Little Sister Podcast Episode 3: Author's Intent (William, James, Kamil)

Untitled drawing
Untitled drawing
​Abstract:

In this episode, we cover the content of the final chapters of 1984 by George Orwell. Winston gets tortured and confesses his crimes to O’Brien. He is able to make Winston believe 2 + 2 = 5. Not say, BELIEVE. Winston talks about his hatred for Big Brother, and he gets taken into Room 101, where O’Brien brings out rats, Winston’s biggest fear, to make him betray Julia. We discuss what may have motivated Orwell to write the book and what messages he was trying to convey to his readers. We also address the ethics of communist and socialist ideas and why they don't work in real life.


Evidence Used: 

  • “We, the Party, control all records, and we control all memories. Then we control the past, do we not?” (256)

  • “To cure you! To make you sane! Will you understand, Winston, that no one whom we bring to this place ever leaves our hands uncured?” (261)

  • “The Party is not interested in the overt act: the thought is all we care about.” (261)

  • “We do not merely destroy our enemies; we change them” (261)

  • “It is intolerable to us that an erroneous thought should exist anywhere in the world, hower secret and powerless it may be” (263)

  • “They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just round the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal” (272)

  • “One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution to safeguard the dictatorship” (272)

  • “It is not enough to obey him; you must love him” (292)

  • “Do it to Julia! Do it to Julia! Not me! Julia! I don’t care what you do to her. Tear her face off, strip her to the bones. Not me! Julia! Not me!” (297)

  • “Sometimes they threaten you with something—something you can’t stand up to, can’t even think about. And then you say, ‘Don’t do it to me, do it to somebody else, do it to so-and-so.’ And perhaps you might pretend, afterwards, that it was only a trick and that you just said it to make them stop and didn’t really mean it. But that isn’t true. At the time when it happens you do mean it. You think there’s no other way of saving yourself, and you’re quite ready to save yourself that way.” (302)

  • “Under the spreading chestnut tree I sold you and you sold me” (304)

Link: https://www.soundtrap.com/play/18k9MnALQcOF1Sx0kIs45A/podcast-3/

Comments (3)

Lauren Brown (Student 2019)
Lauren Brown

I really liked the background music. Kept the mood upbeat without being too loud and distracting from the conversation. However, it was a little hard to hear James and Kamil at some points whereas William sounded a lot closer to the mic. The context was very insightful and I think you guys did a really good job.

Jacobo Pastor (Student 2019)
Jacobo Pastor

I really liked this podcast. You guys kept the quality and format all throughout them which was very professional. As always, great attitude and knowledge/analysis of the topic.