[ Q u a i n t Q u a g m i r e s ]

NOTE: I STARTED WRITING THIS POST ON MONDAY AND WE HADN’T GOTTEN TO THE END OF THE BOOK SO THESE ARE MY PREDICTIONS FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WEEK Is the Brotherhood even real? I don’t think so. At first, like a majority of people I spoke to, I believed that it was real. I believed that there was a secret underground resistance, headed by Goldstein or some other guy that was plotting to topple Big Brother. For a brief moment, I thought that Mr. Charington was part of it since he had a room without a telescreen. I was ecstatic when O’Brien revealed himself to be part of the organization. I thought to myself “yes! Winston was right!” And after a few minutes of celebration at the possibility of a revolution and overthrow of Big Brother, I started to doubt O’Brien and his intentions. Isn’t it a little fishy that he would be Winston’s only contact, and that he would never know the higher-ups of the organization? And the questions he asked Winston, like would he be willing ...

In class, we recently discussed what aspects of 1984 seem relevant to our modern society. When reading Goldstein’s book, his section on War and Peace stood out to me.    Goldstein justifies endless war through his idea that war brings stability both through its consistency and economic effect. These points about war seem pertinent to the U.S. We often view wars as idealistic and productive but there is much more nuance. The Spanish-American war, for example, had an ideological justification of freeing Cuba but led to direct U.S influence in the Philippines. Other examples include interventions such as creating a revolution in panama for a canal, Guatemala to preserve fruit companies, or installing a dictator in Iran for oil companies. Most wars stretch on, and are driven by economic policy, a bit like 1984. However, Goldstein points out that the effects of war go far beyond direct conflict. “Even when weapons of war are not actually destroyed, their manufacture is s...