Maisha's Brit Lit Journal

Summary of Part 2: Julia passes winston a note saying "I love you" to get his attention. Later they meet up and decide upon meeting at Victory Square; where they again decide to meet and talk to each other. Winston gets to know Julia and he falls in love with her, where love is a symbol of hope and Winston considers his relationship with Julia an act of rebellion against the party. They met regularly but very briefly with each other after that. One day they decided to have a romantic rendezvous at the apartment above Mr charrington's shop; where they enjoy real coffee, sugar and tea. Rats appear, scaring Winston extremely and foreshadowing the end of Winston's war with himself at the end of the book. Winston would have conversations about the party with Julia in that apartment from then. And one day he discovers that Julia also believes the lies that the party feeds them; even though her intentions are to take them down.  O'Brien finally approaches Winston a...

Summary of part 3: Winston wakes up in a windowless cell without any memory of the past couple of days and doesn't know if he has even eaten by then. In the room that he assumes is the ministry of love, he is surrounded by four telescreens. He feels pain due to his hunger but can't find any kind of food with him. Surrounding the room, the party guards are quiet while the prisoners are loud. Two prisoners enter the room and Winston gets to know about Room 101, which the prisoners will do anything to avoid.``Later, O'Brien comes into the room with a man who will torture him at O'Brien's command. O'Brien interrogates Winston about Oceania in order to prove his loyalty to the Party. Winston thinks that O'Brien can read his mind, and Obrien makes Winston believe in things like 2+2=5 by inflicting pain on him.  O'Brien explains the three stages of Winston's' reintegration: learning, understanding, and acceptance. Room 101 will be his entrance into t...

Brief Overview:  Winston Smith is a 39-year-old citizen of Air-Strip One who has faint memories of his past in a place where memories are things that can’t be trusted. Air-Strip One is ruled over by the Party and Big Brother. Their rule is extremely strict and every nook and corner of Air-Strip One is looked over by the Party. His home is a place which was previously known as London, and it belongs to Oceania--indicating to the then England.  Smith is wary of Big Brother and the Party as he sees Big Brother’s name and the words “Big Brother is watching you” written everywhere. While Winston himself works for the Ministry of Truth; changing the history in documents and making it suit the Party’s ways of spreading their influence, he despises the Party and hates Big Brother. He sees the lower class of his community: the Proles and believes that if anyone can take Big Brother and the Party down its the Proles. He then comes in contact with Julia, a young woman who works for...

Book One, Chapters 1-2 1. What bothers Winston? The society he's in. 2. What is wrong with his society? That the people don't have any freedom of thought or any kind of privacy. Its essentially a dystopia. 3. What are the three slogans of the Inner Party? War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. 4. What are the four ministries? Ministries of Truth, Peace, Love and Plenty. 5. What items are written in italics? The words Winston writes in his diary. 6. How does the Two Minute Hate work? Everyone is shown an emotionally charged message from Emmanuel Goldstein, the Enemy of the public which preaches his traitorous behavior. 7. What happens to Winston during the chant? He commits a thought crime. 8. What happens between O’Brien and Winston? They exchange a glance that makes Winston think that they share the same hate for their society deep inside. 9. During the film (p. 11), how did the audience react? The people were hysterica...

1 . " Depression",  National Institute of Mental Health, Revised February 2018,  https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/depression/index.shtml, Accessed 29 March 2020 2. Fox, Susannah. " What ails America? Dr. Google can tell you."  Pew Research Center , 17 December 2013,  https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/12/17/what-ails-america-dr-google-can-tell-you/. Accessed 29 March 2020 3. " Online Mental Health Screenings: A Potential First Step." American Psychiatric Association , December 12, 2017,  https://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/apa-blogs/apa-blog/2017/12/online-mental-health-screenings-a-potential-first-step. Accessed 29 March 2020 4. Schlossberg, Mallory. "The  Strange Allure of Online Mental-Health Quizzes."  The Cut , 26 January 2018,  https://www.thecut.com/2018/01/the-appeal-of-online-screenings-for-anxiety-and-depression.html. Accessed 29 March 2020 5.  R. J. W. Cline, K. M. Haynes. Consumer health inform...

Hamlet Act 5 Questions 1)      What do you feel is the point of the gravedigger’s riddles and song?  How does it fit into the play? The gravedigger's songs about death foreshadow the fact that Hamlet is about to die. The way he sings shows that he is not as sensitive about death anymore; also showing that Hamlet will accept his fate. 2)  In what ways do Hamlet’s reactions to the skulls in the graveyard seem to suggest a change in his outlook?  Compare Hamlet’s attitude towards Yoric to Hamlet’s attitude to Ophelia or even his father?  How is it different?    How is it similar? In contrast to the aggressive and insane behavior, we see from Hamlet before the graveyard scene, as Hamlet sees all the skulls dug up by the graveyard, his wonder of how their lives must have been, shows that he still has an empathic and human part of him left in there somewhere.  Hamlet's attitude toward...

Act IV, Scene 1 1. What is Claudius' main fear in the immediate aftermath of Polonius' death? Claudius’s main fear after Polonius’s death is that the slander that will spread across the world about Hamlet’s madness and murder will ruin his reputation. He fears that Hamlet will grow to be even madder over time; and while he recognizes his life is at risk too, he is more afraid about the slander.  Act IV, Scene 2 1. What does Hamlet refuse to tell Rosencrantz and Guildenstern? Where he has hidden the body of Polonius. Act IV, Scene 3 1. What image does Hamlet use to warn Claudius he's only king temporarily? Upon being questioned by Claudius about the whereabouts of Polonius’s body, Hamlet wonders out loud that a man can catch a fish using a worm that has eaten the dead body of a king, and when Claudius asks what he means by that, he replies that: “ Nothing but to show you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar.” (31) Giving him a clear...

Hamlet Act III Scenes 3 -4 Study Questions 1) What does Claudius plan to do with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and Hamlet? He plans to “tame” Hamlet using Rosencrantz and Guildenstern; basically by spying on him when he’s away.  2) What is Polonius going to do while Hamlet speaks with his mother? He’s going to hide behind the curtain in Gertrude’s room to listen to what they’re saying and get stabbed by Hamlet. 3) List three important things about Claudius’ soliloquy. Claudius feels extremely guilty because of killing his brother.  Claudius thinks that is asking for forgiveness won’t work because he’s still reaping the benefits of his sin; having the kingdom in his control, and having married Gertrude.  Yet, realizing that he is in distress and still kneels down to pray since he knows he will be punished for his sin.  4) Why is it odd that Hamlet sees the king praying? Because he deemed Claudius to be below someone who prays.  ...

Hamlet Act 3: I and II Questions  Act 3 Scene 1: 1. What do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern report to Polonius? They report that Hamlet is very sly and he dances around the questions rather than answer them. He was very interested at the idea of the play and begged both the King and Queen to attend.  2. How does Claudius react when Polonius says, "…with devotion's visage, And pious action we do sugar o'er/ The devil himself"? Polonius’s words make Claudius aware that his words also speak for him; a show of devotion to cover up the evilest deeds. Claudius’s conscience is stirred up, and he feels guilt for murdering his brother. 3. What plan do Polonius, Claudius, and Ophelia now put into action? They want to see if it’s Hamlet’s love for Ophelia that his making him mad. So they set the situation in a way that Ophelia can run into Hamlet, and Claudius and Polonius can hear her conversations with Hamlet in hiding to determine the reason for his mad...