. With the realization of the dwindling of the human spirit, an automatic desire to prevent this from becoming permanent ought to have been kindled in each student. As time tests the public’s endurance, society presents an artificial objective, and Orwell challenges us to individually change, a place for humanity must be made. Each individual ought to question what the need for humanity is and whether you can live with the guilt of knowing what is secretly being generated within our society.
English is a course that out the outside may seem the most useless, however when the English course is taught correctly the students gain more in that class than any other class. English is the native tongue of Canada, thus suggesting that most people living in Canada who have been taught English by grade 12 have learnt the importance of reading, poetry and language. This is not the case in many students until a course like ENG 4U1 come along. Before ENG 4U1 I had always loved reading but never appreciated the text to the fullest. Without knowing what symbols mean and past text that he author is references no person can really understand and truly appreciated that particular work of art. Literature is created in order for the human being to try and understand the world they live in. When reading George Orwell's epic political novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, Atwood and I had the same reaction as I would suspect most people would, that Orwell's clear and direct interpretation of the world around him and what the world can become hard to first digest. Without the proper skills to read this novel most of the novels value is lost as well as the many references.
Earlier this year when the class studied Northrop Frye's novel The Educated Imagination, some main themes discussed were the importance of language in life and the significant of an educated imagination in today's society. When reading Frye's novel he discusses the importance of knowing what "words like imagery and diction are supposed to mean, what you use in understanding it,"(4) which before I had never really considered. Throughout he novel Frye comments on the importance of an educated imagination. Initially I assumed that Frye was talking about he importance of an educated imagination in literature however once I had really read the novel I understood that an educated imagination does not only benefit the world of literature but also the physical world in which we live. Without and educated imagination none of the physical world around would exist. Ass Frye brilliantly states, "you soon realize that there's a difference between the world you're living in and the world you want to live in. The world you want to live in is a human world, not an objective one"(4) which helps explain why the imagination is so important. Without an imagination the world we want to live in the human world would not have existed. Even more important is an educated imagination so that a person can learn from other mistakes and faults. The language is as important as anything else in society because the language allows the people to express themselves and communicate their thoughts and feelings. In Orwell's novel the destruction of the language suggests that once the language is broken down into few words even certain thoughts would be inconceivable because there is simple no words to even identify that emotion. In the article Atwood comments on the novel saying that she "sympathized particularly with Winston's desire to write his forbidden thoughts down in a deliciously tempting, secret black book," therefore suggesting that the tyrannical state of Oceana has not completely destroyed the language. And without succeed in this endover the human imagination lives on as well as the human spirit. The human spirit is the most dangerous thing to a tyrannical society.
Personally now living in a post 9/11 world I have personally seen how the mass population can be manipulated by a trusted government to serve the needs of few. Thought of the people was and is being controlled through fear and nationalism. The 'proles' are expected to be good little 'proles' by following and trusting the government blindly. Which if you asked a person today whether they would go blinding into war they would say no right was. Yet when the interviewer would remind that person that we did just that, we did go into war blindly 'trusting' in the government, they would not be as sure. Personally going through my adolescent at this time I was confused and I questioned my morals and beliefs. Was war always bad? Is peace really possible? While trying to discover my own personally identity the identity of the major world power was also changing. Basic principles such as human rights were questions if applicable to all peoples. This left me with a feeling that the post 9/11 world was scary and very dark unless we the youth made a different and spoke out against the injustice. I believe that Orwell would simply says to today's society to WAKE UP ! And once society did wakes up and sees the clear thought control and see how they have been manipulated so easily, Orwell would claming say four little words, I told you so. The scary reality of 1984 is thriving in today's society, and depends of the apathy of the mass population. If 1984 is not exposed to every person properly then we are destine to suffer the same fate as the people of Oceania. Lucky I don’t think many people would care though.
At the end of ENG 4U1, you are plagued with the most difficult question, what am I going to do with my life? This is a hard question to truly answer at a tender age of 17, however a rough outline is needed to test. I can choose to remain apathetic and a prole of I can search and fight for the rights of people and the truth. I can choose to never stop learning and never stop educating myself. I can choose what I want to do with my life, which I think is the most important aspect of life. I can make the world I live in, into the world I want to live in, a realistic world no utopian societies however I would choose a world where people have rights and the freedom to choose to live their life as they please. Is there such a place? Like Frye says, if our experience is limited, we can be roused to enthusiasm or carried away by something that we can later see to have been second-rate or even phony." Who's to say that in fifty years the society we live in today will then become second-rate in a positive forward way. Who ever controls the past controls the present and in turn controls the future; do I control my own personal past?
To answer this question, to write down what I had learned in this short semester of Eng4u took a lot out of me,I may even shed a tear (but probably not). It’s strange to think that a class has really changed me but when I started to notice the changes I’ve made in this class, I also started to notice the changes I’ve made in my life. To address this first question I would have to answer, a lot. I’ve learned to think about the world around me, to use my imagination to think of a world better than the one I see and to put a plan into action to change it. I’m starting to learn what it means to be human and I’m confident that I will never stop learning about that because with each experience in my life, I will find out more. When I first found out that I was in Eng4u with Mr. Liconti, period one, I asked a few people what he was like, I asked a friend, Annie and she said, I’m paraphrasing of course, “Sometimes you won’t feel like you’re learning, but at the end of the semester, you’ll get it.”. If I was around next year and some one asked me about Mr. Liconti, I think that I would have to say the same. The little lessons or the talks that we’ve all had have the biggest influence on me, I’ve brought almost all of the discussions home or to other friends of mine and it has broadened my knowledge of life. I’ve started to watch and read different news channels and papers so that I can learn the facts and I just simply started to listen. I know that newspapers and television programs have a corporation (I accidentally wrote corruption, isn’t that fitting?) hidden behind them, I can see now, that even our school is a business, we eat and drink Pepsi products, or coke (I actually don’t know which one we are supporting at the moment.) The school’s paper is censored; a truthful article written by a former student, current friend, about the confusion around God is turned into a God loving article. I can see what the world is like and I know that I am no longer naïve.
Living in a post 9/11 world is living in fear, society lives in fear of bombs, wars and each other. Growing up watching CNN forces people to always be afraid, it isn’t even necessary for CNN to give you a reason to be afraid , the rating system is always stuck on some colour to alert the population to be ‘cautious’. There is no white stage, or “no need to fear” colour, ensuring that we are in a constant state of fear, Margaret Atwood said “In the world of Animal Farm, most speechifying and public palaver is bullshit and instigated lying, and though many characters are good-hearted and mean well, they can be frightened into closing their eyes to what's really going on.”. After reading Educated Imagination by Northrop Frye and 1984 by George Orwell I learned how to understand both the “how and why” of the government’s operations. By not informing us of world affairs and national decisions and by keeping the population in a constant state of fear we can be coerced into shutting our eyes. By educating ourselves and by knowing our history we can understand the present but if we are ignorant of what is happening in the world around us, we can easily lose sight of the kind of world that we want to live in. We are moving closer and closer to an Orwellian state as technology evolves, we have learned to ‘live in habit’ of being watched. These days, in a post 9/11 world we are always under surveillance, children grow up not even trusting their parents, text messages, MSN conversations and phone messages are all being watched by parents and even the government. Young children may not understand why this is happening or how it is unjust, but they begin to see a pattern, and learn to be cautious and secretive, “But we learn the patterns of stories before we learn their meanings, and Animal Farm has a very clear pattern.”. Children are learning from the patterns set up before them before they understand why they shouldn’t have to hide anything. 1984 has now become much like Catcher in the Rye by J. D Salinger because teenagers can easily relate to Winston Smith, a repressed person who is constantly under watch, “who [is] silently at odds with the ideas and the manner of life proposed for him.”. This is an example of how the world has changed post 9/11, Winston Smith’s ‘normal’ is very similar to our ‘new normal’. We now live in a world where doublethink exists, that we must give up certain freedoms like telephone privacy, to gain freedoms. My personal experience is much like Winston’s, I can remember a time when people were not frightened to fly in an airplane, when Mosques were not a target for hate, I can remember that. As Mr. Liconti said, all generations have a certain type of person in which hate is aimed, whether it be, German, Russian, Japanese or Iraqi.
The answer to Atwood’s last question is somewhat obvious; Orwell might say something like “I told you so”. Since we have let everything happen and since we have acted like proles, the only ones we have to blame for this kind of world is ourselves. Yes, there are dangers in the world, and there really are people out to get others but if we live in a world where we only focus on these issues we become mindless, submissive to those who will protect us from these people, like our governments and military. Orwell, I’m sure would have much more to say than “I told you so” and he would probably put it more eloquently but since I’m not George Orwell, that’s all I can say. So I will go on with my life and I will certainly bring all this knowledge with me because I will be going on to university for English. Before Eng4u, I knew about the Monomyth Cycle, I knew that nothing was coincidental in classic works of literature, but I’m not sure that I completely understood that. I will take my copy of the Educated Imagination everywhere as I do now, and find time to flip to certain pages. I’m sure I will go to U of T cocktail parties (most likely ‘keggers’) and attempt conversations about the educated mind, and the imagination. I may even bring up a fact or two about Shakespeare’s Hamlet. So in the end, this is what I have learned from Eng4u, I learned that there are teachers out there who actually read their university course novels, that enjoy classic works and there are teachers who actually care about what they teach and challenge those who do not speak to get red faced arguing their point. I will continue to read plays out loud to my creeped out dog. I will pick up copies of Noam Chompsky’s books on language. I learned not to be afraid of my teachers, I learned not to be afraid of authority but to work with it, or challenge it, whatever is fitting. I will do all of this, or I will simply become a hippie, perhaps both.
The journey of one man can be used as an example for so many others to learn from his mistakes. Throughout the course of ENG4U we have been shown many examples of the journey of the individual and the flaws they have that cause their downfalls. The works that we have spent the semester focusing on have brought up many issues that will help with my life’s journey. Prior to taking the course I was not so aware about the world around me, but after taking the course I learned to be aware, and become an individual. As more people become aware of the issues in the world brought up in ENG4U our society would become a more acceptable environment to live in because education is awareness.
Living an adolescent life in the post 9/11 world can be confusing and leave focusing in on ipods, cell phones, and other distractions that keep you away from the reality of living life. You can also be distracted from the truth of what is happening in society much the same as George Orwell’s 1984 where society is kept very far away from the truth. Margaret Atwood has this question on Orwell’s 1984 “what would George Orwell have to say about it?”. George Orwell would not be shocked from this because if he had not thought there was a chance it was going to happen he would of not focused his writing on this. The Orwellian state we are living in can only be changed by education of what is happening, this proper education will influence our decisions for the future. The way issues in society are presented to us is also away to control and keep real issues that are happening away. Media can twist the truth in to making a story larger then it actually is or smaller then it should be. That is why the media should not always be taken seriously and why we must form our own opinions on the subjects not borrowing our opinions from the media. The adolescent years are very critical because of the situations presented to us, but as long as you make a truly uninfluenced decisions and are not part of the crowd, you can step away from the Orwellian state.
Awareness of the world is taught in ENG4U with books like Frye’s the Educated Imagination, and Orwell’s 1984. Frye is able to teach us how we can not live without literature and how we can be controlled without using literature to communicate our thoughts and ideas. “debase our language by turning our speech into automatic gabble.”(92) This is what Orwell call newspeak in 1984 which is a way of controlling the people. Awareness of the world is a very valuable lesson to be taught if are not aware we can be controlled like animals. We do not want this to happen but we let it with slang, and distractions like electronics, we are hiding from the truth which is necessary to control a society. To break free from this control we must create thoughts and ideas which can be expressed through literature, this is why having an educated imagination is so important. This quote is Frye showing how important literature is “only literature gives use the whole sweep and range of human imagination as it sees itself.”(61). Society can only be broken down and controlled if the citizens let it, if we take the initiative to educate our imaginations this will not happen.
My life will be forever changed by ENG 4U because perspective that would not be presented in media have been brought up in the course. I am now able to see the world for what it is and not be controlled by the distractions that are presented to us. To get away from the distractions I will continue studying to have a greater awareness, so more perspectives can be placed upon me so I can form my own opinions on the world. Being able to see the journey of the individual by many great authors helps show why people make the choices they do in society. Becoming an individual that is able to make responsible choices is what I have learned form ENG4U.
Prior to taking the course I was not so aware about the world around me, but after taking the course I learned to be aware, and become an individual. With the study of literature we are able to see how we can be manipulated and controlled. Therefore this teaches us how to avoid control, be aware of the world around us, and being and individual who will make responsible choices that can be a model for the rest of society to learn from.
Throughout my 4 years of high school, there have been ups and downs when it comes to English. But this year was a year that taught me many different things all about English and its surroundings. ENG4U1 was an especially helpful course for me and will help me later in life. The aspect that I found worked best for me was actually going into detail of the novel and not just the novel but past that into history surrounding it. The ability to go in depth in history around the novel and explain exactly what is going on makes the book that much more interesting and at the same time understandable.
ENG4U1 has taught me many things. After reading Hamlet, Death of a Salesmen, The Wars, 1984, and the Educated Imigination I learnt many new things and it helped me gain a sense of values for certain things. Believe it or not I learnt how to write a better essay in this course what to do and what not to do, where you want to put your points and where you want to put your proofs. For that reason I will be so much more set to move on to the next level of education. Overall ENG4U1 has helped me quite a lot.
Since the tragedy of 9/11 our world has become more and more controlled by the media and our government just as in 1984. We as teenagers and young adults are so very much influenced by everything on television. If “tag” body spray gets a guy on television a bunch of girls jumping on him, than why cant it do the same for this guy? So he’ll go out and buy it. People today are so influenced by their role models, and famous people in society for example athletes and movie stars. If their role model is wearing a certain something, they have to go out and buy the same thing or something similar. If Tiger Woods is hitting Nike balls than I should hit Nike balls, etc. This experience is a scary one, just because everyone is so controlled by the media they could basically slowly start putting anything up their and we’ll start doing it. As a society we should start getting so attached to the media because one day the government will decide to use the media to start totally controlling us, just as in 1984.
“What will George Orwell have to say about it” Asking yourself this question always makes you relate whatever it is to George Orwell’s clearly stated opinion. It’s very good to do something such as this it will always make you think and you’ll then always have a second opinion. Second opinions are very important in life. We all know that George Orwell will probably have a lot to say about whatever it is your debating/ relating, but just to get an idea helps you out, its most beneficial to you.
What will I do with my life? I will be a successful man, working in business, as a sales rep. Down the road I will have a family, and house, but before all this I will be coming back to Mount Carmel for a semester to upgrade some courses. Then I will be attending University.
After a semester in ENG4U1, I am more confident in ways of life. This course has helped me achieve things that I never thought I could have. I think that society needs to be careful about how much the media influences them because if they are too influenced the government will start taking over and putting thoughts in your heads that don’t need to be there. It is always smart to ask yourself what Atwood does, “ what would George Orwell do?” this will always give you a second opinion and really make you think. In conclusion ENG4U1 was a very helpful course.
Throughout school a student is given the ability to learn vast amounts of information, however, in English class one is taught the fundamentals of their indigenous language. A student learns how media manipulates the information in order to best suit the needs of the government, the importance of reading and understanding English, the importance of using proper English, living in a post 9/11 world, what Orwell would think and how I plan to live the rest of my life.
The most common way that the general public receives news about the world is through the media for example; television, newspapers, radio, magazines etc…This poses the problem of the media reporting a story with a bias based the government’s needs giving an obscured view on the issue. People will then base their opinions on this information that could be false or changed thus creating a society with a unified image of someone or something when a fair trial was never given and people do not know all the information in order for them to come to their own opinion. Another problem with the media is if the information is written down incorrectly to suit the needs of the government or society at the time then when one is to look back and study history, they are in fact studying lies. Therefore, the media has changed the past and if no other documents were written on this subject then history was changed forever. If this occurs then problems will occur in the future if opinions are changed because of this information. This is evident in the novel nineteen eighty-four when the character of Winston has the job of changing the documents to suit the needs of the “Party” and past, present and future are forever changed. Winston knows that the “Party” was not even heard of until the 1960s however, there are articles of the “Party” dating back to the 1930s.
The importance of reading and understanding literature it is a necessity for humans to understand themselves. In Frye’s Educated Imagination the reader learns how the themes in literature never change, since literature was written or even spoken, it has stayed the same. Literature is like art, a picture of a house is always going to be a picture of a house, however the utensils and personal interpretation will differ between artists. Themes are universal to writers and repeated throughout time. However, without literature in ones’ life their imagination is stunted because if they do not know of anything before them they would not know how to imagine anything in the future. The different forms of literature one studies helps to mature their imagination allowing for new and exciting things. This is also evident in the novel nineteen eighty-four when the plan of the “Party” is to debase the language in order to make self expression nearly impossible and nothing can be negative. However, when a language is broken down into nothing the imagination slowly but surely ceases to exist creating a void in humans. Imagination is the part of humans that allows for wrongs to be corrected or avoided, allows one to formulate their own opinion and not have the opinion they were told to have. In a sense the imagination is what allows humans to be humans because if we were not able to imagine a better way of life then we would never strive for it or know what it is to be human.
When one is enlightened in the English language they will not use any slang because slang is specific to the location in which it is created and used. Without others knowing the references to the slang different meanings are formulated causing an imperfection in the language. Also, when one is using slang or has not studied literature their vocabulary is drastically reduced therefore, causing a shortage of words to describe situations and nothing can ever be described to the fullest. When a language is broken down and people do not learn the basics of the language and cannot describe anything then their imagination is affected. If there is no words then there is no imagination, no imagination causes a mob mentality because no one can perform free speech. If proper English is never taught then proper English is never passed on creating a society unable to properly manipulate their native language in the situations they need it in. After generations the language will likely deteriorate unless literature is studied. In the novel nineteen eighty-four debasing the language was tried by implementing “Newspeak” were there are no negatives and self explanation can never be achieved.
9/11 changed the world in ways that no single event has ever changed it. Nations became distrustful of other nations and people blamed each other without knowing what happened. Being an adolescent in the post 9/11 world causes uncertainty towards the government and forces you to ponder if anything in the media is truly real or if it is manufactured solely for our consumption. George Orwell would probably see his novel nineteen eighty-four being portrayed in real life because everyone is being watched and the media tell the story it wants to tell because of the biased information that they disclose to society to control society’s thought and actions.
As I graduate from Our Lady of Mount Carmel I am not sure exactly what the future holds for me. I plan to continue my education through university and to mature through life’s many experiences. As I live out the rest of my years I plan to make educated decisions by becoming informed regarding the situation I find myself in and trying to see all sides before making a decision.
Media constructs your reality and your life is moulded by the media’s portrayal of events. One must study literature in order to maintain an imagination and retain what it is to be human. One must become educated regarding all aspects of a situation in order to make an informed decision that will affect the rest of your life.
Before I walked into my first period ENG4U class, I was in a state of mind that this year would be repetitive of the prior years. When I walked in Mr. Liconti set the bar by introducing the course and handing out an assignment that instructed the class to define transvaluation. I was quick to think back that I had never been exposed to such a progressing class. Mr. Liconti had continuously told us to consider dropping the course or switch levels. I had flashbacks of my previous ENG classes and quickly I had realized that I never took Shakespeare as serious as I did this semester. Plays such as Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, and Macbeth never really crossed my mind as significant. When Hamlet was presented to me, it blew my mind away because Mr. Liconti had brought out all the little things I wouldn't have known on my own. The ENG4U course has expanded my knowledge of Greek mythology, archetypes, convention and the bible. In addition, I feel like the ENG4U course has given me reason to take literature seriously, and formulate an opinion and look at multiple perspectives before criticizing it. I feel that this course has given me reason to strive to understand everything about something or someone before I choose to associate myself with it.
As we're living in a post 9/11 world, I have noticed the increase in Middle Eastern discrimination and the discoveries of "terrorists". There is always an insecurity about Middle Eastern ethnicities which isn't fair to the innocent individuals. It goes to show that the media has taken over the situation and brainwashed society into thinking that everyone is the same. The people of society aren't looking at the seriousness of the events happening today, or doing anything to prevent further tragedies. My adolescence in the post 9/11 society is being exposed to many methods of media that put so many ideas into my head. In my opinion, I would expect that people of the media learn how to appreciate the adolescents of today's society and do themselves a favor; encourage everyone to be who they are, not someone else. It's relevant towards George Orwell's 1984, that media is everywhere. We question, if not deny, the fact that we'll never experience 1984 in our time. We are being watched no matter what, and everywhere we turn, 1984 will be there and in the long run George Orwell will be right.
Furthermore, I feel that the exposure of tragedy has rather influenced my life, and helped me understand the American Dream a lot more. It's interesting that even though you do not think about what you learnt you always seem to apply it to the future. There's a consistency in what you do once you have acknowledged something and learned to appreciate it. With Northrop Frye's The Educated Imagination, I was put through six different interesting essays that spoke of literature and why we should educate our imaginations. I was hesitant about the green folder containing Frye's work when we had first received it. Aside from it holding my loose notes, it held very important information about how we are being controlled without literature and how everything created is sampled from someone else.
Provided that I pass my courses this semester, especially this one, my plan for the future is to attend Seneca at York for graphic design. I have found a passion for the idea of using the computer to animate the ideas floating around in my head. I'm going to go through college applying what I've learned in this class. A selected few should know I have applied some of the things I have learned in ENG4U in my attempts to crack a smile. The information I gather from this ENG4U course will allow me to further analyse my works in graphics and possibly point out any subliminal message in my projects. Seeing that I will be stepping into a world of advertising, I could change a small aspect of media and present ideas that don't brainwash consumers into thinking they should follow someone else's footsteps.
Prior to my experience in ENG4U, I would have never thought that English class would impact my everyday life. I questioned my goals everyday after each class, because I appreciated everyone's opinion. It gave me a sense of variety, and the reality that there is always a choice to either succeed in life or fail. I also learned that I should keep my mind opened to new ideas whenever they present themselves to me, so that in the future I can be versatile with everything I do."ENG4U will blow your little minds away." (Mr. Liconti)
The past four years have gone by quite quickly, and now I find myself at the last stretch. Exams are coming up, and conditional offers are on the line. English is one of two courses’ that is mandatory to take all four years, and I found it to be quite tedious. It was the same thing each year: a certain amount of AR points needed to be obtained, a Shakespeare play was read, and a certain number of other novels. There was nothing different about the curriculum from year to year except for its level of difficulty. ENG 4U was different from the past three years. It didn’t just install the importance of literature, but more why it’s important to read literature. It focused more on the journey of an individual, and was easily relatable to. Some novels stayed with me more that others. Death of a Salesmen made me realize how much I wanted to succeed, Hamlet taught me that we all have a flaw, The Educated Imagination taught me to enjoy literature, and Nineteen Eighty-Four made me look at the world I’m living in differently.
The most eventful time of my life occurred in my adolescence. I was given the opportunity to move to a different country and live there for 3 and a half years. When I returned to Mississauga, I brought back with me an outlook on the difference between Canadians and Americans. I also became very sheltered and judgmental. I’m not the most outgoing person; I’m a self professed introvert. I find more than ever that I can see people for what the truly are. Family friends that I used to admire when I was young I find to be cynical. I won’t put the effort into building a relationship with someone I don’t particularly care for. Shortly after my return, 9/11 occurred. My father traveled a lot for work, so I was truly thankful to have him home. I can remember that day quite well. I came home for lunch at 12:00 to find my parents watching the TV. They told me that the World Trade Centre had been hit by planes, and the two towers had collapsed. I don’t think I fully understood why it happened. The idea of terrorism had never caught my attention. I had never heard of terrorism, but now I was watching it with my own eyes. I had never known war. Going through an important time in my life after 9/11 has caused me to become more conscious of my surroundings. Prior to 9/11 when I was twelve, I had been on a plane twice a year since the age of 7. I remember visiting the pilots in the cockpit and conversing with them. Since 9/11, a lot has changed. Now the cockpit is locked, and customs is tighter than ever. I still board an airplane twice a year and its not as much fun as it use to be. Last year I boarded a plane on my own for the first time, and I was quite nervous. Going through customs alone and sitting by myself was something I was not use to. Coincidentally after 9/11, my experiences at the airport have gotten worse each time. I was at the airport when Air France crashed, as well when the liquid bomb activators were found in London. I don’t trust airplanes anymore, and it’s a sin because as a child I wad fearless and loved to travel. 9/11 has in many ways affected my perception of the world I live in now, and my only wish is that we stop killing each other over oil.
Northrop Frye’s The Educated Imagination is a piece I would have never read if it weren’t for ENG 4U. Frye tries to explain to his audience the reason why we read literature. As well, we learn that it is up to the individual to expand their imagination, and that society is trying to oppress us. If we don’t have a word for love, how would we express it? If society takes away our language we would be left without emotions and feelings because there would be no way to express it. In this situation, society shapes the individual.As readers, we learn that literature is a reinvention of itself, reference after reference. Even now after reading The Educated Imagination I notice subtle reference’s in TV shows, movies, and even in books. You appreciate the humor that much more if you actually understand its origins, otherwise your laughing at nothing. As Atwood said eloquently in the article Orwell and Me, “we learn the patterns of stories before we learn their meanings” which when you think about it, is true. Children’s movies that I loved as a child are a lot funny now as I watch them as an adult. As a child, we laugh at the more slap stick antics, while as an adult, what we find more appealing is the tongue and cheek. The Educated Imagination will stay with me forever. It encourages me to become a more well rounded reader so I can notice the references that lie underneath the words, ever if it means reading Greek mythology.
Atwood poses an interesting question, what would George Orwell have to say about it? Atwood is talking about the post 9/11 world. In my opinion, if Orwell was still alive, he would give the world a big I told you so. People were waiting for Nineteen Eighty-Four to happen in 1984, which shows that they didn’t understand what Orwell was trying to get across. The same thing is happening right now. People think that Nineteen Eighty-Four is about communism, but in actuality, we are living in the world of Nineteen Eighty-Four. Uncle Sam is Big Brother, encouraging people to join the war while Osama Bin Laden is in the poster as the Eastasian troop, posing a threat to our livelihood. Following 9/11, the US government was tapping phone line to catch terrorists. As we speak, we are being told that we are fighting the war on terror, which is just a way for the government to control us when they are truly fighting for oil. Orwell wouldn’t be surprised because he predicted this world fifty eight years ago
As my high school career comes to a close, I try to hold on to something that I’ve learned in the past 4 years. It’s hard to even remember what I learned last semester let alone grade 9. I never excelled in math or science because I’d rather do something that taps into something more meaningful than an equation. English and the Social Science are more my train of thought. I want to interact with people, not numbers. ENG 4U has taught me to open my eyes to what our society truly is and not sit back and just let it happen without doing something. It’s hard to take action though when society has frightened you into a corner. Going against the status quo has it consequences. What we really need to do is re-evaluated what’s more important to us: living comfortably by ignoring the big bad outside, or risking it all to make a difference. At this time in my life, I am moving onto university to study communication studies. I will use my knowledge of media studies and the post 9/11 world to keep myself grounded, and hopefully not get swallowed up by the consumerist image the media projects. Like Atwood says, “I sympathized particularly with Winston's desire to write his forbidden thoughts down in a deliciously tempting, secret blank book: I had not yet started to write, but I could see the attractions of it”. I found myself feeling the same way. It just emphasized the true power of though and words. Hopefully in the future I can make a difference with my ideas and words and educate at least one person about the reality that they live in. It’s up to my own free will to either follow in line, or make a difference in my future career. Although society shapes the individual, I hope to be an individual that shapes society.
George Orwell is a highly regarded author and essayist. He wrote novels, such as Animal Farm and 1984, about political philosophy. Orwell used key concepts from fascism and communism as a basis for his novels. The final framework that he created encompasses most political situations, both in literature and in ordinary life. The post 9/11 society is similar to the political situation which Orwell has predicted.
Literature is unified through theme. Theme is generally consistent between all forms of literature. In Orwell's novels, the central theme is focused on the political aspects of society. Themes are universally consistent because of their relation to the life of the common man. Typically each person has common experiences, and can relate to various events; these events become the focus of themes throughout literature. Thus, the political themes discussed by Orwell are evident throughout the existence of man. Though not identical, Orwell's literature has many “connections with historical events” (Atwood). The theme of politics, regardless of the form of government present in the work of literature, includes a form of political oppression. It is often found that Orwell writes about the political history of humanity, including “the simple notion that Hitler was bad but dead” and “a satire about Stalin's Soviet Union” (Atwood). This oppression is dominant in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. There are elements of this novel which reflect life in the post 9/11 society. Telescreens are a dominant aspect of life in 1984. The actions and thoughts of every citizen are kept in check because of the constant surveillance by the Party. In a post 9/11 society, surveillance is becoming increasingly dominant. As a precaution used to deter crimes, cameras are placed at many intersections. The deterrence of crime is the same reason that the telescreens were put in place in 1984. Also, satellites are able to pinpoint many locations around the globe at any given instant. Due to the increased surveillance, the post 9/11 society is becoming increasingly similar to an Orwellian society. Goldstein's book suggests that a constant war is used to keep the people working, yet not receive any benefits in return. The war is a source of labour, forcing citizens to manufacture various goods for the war, such as weapons. Instead of manufacturing goods that aid people in their everyday lives, the cost of living is kept constant, no one is capable of becoming wealthy. The war on terror is a key aspect of life in a post 9/11 society. It is used by the American government to strike fear and paranoia into the hearts of the American citizens. The fear of the war has become a programmed response for the world. An Orwellian society focuses on the complete control of each individual, this includes the control of thought. Without thought, no one would be able to conceive a society that is better than their current state of life. The imagination is key in perceiving dreams of the ideal social environment. Frye states that “the only way to create a literal hell on earth is deliberately debase our language by turning our speech into an automatic gabble.” (Educated Imagination, 92) This is the result of a control of thought. When the thought of society is controlled, their actions will also be controlled. This is the theory behind the absence of any form of revolution. In a post 9/11 society, thought control is still evident. The media is capable of programming the mind of each individual. When free thought is eliminated, the media and government may manipulate people into doing whatever they see fit. One stepping stone is to make adolescents completely apathetic. It has been observed that adolescents are becoming increasingly more apathetic about current events, and that few are doing anything about them. An apathetic individual will often believe whatever is being presented by the media without question. Thus the goal of media and government is to make many people apathetic, reducing the amount of free thought and action. Thought control is becoming dominant in the post 9/11 society, similar to the Orwellian society. The political theme presented by Orwell is a representation of post 9/11 life.
Atwood “often asks [herself]: what would George Orwell have to say about it?” (Atwood) Orwell had many political views, and Atwood believes that he would have “quite a lot” (Atwood) to say about the post 9/11 society. Orwell would note the similarities between the post 9/11 society and society in the reigns of a communist leader, such as Stalin. Atwood claims that Nineteen Eighty-Four is “a satire about Stalin's Soviet Union.” (Atwood) Thus, Orwell would make the connection between the post 9/11 society and the Orwellian society. He would see that there are many video cameras located on various street corners. Also, when he discovers that satellites are in constant surveillance of any action, he can make the simple connection between them and telescreens. This lack of freedom is evident in both the post 9/11 society and the Orwellian society. After being exposed to the post 9/11 media, Orwell will begin to formulate ideas about the free thought present in society. He will notice that the media presents the news in different forms, each attempting to persuade every individual into somehow believing what they are reporting. Atrocities are typically one of the most publicized events. The reporting of many atrocities keeps people in a constant check, they become fearful and paranoid. This fear exemplifies the Orwellian society, and Orwell would definitely comment on it. Thus, Orwell would comment on the lack of freedom and the control of thought, the similarities between the post 9/11 society and the Orwellian society. It is conceivable that Orwell would suggest ways to attempt to fix this. One method includes educated one's imagination.
The goal of the media is to make everyone apathetic. Apathy is a tool used to decrease, if not eliminate, free thought. Atwood claims that Orwell's 1984 motivated her to write because of Winston's “desire to write his forbidden thoughts down”, this allowed her to “see the attractions of it” (Atwood). In The Educated Imagination, Frye claims that writing and reading are key stepping stones to educating one's imagination. With an educated imagination one is capable of imagining a free, ideal society, and working to attain that goal. The level of thought attained through reading and writing does not necessarily bring upon a physical revolution, but it does aid in the individual revolution in intellect. When a person attains a certain level of intelligence, they are capable of transvaluation. Transvaluation, a concept proposed by Frye, states that one is capable of composing informed decisions about society presented by culture. It is transvaluation that is used in the intellectual revolution, freeing oneself from the clutches of the media. The ENG 4U course aims to study an array of literature. Notable themes are consistent throughout the works of literature. These themes reflect the lives of humanity, they are easily related to by most people. Thus, reading teaches people about various aspects of life. With an enhanced education, one is able to make informed decisions, they learn to question the information that is being presented. The goal of education, thus the aim of ENG 4U, is to educate the imagination of the students, teaching them to think freely. However, the education obtained cannot be confined to the study of literature, the imagination must be educated through other mediums, represented by different courses. The goal of education is to “make one capable of conceiving society as free, classless, and urbane” (Frye, Anatomy of Criticism). This reduces the media's choke hold and increases the amount of ideological input into the post 9/11 society.
The Orwellian society that George Orwell comprised is startlingly similar to the post 9/11 society. The Orwellian society formed by Orwell's novels reflects the post 9/11 society through surveillance and control; they are accomplished using different methods, but serve the same purpose. Orwell would comment on this society, he would relate it to the Orwellian society found in his novels. Apart from making the connection, Orwell would suggest methods to prevent the furthering of the situation. One such way is the education of the imagination. Attaining a state of transvaluation is key in conceiving the ideal society, a dream which one will fight to protect. Knowledge carries with it a loss of apathy, something will be done about the deteriorating social status of mankind. With an educated imagination, attained through the study of literature as well as other subjects, society will change. The change of society may bring about the free society that many people dream of.
Throughout my high school career, English has been seen to me as a class where I could sleep in and end up with a 70%. The only reason it was my favorite class was because it gave me the opportunity to act the fool and to make people laugh. This all changed when I was put into Mr. Liconti’s ENG4U class in grade 12. His teachings have not only helped me understand the importance of literature and its effects on society, but they have also helped understand myself as a young adult. I have now begun to ask many questions impacting our society and have strayed from the ignorance the media has tried to fill us with.
In ENG4U, we have read many tales that relate to our own lives and the lives of our society as a whole. One of my favorites is Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. Here miller writes about how a man can be overtaken by an idea that is inevitably false and how you can lose everything as a result of being taken over by that idea. This idea is seen by the American dream. After reading this play, I understood the importance of knowing what is being shown to you through the media and pop culture. People only get to see the glamorous, beautiful aspect of it but will never get to see the harsh realities behind it. It is this illusion that has been created that will cause one to lose everything and in Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman, was exposed to these harsh realities and it was this that killed him as a result. This play has enlightened me in knowing what it truly means to be happy and after reading the play it began my understanding of transvaluation.
After the terrifying events that occurred during 9/11, our society was thrown into a state of constant fear. The media would constantly broadcast videos of Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban and would have people looking over their shoulders for “terrorists”. The media would also portray terrorists as either people from the Middle East or people who are of the Muslim faith. At one point the Muslim faith was seen as evil or a taboo against western culture. I was twelve at the time and these images put me in state of confusion and fear. These images were being fed to me and even if I slightly disagreed with their twisted views I was afraid of what everyone else would think of me. I felt that no one was going to listen to me because of my age and I felt backed into a wall. As a result I ended up following their views, always questioning whether or not they were true. This feeling of following the twisted views the media presents is the same felling that Winston was subjected to in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four. Here he is forced to follow the twisted views the government present to him. Until the end of the story, Winston defies the party’s views, deeming him the “guardian of the human spirit”. This novel has taught me how well the media is able to separate and unite its society through fear and capitalism. It has also taught me what exactly I am up against when dealing with the twisted point of views of the media.
My experience in ENG4U has truly changed after reading Northrop Frye’s The Educated Imagination. It woke me up to why English class was so important and I now know the importance of not just the meanings presented in literature but literature itself. I now know that without literature, we are nothing more than creatures of habit and followers of the crowd and that is why we should be educated about it. Educated Imagination has taught me not only to understand the importance of literature but it has also taught me that no one can become their own person or their own intellectual person without language.
In the end of Atwood’s article, she asks the one question that I was wondering after I finished Nineteen Eighty Four: “what would George Orwell have to say about it?”
If George Orwell lived to see our society post 9/11, I think that he wouldn’t have been surprised; however I think his hope for humanity’s survival that was expressed at the end of the novel will remain. I think that Orwell was not only identifying the eventual fall of our society and our imminent dehumanization but he was also telling us that despite all of that , there is still hope that we will realize that we are our own guardians of the human spirit and that is the most valuable thing that we possess.
As I reach my graduation from high school and embark on my life as a young adult, I wonder more and more what I will do with my life. Sometimes I feel that I’m falling behind in life and convince myself that I do know what to do with my life. However I honestly do not know what the future holds for me and despite the fact that I tell myself and others that “I want to be an artist” or “I want to be a social worker” I truly have no idea. Nonetheless I do know one thing about my future and that is that I wish to be happy with it.
Despite the fact that I don’t know what to do with my life, Mr. Liconti’s ENG4U class along with my high school career has given me the experience that I needed to better understand myself as a person and I will take this experience to college and to university. I was lucky to have Mr. Liconti as an English teacher and his teachings will honestly stay with me for years to come.
Growing up, English was a second language for me and today as I reminisce upon my days as an ESL student the thought of it still makes me laugh. Even though English has now become my dominant and main language I can still remember most of my struggle to learn English, especially with no help from my non-English speaking parents. As it proved difficult for me to learn the language through conversations with my classmates because they spoke too fast, it was recommended to my parents that I should start reading. The thought of me reading at a kindergarten level in grade 3 today seems quite discouraging and embarrassing, yet I realize now without the single, one syllable word per page books I would not have properly developed a foundation for myself. After slowly building up my base I began to accelerate and read books beyond my grade reading level, it was then that reading became a passion for me. During my high school English classes, English was presented as a bland chore. Even some of the amazing teachers I had could not bring English to life for me. Surprisingly, for the past five months it has been a constant assault of lecturing, reading, annotations and weekly blogging. Although it seems to fulfill the necessary symptoms of a bleak and boring English class, it was all colorfully hidden beneath the desk-shaking teaching techniques of Mr. Liconti. For the first time in my life, English became a subject which educated my mind for the classroom settings as well as enlightening me upon the world outside of the classroom. It has felt as though no other class that I have taken previously has been able to take real life with all of our society’s glories and miserable mishaps and to have been able to present them to me using personalities and situations in literature. Learning to question messages and interpret symbols within everything I read has truly opened my eyes to the world around me and has caused heavy questioning and re-interpreting of things in my life. School had never seemed to interest me enough to cause me to alter my life and the way I think and perceive things yet somehow ENG 4U caught my interest and has permanently changed the way I am. Although this ENG 4U experience is slowly approaching the flat line I will walk away from this class if not with a passing mark, with a life altering experience.
From the perspective of an adolescent growing up post 9/11, society is slowly converging towards a population who will live in a constant state of paranoia. In a sense, this “War on Terror” is producing a generation of people who resemble the population of the outer party in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Like them, people are starting to question less and are rapidly becoming more ignorant about what is really going on around them. As a teenager, who relies on a network such as CNN to broadcast the news and what is going on in the world around me, I have allowed what I have heard in the news to be true. I have allowed myself to become like the characters in Nineteen Eighty-Four, I allowed myself to believe that what I was hearing from them would be reliable enough to hold as truth and never questioned what I had seen or heard from them. I had only seen the mistake that I had made after reading Nineteen Eighty-Four and the conspiracies behind this government. Though control has left the pages of Nineteen Eighty-Four and is the definition of what is happening to us today. The “War on Terror” has only now aggravated this Orwellian state in which we live in, from tracking devices to questionable laws of unexplainable arrests. Taking us one step closer to a world that we thought only George Orwell would be able to experience through his own imagination.
If Orwell were here today, like Atwood, I would agree that he would have many things to say about the way people are living in our society today and how we are currently bringing his book to life and how Nineteen Eighty- Four is now. This question deems hard to answer as I am not the brilliant or even a fraction as brilliant as George Orwell himself and would not even be able to fathom his thoughts on this. Although, I can safely assume that he may laugh at us for warning us about what would happen to us and then for us waking straight into it, then maybe produce his best-selling novel into a major motion picture as it is the only way for him to get us, the paroles to understand and get his message across.
As for the rest of my life, as it has been decided by the class choices I made when I was 16 I will be attending the University of Waterloo to achieve a degree in Honors Arts & Business. Although that doesn’t fully answer the question of what I’ll be doing for the rest of my life, it is the best I can do as I am not even sure myself. Deciphering what I am passionate for and what I could do to make money was a major deciding factor in the program which I chose. Although business and it’s possibilities does interest me I feel that if I were given another chance to reassess my situation I would have chosen a distinctly different path, and I know that I am not the only one sitting in my boat. I realize this was a question about what I would do with my life and all I seem to be talking about is occupation but truthfully that is how I view my future when I contemplate what I am going to do. It is naïve of me to view it in this way yet it seems that it has been instilled into me that my future success will ensure my future status and status is all that I need to live a good life. (Right?)
As this last blog assignment comes to an end all I can say is that Northorp Frye should’ve won valedictorian. (No offence Linh)
The purpose of studying English was well hidden throughout the first three years of high school. The material proved limited and lifeless, changing in theme, but not in structure. The central thought of students, specifically me, were to obtain the required amount of points, dutifully do the assigned work, and write the exam, no excessive thinking required. There was nothing more to it than that, nothing to contemplate and analyze. The stories remained a plotline of characters, never taken out, chopped up, and dissected. The underlying message ultimately concealed in vain. ENG4U relinquished the stagnant disposition of English education. It provided me with a different approach to my restricted understanding of the world in which I live in. It allows an open mind, aware of the surroundings engulfing it, and the knowledge of the truth amongst the inner workings of society. Two novels, two plays, and An Educated Imagination uncover the importance of literature and the English language. The collectiveness of all five texts generates the basis of proper judgment. To re-evaluate our lives detached from the formulated perception handed to us in a shiny, silver platter, and to become autonomous figures in society.
Adolescence is a psychological transition between childhood and adulthood. It is a period when young adults are “silently at odds with the ideas and the manner of life proposed for him” (Atwood), and consequently more prevalent to ingest a seemingly acceptable concept to sustain their curiosity, if not properly educated. Therefore, it is imperative to teach children literature at an early age, in order to enable them to understand and compose intelligent decisions for themselves. In this post 9/11 world, my adolescence has been filled with inexhaustible fear. Fear of a mysterious ominous figure that will bring me harm, because the world has increasingly been dangerous and untrustworthy. Upon reading George Orwell’s 1984, I became progressively more aware of how much our society exemplifies a totalitarian state. A state in which fear is instilled amongst everyone through propaganda by the media. Never would have I realized that media influences much of my decisions, whether consciously or subconsciously, and how its deception can be perceived everywhere. In a world of pessimism and enhanced electronic advancement, it is evident that the world of 1984 is now. The fear is in how easily people succumb to the persuasive force of the media, further fortifying the need to educate the imagination in conjunction with literature. Northrop Frye states that without an imagination, the mind is limited, and it will believe whatever is fed to it because it does not know any better. Making people susceptible to trust what they see or hear, without questioning its motives.
I believe that Orwell would respond to Atwood’s question by stating the trends that led him to justify a world such as 1984, and that judging from society today, his predictions were quite accurate. His views on totalitarianism could be applied to the modern day governing of society but probably more so later on, because these natural tendencies to crave power and hierarchical status would still be present in a human’s disposition. Orwell would probably also suggest ways on which our society would be able to collectively improve our situation, and stop from threading down the path of demoralizing human nature.
The concepts presented in this course greatly benefit my plans for next year. I am going into Psychology at the University of Toronto, Mississauga campus. Although I feel as though I need a little more time to grow up and polish up my act, I am delighted to pursue a field that interests me. This course has taught me a lot about the vastness of human emotion, thought, and action. I hope to incorporate what I have learned into what I will learn and make use of it, to contribute something good for the betterment of society.
It has often been said that circumstances cause change. That is, in the essence of 9/11, it is evident that it causes some people to overlook the society in which they live in and in turn changes various circumstances. Indeed, it was in ENG4U where I became accustomed to questioning the world that I live in, to question the conventions of society and taking into further consideration what I could possibly do to improve the society that I live in today. It was through Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman that teaches that it is crucial for people to transvaluate their lives, not to be consumed by phoney means and to be able to take responsibility for their actions. Also, it was in Hamlet where human nature is clearly evident- the complexity of action, how some men will thoroughly rationalize their actions and others will act upon impulse. It is through Timothy Findley’s the Wars, where there is a loss of innocence, implying how war will leave people forever changed and how people will try to adapt to his environment-in search for an identity. In The Educated Imagination, the significance of literature is stressed, as without literature people would be ignorant. In 1984, suggest that people question the society that they live in. Indeed, many people can relate to these books-even to an extent and learn a great deal of life lessons from each piece of literature. From these novels, I obtain the concept that we must not be ignorant, we must take action of what we feel must be done and thus, be put into a state of transvaluation. In fact, Atwood exemplifies this in her article –The Guardian. Indeed, I agree with Atwood’s interpretation of 1984 as we live in a post 9/11 world, how we should educate our minds earlier in life-during adolescence and how we shall approach life.
September 11,2001, being one of the most horrific events humankind has ever witnessed, has truly opened humankind’s eyes to the possibility that somebody out there has the power to break them from their ignorance and to shatter their sense of security. With this in mind, it has changed the world we currently live in and forces a change in the lives of many people-including adolescents. Living in a post 9/11 world, similar to the world portrayed in 1984, we find that there is more tension between religious and racial groups. People become more sensitive about certain issues- whether it be the Islamic religion or the colour of people’s skin, there is a great deal of mistrust in the society that we live in today. Upon realizing this, I find that our society becomes more divided and contributes to how society is constantly changing. As a result of this mistrust, there is more surveillance and in turn brings us closer the world depicted in 1984. Atwood even says that “now it appears we face the prospect of two contradictory dystopias at once- open markets, closed markets-because state surveillance is back again with vengeance”. Also, we realize that some people are still ignorant and believe whatever they are told. That is, people blindly follow what they are told and allows the media to control their perspectives. Due to this ignorance, this prole like behaviour, it is crucial that we educate our minds and analyze the sort of information that is fed to society.
Being the future leaders of society, it is crucial that the younger generations be well- informed and educated of the world around them and that they avoid falling into the traps that the media creates. Atwood mentions how even 1984 would be an easier read during adolescence as she mentions that many adolescents feel similar to Winston, “Winston Smith was more like me…and who was silently at odds with the ideas and the manner of life proposed for him. This may be one of the reasons Nineteen-Eighty Four is best read when you are an adolescent: most adolescents feel like that”. In addition, adolescents can also build upon the knowledge that is instilled while they are still young and will have more time to take action. In ENG4U, as I read 1984 and the Educated Imagination, I learned how important it is to examine the society that I live in today and how I can improve upon the society I live in now by simply making efforts as simple as contributing with my talents to the community. I find that it is better to instil these ideas while we still have an abundant amount of time and before our society moves even further into becoming an Orwellian society.
Knowing that 9/11 has made a great impact upon society and how it is beneficial to make an effort to help improve society, I find that ENG4U has changed the way that I see society and how my approach towards life will be different. Unlike Willy Loman, I will be able to transvaluate my life and to take responsibility for my actions. Also, like Frye suggests in the Educated Imagination, I shall enrich my imagination with more experiences and knowledge. Also, according to 1984, I shall not live like a prole, to act upon my societal convictions and to preserve the human spirit.
Orwell, of course would probably have said that he had seen all of this coming- society moving towards an Orwellian society and how surprisingly close we now are to it. From the tension and mistrust that exist in society to the lack of freedom we now have, Orwell probably would have said that he had predicted this, with this being the reason as to why he would have wrote the novel. Indeed, he would encourage that we stop this from occurring by fighting for human rights, thus preserving human dignity and spirit.
How to sum a semester in a minimum of 750 words? If I was asked this in grade 9, I would struggle to achieve such a feat. Grade 10, I would be just under the writing minimum mark, but it would be pretty much illegible to read. Grade 11, I would be able, again, to reach the bench mark but an educated reader would notice that that paper is lacking an educated mind. And that is what I can safely say I have taken away from the course.
In this post-9/11 world, things have changed dramatically both here in Canada, and the United States. In Canada, it is completely legal for the police to arrest someone purely on suspension, and can be hold up to a period of 10 days without reason. After that warrant can be acquired for further questions. The United States has the Patriot Act, one the most privacy-restricting acts ever conceived, exceeding even the War Measures Acts by Parliament during the World Wars. The outline of this act is not very complicated. It lets the American government go into its citizens homes, search their records, wire their phones, and arrest a suspected “terrorist”, all with out a warrant. Now before “eng” I had some prior knowledge of these events, since I do take an interest in reading the Sunday Star, but after reading 1984, and reading a brief outline of “Animal Farm”, it is safe to say that this world is slowing succumbing to Big Brother type world, where we all are like Boxer. This idea of a Big Brother in life is not as ludicrous as some may think. Yes, we still do have freedom of the press, and freedom of speech, but take a look around. The news that is reported is bias to the government in charge, so when something terrible goes wrong, for example a mistake of weapons in a country, it will not be played much in the media spotlight.
At the end of Margaret Atwood’s article, she asks the reader a question, what would George Orwell say if you saw the state of the world? She gives the vague answer of “He would say quite a lot”. When Orwell wrote both “Animal Farm” and “1984”, he was sending a message to watch what you government was doing, and be careful of politics’ in general. The problem now, is that citizens in the first world are so lax to their governments, that they [governments] can make rules that intrude in our basic rights and principals with little resistance, like proles. Orwell would plainly come out and criticize the world stage now. The United States with its Patriot Act, and being stuck in Iraq. He would also criticize Britain for being stuck with the U.S., and other first world nations, for restricting rights. He would make note of the fact that language is slowing being deconstructed, for example “cool” can mean very different things, from a temperature to how something looks. He would make notice of the lack of reading in youth. An example would be on the networking site Facebook where the number 5 answer for your favourite books (out of over 1,000 people) is “I don’t read”. (It is interesting to note that the number 3 answer was 1984) This comes into conflict with what Northrop Frye says about the imagination from one of his collection of talks “The Educated Imagination”, “Literature as the science of human emotion — the constructs of the imagination tell us things about human life that we don't get in any other way.” (29). With that quote being said, another than relates to it, from the same novel, is “The fundamental job of the imagination in ordinary life, then, is to produce, out of the society we have to live in, a vision of the society we want to live in.” (36). Does that mean those who do not read literature, have no concept of their society? Here is where I an Orwell would agree. Orwell would come out and assault with criticize of the inaction of the youth against the ever decreasing social freedoms, but the cause of inaction is the lack of reading in the youth, something Orwell, Frye, and I would agree on.
So hear we are, at the eve of our fate, where what we doing the next 4 years of our lives we shape us in a way that we cannot comprehend. With this great step comes great responsibility, as we will face new challenges and dangers to contend with. I have taken the things I have learned here in “eng”, and applied them to my life. I now know not to take the lazy way out, that only hard work and patience will payoff bigger than the shortcuts. I learned that indecision can be a great enemy, one that can cause great stress and burden. The most important thing I am walking away from this class however is an educated mind, something I cannot say I have taken away from a class in awhile. I feel that I have bettered my mind in ways that I cannot explain. I came into this puzzled, especially after the phone call I received about bringing some paper and a pen to class. I feel I have become more educated, able to make more informed decisions, and most importantly, as well as an educated mind, an educated imagination. And for this, I thank you.
During the last semester of high school, English class drenched my brain with a heavy load of information. Most of that information related to how literature is a basic life necessity that is just as important as food and water for survival in society. Literature helps individuals to express their human longings and their life worthy quests. In 1984 we see that the human longing is for Winston Smith to keep his humanity and fight off the government, who are trying to eliminate humanity for control. From 1984 I can understand Orwell’s fear, because I am living through his fear. The only way complete power could be obtained, is if humanity is eliminated completely, which takes away purpose of life.
I, personally, have been shaken of the 9/11 incident for two different reasons. The first reason is because no one knows anymore how safe they are, if that sort of crime is possible, which makes everyone feel very unsafe. The second reason is because due to my race and heritage, I am a target of the entire police officials, which makes it very hard for my flexibility in Canada and the United States. Searching for another’s guidance of how to deal with such a situation, George Orwell’s 1984 comes in very handy. In Orwell’s book, Orwell shows that nothing can kill the human spirit. It teaches that by being the only one that refuses to follow the herd into destruction, any individual can make a change. This should be the rule by which every one should follow, fore it is golden.
At the end of Margaret Atwood’s article, she asks what would George Orwell say if he knew what was going on today society. He would simply just act and say as Winston had tried. Orwell would stand up against the government, even if it cost him his life, and he would gather members and make a group who would always speak out against the government just like the one in 1984.
From seeing how totalitarianism works and how our society is turning into such a government, it seems that they fear martyrs and anyone who is willing to stand up to the government. This leaves me no choice by to fight the government by becoming a martyr, which requires me to “stick with my guns” which will have people thinking. Yet that maybe not enough, reading 198Yet that maybe not enough, reading 1984 gets the reader to understand that television shows, video games, and all those gadgets are used to keep citizens under control. Another thing I would do, then, is not give into such distraction mindlessly. To have fun and relax is nice, but anything such as addiction or beyond is not appropriate if one is avoiding the path of destruction.
Eng4u1 has proven to be the most valuable course taken throughout my high school education. Although it has been somewhat of a struggle, simply because I have never had to work this hard to achieve high marks for an English class, I’m glad it was difficult because it challenged me to put forth effort and discover for myself what I was capable of. It paid off not being treated like a “pigeon” because it gave me the incentive to keep trying to improve. I have really enjoyed writing for this class (despite the stress it caused), because we have been taught things which were mind-opening and which have instilled a passion. I feel less naïve and more prepared to face the world in front of me. What I am especially grateful for is the changes in the way I write as a result of this class, last year I would have never thought to write a thesis using transvaluation, instead it would have been the three arguments “stating the facts” traditional sentence. However, now every time I write an essay I always ask, “So what?” or “Why am I writing this” and “what greater implications does the reasons for this essay hold?”. To me, that is very rewarding because that is the way in which we will be expected to write for university. It has been very fulfilling, there are times when I have surprised even myself at things which I never would have imagined I’d be capable of writing, simply because this year I did have that motivation to give it my best shot. Every unit in this course has offered its own valuable lesson, which will stay with me forever, because they have shattered ignorance in aspects of my reality.
Starting off with Death of a Salesman, a play which I really enjoyed and has instilled in me a love for the works of Arthur Miller; it has illustrated the consequences of orientating life around chasing after money instead of real happiness. Considering that we are in a critical year (grade 12) in which we choose what we are going to being doing for the rest of our lives, I think the timing for this play was acute. The moral lesson in the importance of finding one’s own passion and chasing after your own individual dream (as opposed to a national construct) is a noble message that should be heeded. It shows the consequences of what happens when cultural ideologies take over life and assign your profession—this will only bring suffering, not the fame and glam that we are lead to believe. The result of reading this play is that I have become more sensitive to differentiate between, what my real desires for my life are, and what are mere values or ideologies that society attempts to brainwashes us with.
The media is constantly bombarding citizens with ideologies that manipulate their thoughts for the sole purpose of making a profit. What was most frightening about the media unit was the intricacy with which everything works, and how tight-nit it is with society. The media is saturated with value messages and skew reality, “most speechifying and public palaver is bullshit and instigated lying” (Atwood) designed to make money. It scary to think that “the medium is the message” and everything revolves around advertising. That kind of distortion makes me question how reliable our sources of attaining information are. One example reminds me of 1984, in Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent, is what was said about The New York Times holding the keys to history. It is disturbing to contemplate this because first of all they are fundamentalist and especially when tied back to “The medium is the message” it means that we are going to be receiving their bias instead of untainted facts. As well if their reporters are not asking the proper questions then some points of view are lost to the records. The media in democracies has become an empire of propaganda which appeals to our emotions and conveys social and political implications. We are constantly flooded with repeating messages aimed at eventually weeding out rationalism and obtaining submission from the masses. The truth is that modern media and the media from 1984 are parallels; both serve the purpose of marginalizing, diverting and controlling people, whether it is though “Big Brother Is Watching You” or the nationalistic propaganda. Another alarming factor involving the media is that of distribution monopolies; when a relatively small number of people control what we watch and hear. Fortunately, the education received in eng4u1 has averted us of this and offers a means of working around it—transvaluation.
Northrop’s Frye’s The educated imagination is a stable book that forms the foundation of the English course. In my opinion we should have been introduced to this book in grade nine, if not earlier. After reading Frye’s essays I have gained greater reverence for the human imagination and a greater appreciation of value of literature. Frye mentions the world of illusion which advertisers appeal to and offers the imagination has the antidote to save us from it. The human imagination is what stops people from “closing their eyes to what's really going on” (Atwood) to let us see around a world of absurdity and keep us from falling into mob rule. It is a virtue that allows us to design models for a better society and create literature. Reading literature in turn will develop the imagination and the person, as a result, driven to make society better. More than anything, The educated imagination, has stirred curiosity in me. It makes me want to learn everything about literature and to read the bible and ancient myths so that I can create that solid foundation that Frye talked about, which I am lacking. Which brings me to, why did we not study the stories of the bible in religion class instead of those “adolescent dilemmas” presented in the ‘Fully Alive’ or ‘Be With Me’ textbooks we had to read in younger grades. It makes me feel like I am really far behind in what I should know, and an urgency to catch up so I will not be left behind in ignorance. Since our society is founded on Judeo- Christian and Greco- Roman myths, it becomes obvious the need to study these two things, and Frye as well as Mr. Liconti have brought this into attention.
In George Orwell’s 1984 dystopia, which Margaret Atwood’s essay is based on, literature is banned, the past is falsified, and thoughts are suppressed. Orwell’s 1984 is one of the most consciousness altering books I have encountered. At first I was skeptical about the validity and possibility of his claims, for example the facility with which people believed everything they are told. However, I started noticing the how what he wrote about is actually present in modern times, for example newspeak slang or abbreviations. But the real frightening similarity came about as I was doing research on World War two for another class. I was in shock when I read that under Stalin’s rein, “Facts were deleted, reworked, falsified, but party members went along with it all because history gave legitimacy to the leaders and the party as a whole” it felt like I was reading a page of Orwell’s novel instead of a history textbook. What was scary about this was that I meant that what George Orwell wrote about in 1984 was not an exaggeration but something which can actually occur furthermore, it already has. This new found information brought me anxiety because the astronomic power needed to take control of history records and the past is in itself surreal. It then becomes obvious why Frye talks about literature with such high importance, “Art is the dynamometer of the vileness of a tyrannical regime. The degree of vileness can be measure by the speed with which art is turned to dust” (Belinkov). By abolishing literature and falsifying history past rulers have security their place in power in becoming infallible. Another materialization of Orwellian totalitarianism is Hitler; schools and collages were brought under Nazi control, children were brainwashed into loyal and obedient citizens who would turn in their parents at any sign of heresy. The resemblances between 1984 and actual events that have occurred are alarming, governments “…browbeat the others with ideology, then twist that ideology to suit their own purposes: their language games were evident to me” (Atwood) after reading 1984. Most daunting about the novel however, are its implications in modern times.
The events of 9/11 have thrust our society towards becoming an Orwellian state. If George Orwell was alive today to see the manifestation of his novel he would agree that the Patriot act Patriate act is doublethink and that responsibility now lies upon the citizens to make sure their freedoms are protected. The patriate act was introduced as a means to catch terrorists after September 11th, however it violates civil rights. Under the patriot act the government is able to view bank and medical records without a warrant, to tap into phones and to incarcerate people indefinably under the suspicious of terrorism. How can democracy be protected if its own government strips citizens of their freedoms for their cause? This paradox can only be accepted though doublethink and citizens are willing to do so because they “frighten us or make us fell threatened. People… can do nothing but accept their social mythology … and in that situation their clichés turn hysterical” (Northrop 91). The labels given to ideologies are irrelevant what really matters are the acts which are done in their name. All these things can be done by building nationalism and appealing to the patriotism in people. However debasing freedom in order to protect it, is irrational, “The constant surveillance, the impossibility of speaking frankly to anyone, the looming, ominous figure of Big Brother, the regime's need for enemies and wars - fictitious though both may be - which are used to terrify the people and unite them in hatred, the mind-numbing slogans, the distortions of language, the destruction of what has really happened by stuffing any record of it down the Memory Hole” (Atwood) are the ramifications of September 11th. It then becomes the responsibility of the citizens to vigorously fight for their rights. This needs to be done with urgency or else it becomes a gateway for other freedoms to be stripped.
I personally find living out my adolescent years in a post 9/11 world overwhelming. It’s both surreal and absurd that politicians can do as they please and kill innocent people for money or oil. Yet the corruption is so deeply rooted into society and branched out into things like media, that to set things right would mean to have to eradicate the entire system. As well, in order for this to happen people need to be united, but to relying on people is uncertain. You would not just be fighting against a government but against an entire system and society which refuses to change. This dilemma was explored in Hamlet’s soliloquy when he says “To be or not to be”, and “Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer/ The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, / Or to take arms against a sea of troubles” (3.1.56-58). As much as we would like to make a change it is overwhelming to think of all the forces with which you would be opposed. However, despite the knowledge that everything is against you, if you are compelled to make a difference you will chose to act regardless because it would be worse to deny your character, which is what is meant by to be or not to be. If existence urges a person to take action against the maladies in the world, than by doing so they allow the spirit to be free instead of “closing their eyes to what's really going on” (Atwood). Due to the increased nihilism and apathy among people they would rather just live out an ordinary life and suppress their sense of righteousness, because they have lost hope in a better world, or do not want to be the one to start the change. But if not you then who? We have been programmed by society to believe that we cannot change the status quo but that is just a Big Lie. The irony in all this, is that by being apathetic due to the of the fear of defeat by greater forces, you have already succumbed to the exact same thing you were trying to avoid. Refusing to do nothing means to lose twice, both because you never made a difference and because you have allowed yourself to become the puppet of the structure of society. By challenging injustice you assert your freedom and refuse to let your mind be taken over by ignorance. So the answer to the question of what will I do with my life: fight against the impossible and make a difference because I refuse to be prole.
The grade 12 English course has not only made me more aware of my society but I have also discovered things about myself. I can now identify with the models of human experience offered by Shakespeare, Orwell or Miller, because of the way in which my imagination has been educated through their literature. I would like to take the opportunity to thank Mr. Liconti for his struggle in trying to lead us toward knowledge (since he does not sign yearbooks) because, I’m sure that I have probably stressed him out as much as he has me. Nevertheless, you have taught me a lot and I am grateful, and value the education and motivation you have given.
Growing up, I have always perceived education as a method to hone a person’s beliefs and verdict in life, and better the image of the world that he lives in. As I come to school everyday, I prepared myself for more learning, for a clearer vision of life, and a truthful definition of its purpose. I enjoyed my English classes for it provided me with so many ideas that enabled me to comprehend the limitless boundaries of the human mind as it creates a connection to English Literature, something that I was so fascinated with ever since I was a child. My curiosity grew each day as I expected countless answers given by studying Literature itself, and soon I began relating everything that I have learned to society and to what I see around me. Later on, the learning process seemed so monotonous for it kept on giving me limited information as schools, the government, and the media tediously went on teaching children with redundantly taught ideas and information. Somehow, I felt that I was being deprived from education, from the realness of the world and from myself as well, and this caused me to respite my curiosity and the passion I have for learning. Years went by and I remained to be a stranger, to the world that I live in and to that feeling of necessity I once had, I just gave up completely. Then I moved to Canada, and little did I know that I would rekindle with the past and reawaken the person I was before. The learning process I have experienced over the years in ENG4U did not only developed my thoughts, values and perception, but resulted to the progression of myself as an individual, finally being able to liberate myself from the so-called ideologies that are handed to me, through exposing me to the realness that English Literature holds.
The very moment I found out about my grade 12 English class I went up asking people about the teacher, Mr. Liconti and his way of educating his students. A friend of mine sated, “you’re either gonna love him or hate him, and same with his teachings and the knowledge he shares to you in class”. I was thrilled to hear his view of life and judgment about society, hoping that it is not exactly similar to what has been fed to me over the past few years. Each class was another chapter of learning, at times, the beauty of life was discussed but for most part, we were exposed to the ghastly facts of reality. Every day was a revelation and an eye-opener for me, and although I almost rejected the truth freedom offered, I came out to be intellectually liberated, choosing not to submit to the enslaving falseness of our society. I learned that life is unjust, man is flawed in all angles, and humanity will result to its very own destruction if people continues to be mentally enslaved and spiritually dead, and that a spark of the human spirit, is the only potential hope to our redemption. Through the works of Orwell, Miller, Shakespeare and Findley, I saw life in it realest form, as it helped me cope with the world I live in.
Eng4u1 has proven to be the most valuable course taken throughout my high school education. Although it has been somewhat of a struggle, simply because I have never had to work this hard to achieve high marks for an English class, I’m glad it was difficult because it challenged me to put forth effort and discover for myself what I was capable of. It paid off not being treated like a “pigeon” because it gave me the incentive to keep trying to improve. I have really enjoyed writing for this class (despite the stress it caused), because we have been taught things which were mind-opening and which have instilled a passion. I feel less naïve and more prepared to face the world in front of me. What I am especially grateful for is the changes in the way I write as a result of this class, last year I would have never thought to write a thesis using transvaluation, instead it would have been the three arguments “stating the facts” traditional sentence. However, now every time I write an essay I always ask, “So what?” or “Why am I writing this” and “what greater implications does the reasons for this essay hold?”. To me, that is very rewarding because that is the way in which we will be expected to write for university. It has been very fulfilling, there are times when I have surprised even myself at things which I never would have imagined I’d be capable of writing, simply because this year I did have that motivation to give it my best shot. Every unit in this course has offered its own valuable lesson, which will stay with me forever, because they have shattered ignorance in aspects of my reality.
Starting off with Death of a Salesman, a play which I really enjoyed and has instilled in me a love for the works of Arthur Miller; it has illustrated the consequences of orientating life around chasing after money instead of real happiness. Considering that we are in a critical year (grade 12) in which we choose what we are going to being doing for the rest of our lives, I think the timing for this play was acute. The moral lesson in the importance of finding one’s own passion and chasing after your own individual dream (as opposed to a national construct) is a noble message that should be heeded. It shows the consequences of what happens when cultural ideologies take over life and assign your profession—this will only bring suffering, not the fame and glam that we are lead to believe. The result of reading this play is that I have become more sensitive to differentiate between, what my real desires for my life are, and what are mere values or ideologies that society attempts to brainwashes us with.
The media is constantly bombarding citizens with ideologies that manipulate their thoughts for the sole purpose of making a profit. What was most frightening about the media unit was the intricacy with which everything works, and how tight-nit it is with society. The media is saturated with value messages and skew reality, “most speechifying and public palaver is bullshit and instigated lying” (Atwood) designed to make money. It scary to think that “the medium is the message” and everything revolves around advertising. That kind of distortion makes me question how reliable our sources of attaining information are. One example reminds me of 1984, in Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent, is what was said about The New York Times holding the keys to history. It is disturbing to contemplate this because first of all they are fundamentalist and especially when tied back to “The medium is the message” it means that we are going to be receiving their bias instead of untainted facts. As well if their reporters are not asking the proper questions then some points of view are lost to the records. The media in democracies has become an empire of propaganda which appeals to our emotions and conveys social and political implications. We are constantly flooded with repeating messages aimed at eventually weeding out rationalism and obtaining submission from the masses. The truth is that modern media and the media from 1984 are parallels; both serve the purpose of marginalizing, diverting and controlling people, whether it is though “Big Brother Is Watching You” or the nationalistic propaganda. Another alarming factor involving the media is that of distribution monopolies; when a relatively small number of people control what we watch and hear. Fortunately, the education received in eng4u1 has averted us of this and offers a means of working around it—transvaluation.
Northrop’s Frye’s The educated imagination is a stable book that forms the foundation of the English course. In my opinion we should have been introduced to this book in grade nine, if not earlier. After reading Frye’s essays I have gained greater reverence for the human imagination and a greater appreciation of value of literature. Frye mentions the world of illusion which advertisers appeal to and offers the imagination has the antidote to save us from it. The human imagination is what stops people from “closing their eyes to what's really going on” (Atwood) to let us see around a world of absurdity and keep us from falling into mob rule. It is a virtue that allows us to design models for a better society and create literature. Reading literature in turn will develop the imagination and the person, as a result, driven to make society better. More than anything, The educated imagination, has stirred curiosity in me. It makes me want to learn everything about literature and to read the bible and ancient myths so that I can create that solid foundation that Frye talked about, which I am lacking. Which brings me to, why did we not study the stories of the bible in religion class instead of those “adolescent dilemmas” presented in the ‘Fully Alive’ or ‘Be With Me’ textbooks we had to read in younger grades. It makes me feel like I am really far behind in what I should know, and an urgency to catch up so I will not be left behind in ignorance. Since our society is founded on Judeo- Christian and Greco- Roman myths, it becomes obvious the need to study these two things, and Frye as well as Mr. Liconti have brought this into attention.
In George Orwell’s 1984 dystopia, which Margaret Atwood’s essay is based on, literature is banned, the past is falsified, and thoughts are suppressed. Orwell’s 1984 is one of the most consciousness altering books I have encountered. At first I was skeptical about the validity and possibility of his claims, for example the facility with which people believed everything they are told. However, I started noticing the how what he wrote about is actually present in modern times, for example newspeak slang or abbreviations. But the real frightening similarity came about as I was doing research on World War two. I was in shock when I read that under Stalin’s rein, “Facts were deleted, reworked, falsified, but party members went along with it all because history gave legitimacy to the leaders and the party as a whole” it felt like I was reading a page of Orwell’s novel instead of a history textbook. What was scary about this was that it meant that what George Orwell wrote about in 1984 was not an exaggeration but something which can actually occur furthermore, it already has. This new found information brought me anxiety because the astronomic power needed to take control of history records and the past is in itself surreal. It then becomes obvious why Frye talks about literature with such high importance, “Art is the dynamometer of the vileness of a tyrannical regime. The degree of vileness can be measure by the speed with which art is turned to dust” (Belinkov). By abolishing literature and falsifying history past rulers have security their place in power in becoming infallible. Another materialization of Orwellian totalitarianism is Hitler; schools and collages were brought under Nazi control, children were brainwashed into loyal and obedient citizens who would turn in their parents at any sign of heresy. The resemblances between 1984 and actual events that have occurred are alarming, governments “…browbeat the others with ideology, then twist that ideology to suit their own purposes: their language games were evident to me” (Atwood) after reading 1984. Most daunting about the novel however, are its implications in modern times.
The events of 9/11 have thrust our society towards becoming an Orwellian state. If George Orwell was alive today to see the manifestation of his novel he would agree that the Patriot Act is doublethink and that responsibility now lies upon the citizens to make sure their freedoms are protected. The Patriot Act was introduced as a means to catch terrorists after September 11th, however it violates civil rights. Under the Patriot Act the government is able to view bank and medical records without a warrant, to tap into phones and to incarcerate people indefinably under the suspicion of terrorism. How can democracy be protected if its own government strips citizens of their freedoms for their cause? This paradox can only be accepted though doublethink and citizens are willing to do so because they “frighten us or make us fell threatened. People… can do nothing but accept their social mythology … and in that situation their clichés turn hysterical” (Northrop 91). The labels given to ideologies are irrelevant what really matters are the acts which are done in their name. All these things can be done by building nationalism and appealing to the patriotism in people. However debasing freedom in order to protect it, is irrational, “The constant surveillance, the impossibility of speaking frankly to anyone, the looming, ominous figure of Big Brother, the regime's need for enemies and wars - fictitious though both may be - which are used to terrify the people and unite them in hatred, the mind-numbing slogans, the distortions of language, the destruction of what has really happened by stuffing any record of it down the Memory Hole” (Atwood) are the ramifications of September 11th. It then becomes the responsibility of the citizens to vigorously fight for their rights. This needs to be done with urgency or else it becomes a gateway for other freedoms to be stripped.
I personally find living out my adolescent years in a post 9/11 world overwhelming. It’s both surreal and absurd that politicians can do as they please and kill innocent people for money or oil. Yet the corruption is so deeply rooted into society and branched out into things like media, that to set things right would mean to have to eradicate the entire system. As well, in order for this to happen people need to be united, but to relying on people is uncertain. You would not just be fighting against a government but against an entire system and society which refuses to change. This dilemma was explored in Hamlet’s soliloquy when he says “To be or not to be”, and “Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer/ The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, / Or to take arms against a sea of troubles” (3.1.56-58). As much as we would like to make a change it is overwhelming to think of all the forces with which you would be opposed. However, despite the knowledge that everything is against you, if you are compelled to make a difference you will chose to act regardless because it would be worse to deny your character, which is what is meant by to be or not to be. If their existence urges a person to take action against the maladies in the world, than by doing so the spirit is set free instead of them “closing their eyes to what's really going on” (Atwood). Due to the increased nihilism and apathy among people today, they would rather just live out an ordinary life and suppress their sense of righteousness, because they have lost hope in a better world, or do not want to be the one to start the change. But if not you then who? We have been programmed by society to believe that we cannot change the status quo but that is just the Big Lie. The irony in all this, is that by being apathetic due to fear of defeat by greater forces, you have already succumbed to the exact same thing you were trying to avoid. Refusing to do nothing means to lose twice, both because you never made a difference and because you have allowed yourself to become the puppet of the structure of society. By challenging injustice you assert your freedom and refuse to let your mind be taken over by ignorance. So the answer to the question of what will I do with my life: fight against the impossible and make a difference because I refuse to be prole.
The grade 12 English course has not only made me more aware of my society but I have also discovered things about myself. I can now identify with the models of human experience offered by Shakespeare, Orwell or Miller, because of the way in which my imagination has been educated through their literature and I have been made aware of this through Frye. I would like to take the opportunity to thank Mr. Liconti for his struggle in trying to lead us toward knowledge (since he does not sign yearbooks) because, I’m sure that I have probably stressed him out as much as he has me. Nevertheless, you have taught me a lot and I am grateful, and value the education and motivation you have given.
Growing up, I have always perceived education as a method to hone a person’s beliefs and verdict in life, and better the image of the world that he lives in. As I come to school everyday, I prepared myself for more learning, for a clearer vision of life, and a truthful definition of its purpose. I enjoyed my English classes for it provided me with so many ideas that enabled me to comprehend the limitless boundaries of the human mind as it creates a connection to English Literature, something that I was so fascinated with ever since I was a child. My curiosity grew each day as I expected countless answers given by studying Literature itself, and soon I began relating everything that I have learned to society and to what I see around me. Later on, the learning process seemed so monotonous for it kept on giving me limited information as schools, the government, and the media tediously went on teaching children with redundantly taught ideas and information. Somehow, I felt that I was being deprived from education, from the realness of the world and from myself as well, and this caused me to respite my curiosity and the passion I have for learning. Years went by and I remained to be a stranger, to the world that I live in and to that feeling of necessity I once had, I just gave up completely. Then I moved to Canada, and little did I know that I would rekindle with the past and reawaken the person I was before. The learning process I have experienced over the years in ENG4U did not only developed my thoughts, values and perception, but resulted to the progression of myself as an individual, finally being able to liberate myself from the so-called ideologies that are handed to me, through exposing me to the realness that English Literature holds.
The very moment I found out about my grade 12 English class I went up asking people about the teacher, Mr. Liconti and his way of educating his students. A friend of mine sated, “you’re either gonna love him or hate him, and same with his teachings and the knowledge he shares to you in class”. I was thrilled to hear his view of life and judgment about society, hoping that it is not exactly similar to what has been fed to me over the past few years. Each class was another chapter of learning, at times, the beauty of life was discussed but for most part, we were exposed to the ghastly facts of reality. Every day was a revelation and an eye-opener for me, and although I almost rejected the truth freedom offered, I came out to be intellectually liberated, choosing not to submit to the enslaving falseness of our society. I learned that life is unjust, man is flawed in all angles, and humanity will result to its very own destruction if people continues to be mentally enslaved and spiritually dead, and that a spark of the human spirit, is the only potential hope to our redemption. Through the works of Orwell, Miller, Shakespeare and Findley, I saw life in it realest form, as it helped me cope with the world I live in. With Frye I envisioned a world of freedom, and that gave me a sense of optimism, that there is a generation of free men worth anticipating for, and that the efforts of people such as him will not be put to waste. I indulged on the ideas that Frye offered, as I honed my knowledge and gain from his wisdom. I finally realized the main purpose of man is to fulfill the goal of education, know better to be able to do better in life, and by helping each other we will advance as a society. Learning from the mistakes of history and leaving the errors of the past generations behind.
Same with Margaret Atwood, I often think about my role as an adolescent, or if my attempts and contribution would even matter. Living in a post 9/11 world, I live each day with more awareness and a better understanding of the prophetic views Orwell has been saying to people. I saw nineteen eighty four not as a futuristic view of society, but a more detailed explanation of man’s nature, and how it can be perilous to man himself.
Throughout the course I have not only developed my perception of society, but it created a liaison between the human world and the ideal world we live in today. Now I can finally say that I am aware of my capabilities and I have gained my trust in them, that I, can make a change, and that knowing more is a key to doing more.
Post a Comment