Power / fear Flashcards
Commander to Offred and O’Brien to Winston: quotes about effect on others when power is being sought
Commander: “better never means better for everyone. It always means worse for some”
O’Brien: “we are not interested in the good of others, we are interested solely in power”
link between texts about totalitarianism as animalistic
HT- black van belonging to the eyes ‘shark on the prowl’
1984- helicopter is ‘a blue bottle’ (intrusiveness ‘fly on the wall’)
what is Offred at the end of the novel
Wholly passive: fear makes her give up, culture of fear has paralysed her into inaction
power over emotion: HT
“This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time it will” (chapter 6)
•offred with ofglen looking at bodies of people who have been hanged by gilead
• she remembers aunt lydia’s words, and strains to push aside her repugnance and substitute an emotional “blankness”
• she repressed her natural revulsion at execution, transforming horror into normalcy= power of state to transform natural human response
power over emotion: 1984
“real coffee, not Victory Coffee”
the “Victory” items most discusses are coffee, gin, and cigarettes.
• orwell chooses these three items to be banned because they all have the ability to alter the human senses.
• Winston had earlier said that the force emitted by Big Brother was “to deny the evidence of your senses” (69)
• party dulls the human senses, making humans easier to control
HT- “death is …
“death is a beautiful woman”
the restrictive ways of gilead make death look like a wonderful option.
Death and Victory are seen as women with men standing behind them, the act of bearing children is worshipped
