There was a time I never read a book, no matter the cost...

Chapter three of George Orwell's Nineteen-Eighty-Four

An elaborate scheme to keep the future society of Oceania in constant internal struggle to conform , to resist, and to have their minds in constant preoccupation with punishment. In a book full of practical and impractical elaborate schemes it would be fitting that this whole system of proles and the inner-party, The Revolution, Big Brother (who we do not see), and Emmanuel Goldstein (who we also do not see) were just pawns and rooks to keep the people busy. What gets me down that line of thinking is the two major figures that represent opposite ends of the civil spectrum (Big Briother and Mr. Goldstein) could be figmental characters that perpetuate this inner war with everyone in Oceania. Does not the fact that no body sees the Wizard not grain on everyone working for them? All you need is one brave soul or a straw to break the camel's back to reveal a giant machine that sends recorded messages to both sides of this civil dispute.

And now, if a may a silly poem

Am I useful?
I don't mean to askthe question: Can I do something useful?
No.
I mean can I do something that utilizes human ingenuity and practicality as well as be interesting?
Could I perhaps drive a fork lift?
Not a small fork lift.
A huge one.
With skill of a man twice my age and a deft field of vision not applied to my other task.
Can I sing a duet?
With any old dude or gal.
And make the whole thing better with and without rehearsal,
through sheer style and choice of improvisational movement.
With if...I knew gun fu?
Something silly that I would not ordinarily consider but have seen in a great many media.
I could have exceptional taste soup that gets people ready for brain-bending sex.
I just never could bring myself to offer up the advice to a trustworthy human being.
If only I had years in a hole,
to try and fail,
to surprise myself,
to live differently thereon out.
Perhaps I make bold statements the best of all others.

No.
That sound like something Jesus told himself.
I'm not Jesus.

I am Junior.

And now back to our regularly schedule programs.

Andre Churchwell

The fact that this is a satire comes in when I read:

“It was one those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move.”

The feeling of an outlandish object meant for reality sits well for what I consider satire, but then I read the rest of the book and I have to remind myself that it was satire on the political atmosphere of the time. I kept thinking of it as a rollicking dystopian feature (thanks Matrix!) but I have come to appreciate the subtle angle this is taking.

It seems I was mistaken, signing up for this class, what a satire entails. More than jokes, less than an affidavit of what is wrong and right, this shows you a world and expects you to make connections to your own. It’s not supposed to be laugh out loud funny until you actually see what happens in the book take place in front of you and say, “My God, the fools have really done it!” I am getting my understanding of satire more of a foundation with this book.

Pulling the people away from natural conventions seems to be the way for a tyrannical society. The "no sex" rule in particular has been seen in such media as Half-Life 2 where the Big Brother for of the times was Dr. Breen, telling people how the brutish natural way is backwards and how new science will lead us forward to a Utopian form of living less dependent on the whims of genealogy.

Amazingly, not an agenda setter for english class.

What I like about 1984 George Orwell: (so far)

Trying to get out ideas for "fun" in the book

mind you, I have only jumped around the book and read snipppets plus all that stuff I find on the internet and movies.

• It got lifted off the whole genre of Looking-tragically-at-the-future-while-making-you-aware-of-the-present
  
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• Some or most of the events have happened before in human history but not with the drama.
• Incidentally made Sci-Fi mainstream (here comes the Matrix in 1999)
• Gave us great ideas for propaganda (or when it comes to the Mac ad, anti-propaganda propaganda!)
• Year for a title. You don't see that much these days.
  
• Delves into the political atmosphere of a darker world similar to ours.
• Inspired a movie with the 2nd most kill counts for a lead charater (surprised Rambo wasn't on the list).
  
• My 1984 edition of "1984" (that's right, I'm a balla') has Walter Cronkite doing the introduction.
• I'm sorry. I think I need to capitalize WALTER CRONKITE to push this point to the 13% of you who actually will scream at your computer and post on the comments section, "Can I haz copies, plez?"
  
• It's a satire? Really? Huh.