Should "1984" by George Orwell Be Banned?

          Social issues in books could mean new knowledge for young adults. 1984 by George Orwell is a book about Winston, a questioning and different citizen of Oceania, where Big Brother is always watching you. Winston learns of the secret rebel organization, The Brotherhood, and starts a revolution that could change the course of the future. Although it is one of the most challenged books written, it should not be removed from middle school libraries because students are just stepping into the adult world and this book teaches them about it.

          Many students can learn about the threats of different totalitarian governments around the world, because in 1984, Oceania’s government directly represents those real world governments. One of these governments is North Korea’s; Big Brother is the dictator of Oceania, as Kim Jong Un of North Korea. “Kim has put more than 200,000 North Koreans, including children, into labor camps, according to Humans Rights Watch; they’re tortured, starved, and attacked by dogs if they get out of line.” States Bryan Brown in his Upfront article “Could Hitler Happen Again”. Big Brother mirrors this, and takes roughly the same actions. Another example is Oceania’s thought police. Which supposedly “read people’s thoughts” for any rebellious ideas and make them “vanish”. Many other totalitarian government share the same secret police or mafia to punish their people undercover. Students need to know of the threats from countries like North Korea and they enter a dangerous world where they need to be cautious.

          

          1984 is on ALA’s list of most banned books for one reason only, sexual content. This seems to scare parents so they don’t let their kids read it. However, this book’s supposed “inappropriateness” should be used as a guide to the kids about sexual dangers. The most challenged scene in the book is when Winston tell a story of him in contact with prostitution. Writes in his diary, “When I saw her in the light she was quite an old woman, fifty years old at least. But I went and did it all the same.” (Implying that he had sex with her anyway). This may be thought as encouraging it, but after, Winston states that it was the hardest thing to write down and he regrets every second of it. Instead of being badly influenced, children are being warned about the consequences you have to live with after.

          Although 1984 has been challenged many times, parents and teachers should know that although it may seem that middle school students are not ready for the content in this book, but that is the opposite, if they don’t learn in middle school then they are stepping into the adult world without any knowledge of it. Situations like the Eric Garner case that question law and rights will fly over their heads. They will be walking into a world where they will be oblivious to the problems around them.

         

          

Writing Project for Social Awareness

Write a reading response on a social issue in a literary work.

          "Should the government put people to death? Does the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution allow it? Does the death penalty deter crime? Does it discriminate against minorities?" states Patricia Smith from Upfront Magazine in the article "To Kill or Not to Kill?” These questions are just some of the debates that have been discussed for about 40 years. The Death Penalty is a punishment in which a person is put to death. Now, it is being thought of differently since a couple of lethal injections have gone terribly wrong. For example in Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Clayton Lockett, accused with murder, started "kicking, twitching, and writhing and moaning with agony" when he was given the injection. This was supposed to include a sedative, but it didn't work. In Arizona, Joseph R. Wood had more than 640 gasps before he died. Is the death penalty on its way out?

         Throughout the article, Patricia Smith describes the movement to stop the death penalty, from protests to Supreme Court rulings. "Why do we kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong?” says a sign during a protest at the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008. Smith includes this because it expresses the movement it one sentence. Another piece of evidence that shows the same notion is, that the percentage of Americans that believe that the Death Penalty is right has fallen to 64% from 80% in 1999, and now 19 states have banned it. This is a step in the right direction. Although Smith's article is objective, there is a lot more evidence for the anti-death penalty side, making the article seem biased towards this opinion. However, I think it's not the author, but the debate that is biased.

          After reading this article, I have realized that many big debates or disagreements in the world, including the death penalty, are decided not through argument and constant disagreement, but through the general public. If a person who has no previous knowledge of the debate is given the two sides, he/she will pick the side with the most evidence and the most common sense. So instead of having 9 supreme judges making all the big decisions, ask the general public, because their opinion is the most valuable of them all.

Write an original literary piece (poems) responding to a specific social problem/issue.

Bullying

Bullies are victims

Of the bullies before them

When will the chain end?

Sexism

Girls are the coolest

Boys are the coolest also

Lets stop fighting now

Immigration

They have made lives here

All of us did at some point

Why not say, “welcome”

Racism

Black or Caucasian

Asian or any other

They are all the same

Drugs

Once someone tries it

It is very hard to stop

Help them recover

Observe your surroundings (school, home, neighborhood, media)

List of things I see on a daily basis that I think is unfair/not right

1.    Homelessness

2.    Drunk people

3.    Drug addicts

4.    Shootings (on TV)

5.    Elderly people with no care

6.    Racial stereotyping

7.    Sexual stereotyping

8.    Bullying

Homelessness

          When I walk to school I walk by many unfair problems, but the one that shows up the most is the homeless people that sit in alleys, in subway cars and stations, and even on a main avenue. Every New Yorker has had an experience with one or has seen one in the street, which is astonishing. We see them and walk past hoping that someone else does something to help them.  We all do it and we all feel guilty, but is there a way to fix this?

          All solutions to a problem starts with one person, one person can change the world as the popular saying goes. If that person put up a kick-starter on the Internet for a homeless shelter and asked for a goal donation to be 1,000. You tell your friends about it, your friends tell their friends and so on. Suddenly, you have 2,000 and make a homeless shelter. So that guy you see everyday when you go to work has somewhere to live, and you now don’t feel as guilty. You inspire more people and they make their own kick-starters so many more homeless people have a place to live!

          The only way this problem can be fixed is we do something about it. If we all become that person that changes the world, then who knows what else we could fix.  Homelessness can be fixed, but we need to step up and change.

Works Cited

1.    Upfront Magazine: “To Kill or Not to Kill” by Patricia Smith

Non-Fiction Reading Response -- UpFront Magazine Article

          "Should the government put people to death? Does the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution allow it? Does the death penalty deter crime? Does it discriminate against minorities?" states Patricia Smith from UpFront Magazine in the article "To Kill or Not to Kill?". These questions are just some of the debates that have been discussed for about 40 years. The Death Penalty is a punishment in which a person is put to death. Now, it is being thought of differently since a couple of lethal injections have gone terribly wrong. For example in Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Clayton Lockett, accused with murder, started "kicking, twitching, and writhing and moaning with agony" when he was given the injection. This was supposed to include a sedative, but it didn't work. In Arizona, Joseph R. Wood had more than 640 gasps before he died. Is the death penalty on its way out?
         Throughout the article, Patricia Smith describes the movement to stop the death penalty, from protests to Supreme Court rulings. "Why do we kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong?"says a sign during a protest at the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008. Smith includes this because it expresses the movement it one sentence. Another piece of evidence that shows the same notion is, that the percentage of Americans that believe that the Death Penalty is right has fallen to 64% from 80% in 1999, and now 19 states have banned it. This is a step in the right direction. Although Smith's article is objective, there is a lot more evidence for the anti-death penalty side, making the article seem biased towards this opinion. However, I think it's not the author, but the debate that is biased.
          After reading this article, I have realized that many big debates or disagreements in the world, including the death penalty, are decided not through argument and constant disagreement, but through the general public. If a person who has no previous knowledge of the debate is given the two sides, he/she will pick the side with the most evidence and the most common sense. So instead of having 9 supreme judges making all the big decisions, ask the general public, because their opinion is the most valuable of them all.

Field Trip Reflection

          On Friday, my class went on a field trip to the Museum of the City of New York. We toured the activists exhibition and learned about all the significant protests and riots in the history of the US, through real objects, videos, and photos of each event. I really enjoyed it and discovered a lot about activism and how it affects the outcome of the future of a country or region. Activism helps shape the lives of generations to come, so they can live in a better world.
          Riots and protests are like ripples in a pond, one single movement can stir up a whole country. For example, Rosa Parks' said "No" and that little word kickstarted the whole civil rights movement.
Also, one fight in a gay bar sparked life into the gay rights movement. Many ripples like these happen everyday, but we just haven't seen the effect yet.
          At the end of the tour we had the opportunity to make our own badges displaying the movement that we supported the most. Although some of my classmates made funny ones, many made ones for gay rights, civil rights, bulling, non-violence, and even pro-activism! This proves that many ripples have spread so much that they have reached the youth of the world, in other words, the future. Who knows, maybe they will create ripples when they grow up.

"1984" Reading Response

          Society is affected by society roles, but books are based often on society. “1984” by George Orwell is a novel about a world without privacy, and with a wrong thought, the Thought-Police find you and torture you. In this world (Oceania) of insecurity, many roles in society such as religion, gender, and class become part everyday life. The society roles in “1984” are based on the situation in 1949 (when the book was written), which was directly after World War II. The war created many stereotypes and gaps in society, and this has affected books written at that time.

          After World War II, religious roles lingered, there was still hatred stirring about Jews, Homosexuals, African Americans, etc. In “1984” there is hinting about Jewish people being outcasts. For example, Emmanuel Goldstein, the Party’s main enemy in the book, is described to have “ strong, lean, Jewish features”. In the book it describes Religion as a sin, meaning that there was no freedom in religion. George Orwell himself did not have strong religious views, but he is said to have gone to catholic schools.

          In the book women are represented as a minority compared to men. For example, Winston, the main character, works with almost no woman. Out of the entire woman displayed in the book other than Julia, a main character, are housewives, prostitutes, washerwoman, and drunks. After World War II, women were disregarded too. Since they didn’t go to war, they stayed at home and that’s where they stayed after the war. The events in real life affected the book.

          Class in “1984” and after WWII had the same structure. The High, the Middle, and the Low; In the book, the Inner Party, the Outer Party, and the Proles. After WWII, the Aristocracy, the Middle Class, and the Proletariat. The Party and Big Brother want to keep the classes in place, keeping a possible revolution at bay. This causes Winston to believe, “If there is hop it lies in the Proles.” Because they have the most population, and if they are lifted they will be unstoppable. Many of this in the book is based on the Russian Revolution, which failed without the full support of the Low class.

          Many books are influenced by the society that the book was written in, but none as much as “1984”. It incorporates many roles and opinions of the time directly after World War II. This makes the book scary, to think that this story is really based on real events and ideas. George Orwell, the author, does this well in his other famous book, Animal Farm, based on the Russian Revolution. Even today we see example of some of the stereotypes displayed from these books, making George Orwell a truly timeless author.

"1984" by George Orwell -- Synthesis Page

Archetypes

REBEL – Winston

Winston is a rebel because throughout the book he doesn’t accept the Party’s opinion as fact or truth. He notices the flaws and corruption in their government. For example when he is writing in his diary he suddenly starts writing “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER”.

SCAPEGOAT – Goldstein

Goldstein is a scapegoat because everyday he is displayed as the enemy in Two Minutes Hate. The Party uses him as “hate magnet” so the people of Oceania are happy for the rest of the day.

SHAPESHIFTER – Big Brother

Big Brother is the leader of Oceania, but his role changes every chapter. One time he’s a hero another time he’s a dictator. The only problem is, that Winston is the only one who notices it, and the other people believe that BB is a genius/hero/savior/leader of them all.

FOLLOWER/MINION – People of Oceania

Other than Winston, all the people of Oceania bow down to BB as if he his God, they have no other opinion, as if their mind only reflects the thoughts of him. As if they are being manipulated, as Winston suspects.

                                                                                                                                               

Notes

·      It’s scary that Mr. Parson’s children are obsessed with war and have already convicted a man with treason and they are very young.

·      The idea of Newspeak is weird, how their vision is to destroy words and put them back together in shorter meaning is crazy.

                                                                                                                                               

Connection

George Orwell wrote this book in 1949 about a future in 1984, the future doesn’t come true in any way in that time, but now it is becoming more of a reality. The whole debate about the NSA relates to Big Brother and his cameras and how there is no privacy. I think that his prediction will become reality in this century, and his world is not one to look forward to by any means. Thought Police watching your every move and thought, manipulation of everyone, and constant war. Of many sci-fi books released around his time were all about flying cars and robots, but none has become such a possibility as Orwell’s historic vision.