Part 2: Chapters 7 & 8
When I read the long paragraph on pages 164 and 165 for some reason it just got to me. To think that Winston could be such a bad child to his mother and such an awful brother to his sister kind of baffled me. I know that some people are like that no matter what, but I would hope that put in those circumstances most people today would be considerate of the situation. I think that's the whole point that Orwell was trying to make though. That Big Brother and the party want human compassion to disappear so know now feels anything. To me that's an awful, awful world to live in. I couldn't imagine being that in considerate, and selfish towards a mother who is trying to provide for her children or to a dyeing sibling. It's horrible, but i'm sure it's what the party wants for their people. To be cold hearted and inconsiderate so they have no one worth fighting for. No one to spark a fire in them to think and rebel.
To think that Winston just kicked a severed hand like is was a piece of wood sent chills through my body. It's just so weird to read something like that and think about it in todays society. If you think about it, the only thing that really matters to people today is something that involves them or people they know personally. If it's not close to home, who really cares? I think about it know, and while we may feel an initial sense of empathy towards a person or country that is facing hard times. In the next moment we can be laughing at some dumb joke a friend said, and it will be totally forgotten.
We hear so many bad things on the news every day that i think we become desensitized to the hardships that everyone faces. But, if a person thinks about it if we felt concern for every horrible event that happened every day... What would be left for us to be happy about? All the disappear would consume us and we would not be people anymore. I think thats just the way society has evolved. A person sees those kids in Africa on the TV at least once a day, and we always think the same thing, "Oh, someone else will help those kids. I've got other things to do today." Or we just completely ignore them. We see it so much that only when something happens to you do you realize that empathy is an important thing in your life. We all like to be consoled, if no one was there to help you feel better, like a mother or a friend, you'd be feeling pretty alone and horrible. I feel so sad when I read this book, and find that Winston doesn't understand what empathy is. All i know is that his life must be a very lonely one.
I love your phrase and the connection you make when you write, "no one worth fighting for." I think that concept of hope is one we don't think about much. We either have it or we don't. But where does it stem from? What causes us to have hope, lose hope, gain hope, be filled with it or be hopeless? I think people are the first connections we must feel and see and KNOW to have hope. But I also think there is incredible power in belonging to something. A cause, a religion, a group, a place. Those without those connections must lose hope. But what about when you never have the opportunity for connections? I think that may be what Orwell meant. We simply can't create a world in which we operate as separate. Humans need one another. Desperately. Gosh, I love reading your blogs!
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