Reconnecting with the Past

    The time spent with Julia has helped Winston reconnect with his desire for rebellion and his past memories, both of which have been repressed by the Party. Julia and Winston began renting a room above Mr. Charrington’s shop to carry on their affair and consider the possibility of changing their identities to escape the Party together. However Julia's disinterest quickly shuts down Winston's fantasy. Along with the optimistic expectations, recent events also brought about distant and upsetting memories from Winston's childhood and his family. These feelings, that have been inhibited for years by the Party, are emerging because Winston now has his relationship with Julia as an emotional and physical outlet. He realizes that since the Party has taken control of all human history and feelings, the only true history remaining only exists in his subconscious:"The only evidence is inside my own mind, and I don't know with any certainty that any other human being shares my memories"(2.5).

Aroused by Rebellion

      In the first part of 1984, it is apparent through Winston's recollections of his past compared to the harshness of the present, that he feels nostalgic in the face of rebellion. Any act against the Party is reminiscent of a time before the government changed. After having met Julia, his reaction to rebellion is now similar to Julia's search for pleasure. Instead of longing for the past, Winston's reaction has become more euphoric: "Anything that hinted at corruption filled him with a wild hope"(125). Winston enjoys the thought that every time an act of resistance takes place the government is weakened a little at a time. The description of 'wild hope' is evocative of the sexual euphoria Julia peruses to defy the government's strict laws. Winston is aroused by resistance towards the government and the more men Julia has had sex with the more he feels connected to her. Because of the government's manipulation of the people's emotions, his emotions are a result of the government and not because of Julia.

Winston and Julia

    The differences between Winston and Julia, mainly their age and the era they grew up in directly influence the ways in which they respond to the Party's repression. Winston, who is thirty-nine years old, was born and grew up before the establishment of the new government. Looking back on his childhood, Winston still remembers traditional families and how they were still based on, "privacy, love and friendship[...]and stood by one another without needing to know the reason" (30). Now an adult, living in this dystopian society, Winston recognizes just how far social norm has evolved, in this case, family structure. His neighbors the Parsons are a family shaped by the government so that the children are raised to be, "ungovernable little savages" trained from a young age to be faithful to the Party. Winston senses this change in social standards and understands the extent of the government's influence.
     Julia, age 26, is not familiar with the customs of the bygone era is not saddened by the new world. Her desire to rebel comes from her search for pleasure unlike Winston who searches for comfort in the past. Having grown up in this society, Julia's rebellious tendencies, especially her sexuality are perused specifically for personal pleasure.  Even though the presence of government in her upbringing has stunted her ability to properly process empathy, [her defiance towards the Party]... somehow seemed natural and healthy,"(122). She is however familiar with the Party's workings which helps her continue her disobedience. Although they come from different times and have different perspectives of the government, Winston and Julia's relation is strengthened by their shared  hatred for the Party and sexual desire for each other.

Essay Outline

Africa is portrayed as the antithesis of the Europe by presenting the land and its inhabitants as savage and unfamiliar compared to London which is grand and civil.

Marlow describes  London, as gloomy and ominous yet grand and a shining example of society.
     "A haze rested on the low shores that ran out to sea in vanishing flatness. The air was dark above Gravesend, and farther back seemed condensed into a mournful gloom, brooding motionless over the biggest, and the greatest, town on earth."(16)

To Marlow, the African wilderness is still dark and vast, but compared to his description of London, Africa is much more menacing and unknown.
     "This one [coast] was almost featureless, as if still in the making, with an aspect of monotonous grimness. The edge of a colossal jungle, so dark-green as to be almost black, fringed with white surf, ran straight, like a ruled line, far, far away along a blue sea whose glitter was blurred by a creeping mist. The sun was fierce, the land seemed to glisten and drip with steam." (25)

Marlow distinguishes the Europeans from the African natives, by describing the natives similarly to animals.
    "A burst of yells, a whirl of black limbs, a mass of hands clapping, of feet stamping, of bodies swaying, of eyes rolling, under the droop of heavy and motionless foliage. The steamer toiled along slowly on the edge of a black and incomprehensible frenzy." (68)

Compared to the natives, the Europeans are intelligent and scholarly.
"He was an improved specimen; he could fire up a vertical boiler. He was there below me, and, upon my word, to look at him was as edifying as seeing a dog in a parody of breeches and a feather hat, walking on his hind-legs...He ought to have been clapping his hands and stamping his feet on the bank, instead of which he was hard at work, a thrall to strange witchcraft, full of improving knowledge." (30)

Marlow nearly acknowledges the African humanity as a form of civilization.
     "But what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity—like yours—the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly. Yes, it was ugly enough; but if you were man enough you would admit to yourself that there was in you just the faintest trace of a response to the terrible frankness of that noise, a dim suspicion of there being a meaning in it."

Wizard of Darkness

    In the final part of Heart of Darkness, Marlow's heightened expectations of Mr. Kurtz are diminished by reality. Throughout the journey into the African wilderness, Marlow thinks of Mr.Kurtz as a "Prodigy, an emissary of pity, and science and progress"(40). He is the metaphorical light that enlightens Marlow as he descends into the heart of darkness and serves as refuge from being in an uncivilized region. Once Marlow actually meets Mr. Kurtz face to face, it is apparent he is not the great leader he anticipated. Mr. Kurtz's failing health has made physically weaker as well as mentally unsound. His intentions are unclear, specifically his relationship with the native people. Instead of fearing Mr. Kurtz, they seem to worship him as a savior and are willing to attack the company to ensure his safety. Whether or not Mr. Kurtz ordered the attack is unclear. The situation is very similar to the Wizard of Oz, a man who is thought to be a shining beacon of hope turns out to be a con man with ambiguous purpose.

Dulce et decorum est

   Because of the media's misrepresentation of war, it is easy to think of fighting in battle as heroic and honorable. Owen's poem convinces the reader of just the opposite, and turns a beautiful scenario into a harrowing warning. Soldiers, who are often thought of as strong and courageous, are reduced to "beggars under sacks, knock-kneed and coughing like hags"(1-2). The speaker expresses that the soldiers entered the war hoping for glory or to die with dignity but the war has robbed them of their youth and health. In truth, the soldier's die gruesome deaths, "white eyes writhing in his face...blood, gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs",the opposite of what they were promised (20-23). The speaker warns other young people looking for glory in war not to believe the Latin quotation, Dulce et Decorum est, it is sweet and becoming to die for one's country, calling it a lie.  The fact that Wilfred Owen witnessed these horrors first hand and later died under the same conditions, emphasizes the poem's message. Knowledge of Owen's fate adds to the poem's bleakness, it feels as though Owen foresaw his own death and knew its presence was ominous. Its author and the circumstances under which it was written, give the poem a candid and credible perspective of war and the affects it has on those who experience it first hand.