Social Issues on 1984

This blog is based on the question of "Who's perspective is this book in, and why is it not in another persons view." I find this an interesting question to think about because at first glance you think, "what does this have anything to do with the relationship to the reader and other aspects of the story." But when you start to understand more, this makes more sense. Depending on who is narrating the story really does make a huge difference in your experience of reading the book. Maybe the author wants you to realize what the main character went through; which you would not be able to understand with out being in that specific persons shoes. Or maybe the author wants you to have the younger or possibly older perspective on the conflict/issue in the story. Anyway, here is what I gathered from the perspective of the book, 1984.
George Orwell wrote this story in a third person narrative form. But the book mostly touches down on the thoughts, ideas, and perspectives of Winston, the main character and protagonist of 1984. It's clear from this information that the author wants the reader, you, to understand the views of someone opposing the ideas and government structure of the party, this would be Winston. (The party, is the ruling totalitarian group of sympathizers, to the over lord and ruler of all, Big Brother.) Perhaps George Orwell wanted to tell us (the readers) something about the undemocratic views of a totalitarian government system. For if the reader were to be in the perspective of a pro-party believer, they would be getting the opposite side of the argument on how great Big Brother is and the views of the party. In Winston's view we appreciate how great the individuality of man is. We take for granted the wonders of freedom of speech and love/hate for others. This is what I think George Orwell wanted us to consider while reading 1984, to realize how great it is to be an individual and to not just be a puppet of some hierarchy. And this could only be achieved in the view of someone opposed to the party and undemocratic/dictatorship forms of government.

Social Issues on 1984

The dystopian novel 1984 has plenty of underlying social issues imbedded into the story. Even from the first thirty pages of the book I can tell that there is a major theme of a controlled world, where you are scrutinized by such forces as the thought police to make sure you abide by the party, or are condemned for treachery. All individuality is taken away from any one being and you are expected to uphold the ongoing love of the party and it's soul dictator Big Brother.
The main character of this story is Winston Smith, a typical science fiction hero who is very unlike the other people of his world. He is opposed to Big Brother and control of peoples opinions and thoughts. He feels that a man should be individual and unique. He decides to join the underground opposition against the party.
Clearly there is a communist/dictatorship government created in this bleak world. A world with out democracy and a free voice. Very closely tied into the Communist Party which existed in the 1960s on the eastern side of the Berlin Wall. You were taught to love and be proud of the Soviet Union. But some people did not go by these rules. Just like in 1984 how Winston is opposed to Big Brother and the party, people in eastern europe wanted a voice free of communist rule and attempted to get by the Berlin Wall in order to bear a democratic lifestyle and be able to express themselves.
Even though I have not finished 1984 I believe I have learned a great deal from what I have noticed in the words and have detected in the underlying issues. I would definitely recommend this book for anyone interested in looking for Social Issues and reading between the lines.

Archetype ''The Giver'' entry.

               The Giver just like Charlottes Web has a archetype format. And like most story's they have a certain type of journey they follow.
                In The Giver I believe the journey is actually a small combination of the three popular journey formats: The Quest, The Task, The Loss of Innocence. I think it is a quest because through out the book as Jonas is receiving memory's from the Giver, he is searching for the answer of why the ''Perfect Community'' has made the decisions they have decided to turn their wold into the best possible. This means a well oiled machine of people who each have their own single job to make everything work smoothly. Everyone has their choices made for them and nothing is their own will. As Jonas begins to notice how peculiar this is from his talks with the Giver he questions how the Elders could have made the decisions to take away the normal human habits of Love, Joy, and even the true pains that makes us appreciate the good in life even more.
              I would consider it a task because Jonas has a certain job he feels he is obliged to do. When he realizes how his community is shielding the citizens from real life once he watches the release of a newborn and understands that a release is actually death, he wants to give to the people the memory's he is receiving, he wants them to experience the true happiness of life. As well as the death and pain they are being neglected to be told about.
               Lastly I would consider ''The Giver'' a loss of innocence tail because Jonas is losing his familiar security of safety and way of life for the truth of the world and it's past.
              Archetypes also has types of characters that are involved in most story's. There is a Hero, Mentor, Shadow, and last a shapeshifter.
            In ''The Giver'' I would believe that the Hero is Jonas, who self sacrifice's his memory's to the community to show them the true world and displays courage by taking on the serious title of Receiver of Memory.
           The Mentor is the Giver who assists the hero by giving him the knowledge he needs to complete his task of truth.
          The Shadow is the community who lies about the true world and gives them false lives.
          The Shapeshifter I would say is Jonas's father who is perceived as a very nice man but lies about the truth to Jonas and the others. Of course this is what he was instructed to do just like the others.
           These are the Archetype journeys and characters of ''The Giver.''

Archetype Charlottes Web entry.

An archetype is an original format in which others like it model after.
            The book Charlottes Web, like many others has, an archetype format. Like most works of literature it follows a certain type of journey that the characters go through. The three main types of journey are ''The Quest'' which involves a long search in the attempt of finding something vital. ''The Task'' which involves a job that needs to be done. And ''The loss of innocence'' which includes someone losing youth and their familiar way of life. The book Charlottes Web I believe fills the profile of ''The Task'' and ''The loss of innocence.''
             The task in the book is Charlottes out most duty to save Wilbur in time before winter when Zuckerman plans on killing him for food. They both work together to fool the people of the town in to believing Wilbur is the best pig to have ever lived and not worthy of death.
            The loss of innocence is Wilbur learning about life and the world through Charlotte and experience, and in the end becoming a wise old pig when in the beginning he was really clueless and didn't know which end up. In this scenario Wilbur is losing his youth and childhood.

Another archetype Charlottes Web follows is ''Types of characters'' in the book. There are four main character types. The Hero shows courage and self sacrifice through out the story. The Mentor assists the Hero, showing wisdom and knowledge. The Shadow opposes the hero and often represents the darker side of human nature. And last The Shapeshifter changes sides can't make up his mind and shows change and uncertainty.
            In Charlottes Web I believe the hero is Charlotte and Wilbur working to out smart Zuckermans plan to kill Wilbur in the winter.
            The mentor is Charlotte who aids Wilbur from death and teaches him about life and the world.
            The shadow is the prospect of oncoming death.
            And last the Shapeshifter is Templeton who switches from willing help to not wanting to work without a pay off for him and feeling not loved.
            These are the general archetype formats Charlottes Web follows.

Connecting Annotations entry on Vegan E.B White

In connecting my notes from Charlottes web I've noticed a few that really say a lot about the author of the book E.B White.
            In several parts of the book I have noticed mentions about death of Wilbur and turning him int tasty ham and crunchy bacon and how horrible this is that it is uncouth to speak of. However the truth is that eating ham and bacon really is not that uncommon and man kind eats meat as part of his diet. It's our nature and no more out of the normal than waking up in the morning. So why than is this considered such a crime in the book Charlottes Web? Maybe E.B White is trying to get a message across to the reader like he often does in this book. So what is this message if there is one hiding under these created attitudes of the characters?
         What I have come to conclude based off of my annotations and connecting the dots, is White trying to get across to the reader about the horrors of eating animals. Not the animals, or the humans in the book but E.B White. He is just using the characters as a voice tube to get across to the reader. Who knows, maybe White was a vegetarian, maybe he was just an animal lover and thought butchering and eating an animal was wrong, but as White has come cross the book Charlotte Web in many different forms of characters, attempting to get his message across to the reader, I believe he is doing the same here.

Charlotte Web entry.

The moment we meet the character Charlotte in the book ''Charlottes Web'', we know she is going to be a important friend and companion in the life of Wilbur, but we don't realize yet how much more she has to offer than good humor and play. Than we start to see some change in the way she treats Wilbur and feels for him.
             The first notice we see of Charlottes change is when she switches from a friend, on the same social level with Wilbur to a more teacher/tutor oriented figure in Wilburs life. She begans to teach Wilbur about life, herself, and how to act in public, and most memorable of all, she teaches Wilbur new words that he doesn't understand and of course Charlotte does. This is where the reader starts to see Charlotte taking a more serious role.
            At this point Charlotte is taking on her last and most important role, we see she is the last chance Wilbur has of staying alive past winter when Zuckerman plans on killing Wilbur for meat. She does this by writing complementing remarks about the pig in her web. During her metamorphis through her three roles she plays, she manages to be both a friend and teacher, along with Wilburs life saver in the end.