Book Two: Chapters 7-10

"For what evidence had he in reality that O'Brien was any kind of political conspirator? Nothing but a flash of the eyes and a single equivocal remark; beyond that, only his own secret imaginings, founded on a dream. He could not even fall back on the pretense that he had come to borrow the dictionary, because in that case Julia's presence was impossible to explain. As O'Brien passed the telescreen a thought seemed to strike him. He stopped, turned aside, and pressed a switch on the wall. There was a sharp snap. The voice had stopped." (139-140)

O'Brien portrayed someone Winston always wanted or expected him to be. O'Brien gave Winston hope. He hopes O'Brien will be the person he expects him to be, that he even took the risk to go to his house along with Julia. Winston risks not only his life, but Julia's life by saying they are against the Party. After O'Brien explained "The Brotherhood" to Winston, he was ready to join. It was a quick meeting due to the fact that O'Brien had turned off the telescreen and it would be unusual for him to turn it off for more than half an hour. He instructs Julia and Winston to leave separately.

It's crazy for me to think that Winston could just trust someone so easily, especially in the society he lives in. Isn't it weird that O'Brien approached him in the way that he did. If I wanted a rebellion I would try to keep it on the low until I knew for a fact the other person was on my side. Winston shouldn't trust anyone so easily especially in the society he lives in because this could mean life or death for him. Also, isn't it weird that O'Brien turned off the telescreen. I get he's part of the Inner Party and can do that, but think about it, he turned the telescreen off once Winston and Julia arrived, so that means the telescreen saw them there. I just feel that O'Brien is going to betray Winston. Something bad will happen to Winston just because he decided to trust someone easily. n.

This reminds me of the Harry Potter Series because Snape deceives Voldemort. In a sense this is like O'Brien deceiving Winston. Snape works alongside Voldemort because of his love for Harry's mother; he wanted to save Harry. He even makes it look like he betrays Dumbledore so he is trusted by Voldemort. It's a long story, but all in all Snape was one of the reasons Harry was able to defeat Voldemort. In a sense if O'Brien does betray Winston, O'Brien would be the Snape in the situation because he would have helped that Party defeat the bad guy.

Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 14, 2017 at 4:08 PM

    I completely agree with your statement about it is naive for Winston to trust O'Brien right off the bat. It does not make sense to me because in Oceania almost no one, not even your own children can be trusted, and yet here Winston is openly believing in O'Brien's words. I also like how you pointed out some of the suspicious actions O'Brien does like how he turned off the telescreen once Julia and Winston arrived, overall Winston is walking on think eggshells with O'Brien. I also enjoyed how you made a connection between 1984 and Harry Potter because it does align with the situation in 1984.

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  2. UnknownNovember 15, 2017 at 10:37 AM

    Your comparison to Harry Potter is interesting. Also, I was thinking the same thing about Winston being so easily open to people. This is a really dangerous trait anywhere, but it is especially dangerous considering the circumstances in Oceania. Good job Lynda!

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  3. UnknownNovember 16, 2017 at 9:17 PM

    O' Brien is really a suspicious person. Yeah, he was able to just turn off the screen with no repercussion. The party would have seen a discrepancy like that and would have immediately confronted O'Brien sooner, since he has turned off the screen several times since so knows how long he can turn it off for. Your comparison to the Harry Potter was intriguing as well. Maybe Harry's mother is Big Brother, and Snape (O'Brien) is in love with her/ The Party , and deceives Voldermort(Winston).

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  4. UnknownNovember 17, 2017 at 8:12 AM

    The comparison with Harry Potter was great! It makes sense given the context of the situation between Winston and O'Brian. O'Brian throughout the story always seemed very suspicious and if he was really in the Brotherhood he wouldn't had been so careless about the telescreen. I agree that O'Brian is going to betray Winston because he just seem to careless about a rebellion within the walls of the Party.

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  5. PMontanoMiddleCollegeNovember 19, 2017 at 12:16 PM

    I completely believe what you have to say about how Winston is being naive and reckless by trusting O'Brien with this and telling O'Brien he is againt the party, this could be very dangerous for him and he is putting not only himself in harms way but Julia as well. He is just blindlessly following his "intuition" that O'Brien is a good person and telling O'Brien things that could get him killed. Winston should know better than to trust people in the party because people in the party care more about being loyal to the party than anything else. Especially how O'Brien just turns odd the telescreen should have been a red flag for him to not trust O'Brien. I really love how you are able to tie in this into Harry Potter I feel as though it makes it easier to understand!

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  6. ChinasaDecember 10, 2017 at 11:06 AM

    I was also surprised that Winston was able to trust people so easily, considering the kind of society he was living in. He really risked his and Julia's life. I also liked your reference to the Harry Potter series because it made your blog engaging. Overall, it was a really great blog!

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  7. UnknownDecember 11, 2017 at 12:14 PM

    Winston's largest flaw was possibly trusting people so easily. IF he had not trusted as much people and took his rebellion on in a different way, would he have been successful? Would any rebellion in any form even become successful? Or would smaller scale attacks to the Party suffice?

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