"The capitalists owned everything in the
world, and everyone else was their slave. They owned all the
land, all the houses, all the factories, and all the money. If
anyone disobeyed them they could throw them into prison, or
they could take his job away and starve him to death. When
any ordinary person spoke to a capitalist he had to cringe and
bow to him, and take off his cap and address him as ‘Sir’. The
chief of all the capitalists was called the King, and——" (Chapter 7, 63).
This quote comes from a children's history book about how London was like in the past. The book describes London as a horrible place that was poor, wrecked, and low on food. Children worked twelve hour days and worked for cruel masters that hit them with whips. The book talks about an exception to this poverty. The rich men had beautiful houses and plentiful amount of servants to help them. These men were called capitalists.
As seen in the quote, capitalists are portrayed as terrible people who owned everything and controlled everyone. In a lot of ways, capitalist sound like the Party of Oceania. The Party of Oceania controls what is distributed and what is censored, technically owning everything. If anyone goes against the ideals of the government or commit thought crime, they are vaporized, creating slaves for themselves.
The part of the quote where its says the people had to cringe and bow to him is like how everyone takes their orders from him but no longer really going through the cringe part.
The most interesting part of the quote for me is the part of the quote where it talks about the chief of all the capitalists. This figure is called the King but more information about it is cut off because Winston's trail of thought changes. This King could be a metaphor for Big Brother himself since he is the largest figure and leader of Oceania. What a King is defined as isn't given in the quote but maybe we will find out later in the book what it could be
As seen in the quote, capitalists are portrayed as terrible people who owned everything and controlled everyone. In a lot of ways, capitalist sound like the Party of Oceania. The Party of Oceania controls what is distributed and what is censored, technically owning everything. If anyone goes against the ideals of the government or commit thought crime, they are vaporized, creating slaves for themselves.
The part of the quote where its says the people had to cringe and bow to him is like how everyone takes their orders from him but no longer really going through the cringe part.
The most interesting part of the quote for me is the part of the quote where it talks about the chief of all the capitalists. This figure is called the King but more information about it is cut off because Winston's trail of thought changes. This King could be a metaphor for Big Brother himself since he is the largest figure and leader of Oceania. What a King is defined as isn't given in the quote but maybe we will find out later in the book what it could be
I was really captivated by the connection of the Party's description of the Capitalists and the Party themselves. Like you said, they are pretty similar, but what really gets me is that even though these similarities are pretty obvious to us, the children don't see it at all. Winston describes a generation of children who would give up their own parents to be vaporized (read: murdered) because they buy into the propaganda they are raised with. They literally grow up with school-safe horror stories of a group of people who run everything, control all of the money, goods, and politics, while simultaneously experiencing a real group of people who run everything, control all of the money, goods, and politics, but none of this really clicks.
ReplyDeleteRather than seeing the inequality in the world they live in, they run around training to be spies and pretending to vaporize people. The older citizens are just as bad; whether they grew up with this view or not, they presently do not acknowledge just how much power the Party (wrongfully) has over every bit of their lives, including their thinking. Instead, they swallow the obviously falsified statistics and smile as their lives are run by the government to the point of no (expressed) free will, likely because it is easier to ignore it than do something about the injustice. They should be able to see the similarities even more clearly, but they are so blinded.
I believe that it is truly crazy that the Party is basically describing what they are doing to the people and the children can't even see it. They are blinded by the Party that they can't even see how they are being controlled. The children don't even see the similarities between the people in the children's book and themselves. They are so convinced by the Party that the are willing to be spies, vaporize their family members, and play around as if they are vaporizing people. You did a really good job at explaining everything and it made it easy to understand. This is something I probably never would have looked into as deeply as you did and I'm really happy i had a chance because it is an important part to understand.
ReplyDeleteThis connection you made was something I could've seen, but I didn't connect the dots, so I say good job! This was a really amazing analysis; the party is basically describing themselves, but in terms of Capitalists. Because the main focus is within the horrible past of Capitalism, the people reading this book forget that they live this type of life, but with passive force. The difference that I see between the Capitalists and the Party is that the Party does the punishment on the down-low and they bend the truth making themselves seem like they are doing the right thing.
ReplyDeleteIt's seems terrifying that this belief was implemented in a children's history book. To be fair, we are really never given evidence on how the past was for them. For all we know, the history books are telling the truth. but, it is pretty implied that Big Brother would alter and censor some information of the past to make their new system seem better.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you compared Big Brother to the past, because what the quote just described, was Big Brother and its party. That king part is pretty intriguing as well. Maybe we will found out, or maybe not. Who knows?
The idea of this children's book is quite terrifying. The children books are usually made to teach morals and lessons to impressionable children. The book is possible a type of propaganda used to control a whole generation. It can cause children to become snitches to their own family similar to the children of Ms. Parson.
ReplyDeleteThe story also brings up topic of a caste system. The quote could be referencing that the world of 1984 having a similar casts system of the children's book. Like you said the King could be big brother, but the capitalist can also be the politicians and the servants can be the proles. This seems like a stretch, but it's something nice to ponder.
You did a great job connecting the dots and making the bigger picture clear. The way the children book extends to the living is terrifying in a scene. It causes the children to serve under big brother at a very young age. With this revolution is basically impossible.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty wild how this was in a children's book, however I think the Party normalizes everything, no matter how weird it is, to further promote their cause. No one even realizes the similarities since everyone is so brainwashed by them. Children are raised to turn on their parents if needed and parents were trained to ignore loyalty ties to anyone. I really agree with you that the King could totally be a metaphor talking about Big Brother!!
ReplyDelete