Third Assignment

1. My book does not seem original to me. I've read several other books that seem to follow the same pattern as this one, at least so far. At the same time, I really don't think that it's a bad thing. This book practices the dystopia style in an interesting way.

2. What make this book a good example of an old style, is the complete way in which Orwell has constructed the world. He places his character in a society that is so constrictive and then gives him some freedom of thought. It's a wonderful way to look at the things that may be wrong in our society.

3. I don't think that there will be any new stories, at least not any time soon. The greatest writers that I know of have used material from other authors. Tolkien based many of his characters and mythologies on ones that he'd studied. Even Shakespeare, the Bard himself, borrowed material from previous authors. It's not important that the material is brand new. Rather, it's important how the author uses that material and how that author shows some of her or his own style.

Second Assignment Character

1. I think that the main is Winston Smith. The book focusses on what he says and feels, so that seems pretty obvious to me. He's a good person, who just wants to be himself. I'm not sure yet what kind of person he is trying to be. His society constrains him constantly, so it's hard to tell. There's a passage starting on page 13 or so, where everyone is forced to hate people. The government plays this video and everyone has to watch it and yell at the bad guys.
2. I feel like Winston so much of the time. My life isn't controlled in a bad way though. I have state standards that I have to teach, I don't get a choice. But, they are actually good standards, like "Recognize literary elements in a text." I definitely would want my students to be able to do that even if the state didn't tell me to. So, I guess that I'm like Winston in a way because so many of my choices are made for me, but unlike him because those choices aren't weird and morally wrong.
3. If I were Winston Smith, I think that I would see shades of grey everywhere. All the buildings, and rooms and everything would be grey. All the sounds would be loud and sudden and sharp, no warm or comforting sounds, and I would never hear music, unless the Party was playing it. I don't' know why, but I think that if I were Winston, everything would smell like cabbage. I associate that smell with rainy days for some reason, and this book seems like it would have so many rainy days. I think I'd taste the same thing over and over again. What ever the Party's official food is, and I bet there's only one, that's the only thing that I'd taste.
If I were Winston, I'd feel pressured. I'd feel like the whole world was falling down on me, and there was nothing I could do to escape, no matter how quickly I ran.