1984 Dialectical Journal 3-

"Even the names of the of the four Ministries by which we are governed
exhibit a sort of impudence on their deliberate reversal of facts."


The names of the four Ministries are an example of doublethink
that is forced by the government. The Ministry of Peace concerns
itself with war, the Ministry of Love with torture, the Ministry of
Truth with lies and the Ministry of Plenty with starvation. By lying
to the people of Oceania the government, Big Brother, gains power
through fear and the idea of doublethink. Winston knows this is true
because he works in the Ministry of Truth were they constantly change
the truth into lies. They change articles and filed papers to make Big
Brother always right. By having this system, it keeps the lowest
class, the "Proles" always as the lowest because they are ignorant of
what is going on. It keeps the middle class, the "outer party" always
as the middle class, slightly informed but not enough to understand
what's happening and it keeps the highest class, the "inner party"
always as the highest class and informed and privileged.

Although doublethink isn't directly used against us as a weapon
from our government, it's still prevalent in our society. Doublethink
means to deceive, many people lie and deceive to get what they want.
For example, in propaganda they make you believe their advertisement,
that they're product is the best and you believe it and buy that
product even though you know that it may be false.

These harmful lies are just more examples of what makes Oceania
a dystopia.

1984 Dialiectical Journal 2

"A new poster had suddenly appeared all over London. It had no caption, and represented simply the monstrous figure of a Eurasian soldier, three or four meters high, striding forwards with expressionless Mongolian face and enormous boots, a sub machine gun pointed from his hip. From what ever angle you looked at the poster, the muzzle of the gun, magnified by the foreshortening, seemed to be pointed straight at you. The thing had been plastered on every blank space on every wall, even outnumbering the portraits of Big Brother."

By having this type of fear interpreted propaganda, the Eurasian government is able to prosper. It is saying that not only Big Brother is watching you, but he is also willing to kill you if you do something "against the law." Not only is the sign a warning, but after this passage it talks about an increase of bombings and deaths occurring in Eurasia. With the new poster and the Big Brother Poster, Eurasians are reminded and in constant fear of the Party and what they will do to you from simply thinking a crime; thought police. It just adds on to the many examples of why Orwell's society is a dystopia.

Although propaganda effects our lives today, the propaganda that influences us is usually not a threat against our existence. I have seen the effect that our propaganda has on everyone, but more specifically youth. One example is my little sister is influenced greatly by the commercials she sees on TV. She's constantly asking for the toys she sees, and attempts to convince us that its the "best toy ever!" etc. I have also seen it with teenagers. TV and magazines portray being super skinny as being beautiful and rich and perfect. Some teens are so influenced by this negative propaganda that they go to extremes to be the same as the girls they see in magazines and such. I have also seen in older generations. During the election, famous people would go on TV and express who they were going to vote for. Solely because of this people would vote the same as that person. Although I do not believe that we live in a dystopia, propaganda plays a large and sometimes negative role on our community, like it did in Orwell's community.

Jin Jingzhi Interview Reflection

Jin Jingzhi was a strong women who supported the communists and her country. Although she was considered to be wealthy, the cultural revolution still effected her greatly. She was asked what her life was like before 1948, she answered that she thought she was happy as just a housewife. But after Mao's ruling, and the rights he gave to women, Jin realized that being merely a housewife was not good enough for her and she enjoyed being a business women much more. Although Jin's work life changed, the revolution also tore her family apart; her husband was sent to prison and her two children to re-education. After reading this interview, I am more Knowledgeable about the effect the cultural revolution had on the wealthy, and more importantly on women.

Questions for jin Jingzhi-
1. When did you realize that being a housewife was not good enough for you?
2. How did you feel about your children getting sent to re-education?
3. How do you think the revolution would have effected you if you weren't wealthy?