Dialectical Journal
quote and page
number
It was even possible, at moments, to
switch ones hatred this way or that
by a voluntary act. Suddenly, by the
sort of violent effort with which one
wrenches ones head away from the
pillow in a nightmare, Winston
succeeded in transferring his hatred
from the face on the screen to the
dark-haired girl behind him. page 15
The Ministry of Love was the really
frightening one. page 4
The only recognised purpose of
marriage was to beget children for the
service of the Party. Sexual
intercourse was to be looked on as a
slightly disgusting minor operation,
like having an enema. page 65
Why was it that they could never
shout like that about anything that
mattered? Until they become conscious
they will never rebel, and until
after they have rebelled they cannot
become conscious. page 70
explanation
This quote shows you how much the
Party can get into your head, even
when you are a more rebellious type.
It also foreshadows a later
relationship between Winston and Julia
I love this quote. It is so ironic
because of course for the most part we
think of love as beautiful and
amazing, frightening at times, but not
nearly as awful as what goes on in the
Ministry of Love. Its horrible. And
its ironic because love is supposed
to be beautiful
This quote interested me because I
made a correlation to modern day. I
feel that in our society sex is
sometimes frowned upon, put in a
negative light. In 1984, they seem to
not appreciate beauty or acknowledge
feelings. Sex isnt a fun, joyful
thing, its a gross thing to do if you
want to have children and thats
really it
Another astounding realization from
Winston that I love. Pointing out
again, that people really are
ignorant, and that they cant rebel
against something they are indifferent
to. Yet also stating that in the
system, one cannot rebel and feel
sane, thats not how it works. The
Party is too crazy strict to make you
feel sane while rebelling against its
force
On the battlefield, in the torture
chamber, on a sinking ship, the issues
that you are fighting for are always
forgotten, because the body swells up
until it fills the universe, and even
when you are not paralyzed by fright
or screaming with pain, life is a
moment-to-moment struggle against
hunger or cold or sleeplessness,
against a sour stomach or an aching
tooth. pages 102-103
I hate purity, I hate goodness. I
dont want any virtue to exist
anywhere. I want everyone to be
corrupt to the bones. Well then, I
ought to suit you, dear. Im corrupt
to the bones. page 125
In a way, the world-view of the Party
imposed itself most successfully on
people incapable of understanding it.
They could be made to accept the most
flagrant violations of reality,
because they never fully grasped the
enormity of what was demanded of them,
and were not sufficiently interested
in public events to notice what was
happening. By lack of understanding
they remained sane. They simply
swallowed everything, and what they
swallowed did them no harm, because it
left no residue behind, just as a
grain of corn will pass undigested
through the body of a bird. page 156
You will work for a while, you will
be caught, you will confess, and then
you will die. Those are the only
results that you will ever see. There
is no possibility that any perceptible
change will happen within our own
lifetime. We are the dead. Our only
true life is in the future. page 176
I LOVE THIS TOO. I think its a huge
metaphor for Winstons life. No matter
what, he feels like his problems will
always be forgotten. Hell always be
struggling against something, whether
it be the thoughtpolice, the
telescreens, or the whole corrupt
society in general. Life is
moment-to-moment because he doesnt
know when hes going to die. It could
be at any point. Every day hes
struggling to survive knowing hes
committed crimes, and knowing he cant
escape from the Party without dying
I love this. I love this because it
shows how well Winston and Julia go
together, and how they are both
thinking. Winston is finally getting
to let out his feelings, share his
inner thoughts with someone who gets
it, in a world full of ignorant,
unintelligent duds
This quote primely describes the idea
of the ignorant person in 1984. The
majority of the population, the person
who doesnt question, who doesnt
understand, stays sane because they
cant fully comprehend what is going
on. The complexities that the Party is
taking care of behind the scenes.
Those who are intelligent, and
question, can barely stay sane. As
they know their world is corrupt, they
are constantly monitored, people are
too ignorant to rebel, the Inner Party
too powerful. They know too much, and
therefore can start going crazy
This line really stuck out to me
throughout the second half of the
book, we are the dead. Recognizing
the fact that no matter what you do,
no change big enough to notice will
happen in your lifetime. You know too
much, you have already committed many
crimes. So you are dead. Regardless.
Whether youre dead now, or in a year,
or whenever, youre just a dead man
walking with nowhere to go but death,
because the society you live in is run
 by a Party with false ideals, and
nothing is real anymore, and you know
this, and so you are gone

But it was all right, everything was
all right, the struggle was finished.
He had won the victory over himself.
He loved Big Brother. page 298
I find this quote so interesting,
because this is not at all what I
expected Winstons last hurrah to be
like. After all his trying to rebel,
and trying to get in on the
Brotherhood, he finally gave in. He
gave in to O'Brien, to Julia, and then
finally to himself. He realized that
there was no way he could win the
battle. So he fought himself instead.
He fought himself and finally won.
Finally slipped into what the Party
wanted him to think. Lied to himself.
He didnt love Big Brother. But so he
did

Connections/Notes:
- One thing i noticed that i think relates to our society
today, is the idea of sex, how its looked at. i believe
that nowadays a lot of times sex is looked at as disgusting
or disgraceful, an act just to produce children, and not
something beautiful done out of love. i dont think its as
extreme as it is described in 1984, but i do think theres
a correlation there
- POWERLESSNESS, ex: pg 166
- IRONY, the ministries, very much ironic
- Connection to our society-poor/lower class people have bad
conditions, few people on the inside have amazing
conditions
- HYPOCRISY-they hate on the enemy, complain about the
enemy's wrongdoings, yet they are guilty themselves of
being a horribly corrupt society
- Party sayings:
- WAR IS PEACE
- War is going on all the time, but not regular
war, war where the reason for fighting isnt even
identifiable anymore, but war so much so that it
creates a sense of peace, stability, for people,
 something that is always going on, that they can
count on and participate in
- FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
- The Party has it so that people are basically
trapped. I found some parts hard to read, because
i wanted them to be freer. And therefore, the
Party has it so that their idea of freedom,
really is slavery
- IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
- This is the biggest one i think. Ignorance is
strength. As long as people are ignorant, dont
look too deep into whats actually going on, they
have strength and power, or at least they believe
they do. Those who arent ignorant, have little
strength, because they can easily get caught,
vaporized
- I think towards the beginning of the book you see these
sayings, and you think, oh theyre just ironic, but towards
the end you really start to realize how true they are.
The Party has made it so these ironic, rash sayings are
actually true in the society
- Basically the society of Oceania is very messed up,
everything is like the opposite of what it should be. It is
a corrupt society, and they (the Party) either hope that
everyone is ignorant enough to go along with it, or those
who are not, get their thinking and mindset changed
- The Party alters reality !! past is erased, nothing is real
- Even some people who appear to be trusted, and rebellious,
a lot of times turn out to be part of the Party. It becomes
impossible to know anymore if anythings true or if
everythings just fake. All you know is your own emotions,
and when you can not even be sure of those, are you sane or
insane?