Reading Response on 1984 by: George Orwell

            1984 by George Orwell is an extremely intriguing and satirical book that everyone should read. The book is set in 1984 and is a satire of Stalin’s communist based Russia. It is extremely well written and Orwell often uses characters memories against them, rewriting the past. The book itself is about a man named Winston who believes that the past may have been better then the future is or will be and also that the government may actually be the enemy, not the rebels. The government known as “The Party” doesn’t like this at all. Over the course of the book, Winston finds his confidence in his aspirations and beliefs to be majorly lessened gradually.

            In 1984 by George Orwell, the main character Winston starts out by being very confident about his opinions but then becomes less and less confident. For example, in the book Winston is about to write in his diary and right when he is about to begin writing, George Orwell says, “Suddenly he began writing in sheer panic, only imperfectly aware of what he was setting down.” This shows that Winston was very confident in his beliefs that The Party wasn’t a good thing because for Winston to even begin writing in this journal Winston would be sentenced to major punishment. So the fact that he then began writing and wrote a lot meant that Winston was very firm on his belief that The Party wasn’t a good thing. Then, Winston becomes a bit less confident in his abilities and begins saying things like, “Winston had never been able to feel sure – even after this mornings flash of the eyes it was still impossible to be sure – whether O’Brien was a friend or an enemy.” This is important because it shows that although Winston at the beginning of the book was very confident in his beliefs, he begins to get less and less confident as the book continues. His confidence level is important because his confidence is what makes him different from the person who is on the fence about their ideas and someone who is actually confident about their ideas will generally be happier and more discreet about their ideas when needed. This connects back to my thesis because it shows that Winston becomes less confident about his beliefs and aspirations and some of these beliefs were actually his aspirations as well because some of his beliefs were also some of his own hopes or dreams, like the government or the main figure “Big Brother” to no longer exist. Then, near the end of the book Winston and his partner Julia have both been interrogated and beaten into submission, to a point where they are slaves to The Party so to speak and Winston says, “All you care about is yourself, and after that, you don’t feel the same to the other person any longer.” This is extremely important because in the middle of the book Winston had a passionate love for Julia, but now he doesn’t really love her anymore. He sold her out for his own good. This is important because it shows how confident he was, to sell his lover out to who he thought the enemy was, I say this shows his confidence level because he was obviously not confident about his lover’s survival or Big Brother or the government becoming non-existent. Winston obviously was broken and had no capacity for other beliefs other then The Parties.

            In conclusion, the main character Winston finds his confidence about his beliefs and aspirations to gradually be lessened until they are nothing. In the book, Winston starts off very confident about his aspirations and beliefs, writing in his journal with the knowledge that it was totally illegal. Then later in the book he confidence was lessened because he wasn’t sure if one of the characters (O’Brien) was a friend of a foe. Then towards the end of the book Winston’s confidence in him was totally broken to the point where he only cared about himself, no longer his lover. In the book 1984 by George Orwell, the main character Winston goes through many changes in his confidence levels until eventually, he is no longer confident in himself.

             

Reading Response on The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

The book “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho was about a boy named Santiago who went on a long journey to fulfill his personal legend. When the book started, Santiago was a shepherd who had a re-occurring dream where he would find treasure near the Egyptian pyramids. He then consulted a dream interpreter who told him that he must travel to the Egyptian pyramids and there he would find treasure. Then later, a man came to him and told him that his personal legend was to go to Egypt and find his treasure. The rest is history. I believe that “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho is about fulfilling your goals to the best of your ability and letting no one tell you otherwise.

            In “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho, Santiago talks to people and they tell him about how a person can be and then he sees a person just like their description. On page 20, an old man talks to Santiago and asks for his book, the man takes the book and said that the book was annoying and that, “It describes peoples inability to choose their own Personal Legends. And it ends up saying that everyone believes the world’s greatest lie.” Afterward, the author goes on to say that the world’s greatest lie is that at one point in your life you lose control about what is happening to you, and your life end up controlled by the fates. This quote is very interesting because it puts out there that people can’t think for themselves on matters as important as their major goals. Which then allows me to connect this book to the real world because in our world, everyone ends up having someone on the television tell them the current events and the common opinion, instead of the people of the world doing their own research and creating their own opinion on a current event. This is bad because it means that instead of someone having a well thought out opinion with their own evidence to back it up, we have people in the world who will just watch the news and believe every opinion and compare it to fact. Then on page 57, after Santiago had worked for a crystal seller for a long time, the seller states that he always wanted to go to Mecca, Santiago asked why he had never gone and this was the sellers answer, “It’s the thought of Mecca that keeps me alive” then, “I’m afraid that if my dream is realized, I’ll have no reason to go on living.” The seller also states that he is now afraid to leave his shop because he feels that his crystals wont be safe without him. Additionally the seller only mainly says that this was his dream because all Muslims are obligated to go to Mecca once in their life, not because he just wanted to go there very badly. This brings me back to my other idea because the seller didn’t choose his personal legend; he adopted the Muslim personal legend. This quote is an example of what the old man said to Santiago earlier in the book and this connects back to my topic sentence because the crystal seller is the old mans stereotype and this connects to my thesis because it shows that some people don’t fulfill their life goal(s) even if they are the same goal(s) that others have.

            In “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho, Santiago refuses to give up his goals even in the direst of situations. On page 42, the author writes, “I’m going to become bitter and distrustful of people because one person betrayed me” this happened after Santiago had just had a thief steal all of his money which would have been use to get to Egypt. Even though Santiago had no way to get home and no money to go to Egypt, he got through this time while working for the crystal seller and went on to journey to the pyramids. Santiago is a very strong-hearted person and he wouldn’t let anything get between him and his goals. Additionally on page 167, Santiago dug until tribal war refuges made him give them his money then after he gave them his money a refuge said to him, “I dreamed that I should travel to the fields of Spain and looked for a ruined church where shepherds and their sheep slept.”  The man went on to say that he wouldn’t waste his time with dreams like this. This was very interesting because after the man said this to Santiago, Santiago was happy even though he had lost his money. Generally even if a character finds out where their treasure will be but they lose something that they need they will be upset, but Santiago was so strong that he was happy.

            In conclusion, “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho was about completing your personal goals and not letting anyone stop you from doing so. In the book the writer often wrote about how a character would act and then the writer would create a stereotype of it, like the old man and the crystal seller. Additionally, the writer showed how strong of heart Santiago was by showing how something like thievery would shake Santiago, but in the end Santiago would come out a stronger person and he would even come out benefited from the thievery. The author Paulo Coelho made the book “The Alchemist”, an amazing story just by making a character like Santiago so strong and diligent.

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