Questioning the place with no darkness
Throughout the book the “place with no darkness” (Orwell) is
mentioned a lot. In the beginning Winston believes this place is the answer to everything
and is an unfound paradise that leads to ultimate happiness. How does this foreshadow the future and
symbolize Winston’s ultimate faith?
Throughout the novel, Winston constantly dreams about the 'Golden Country', a place with no faulty government and where the light is pure and natural. It seems that Orwell also liked to play with lighting in his novel, contrasting the golden daylight with the harsh, sterile lighting of the departments. Lighting is important to the plot, it sets the stage and prepares the reader for the next big event. However, I think that George Orwell might be fooling the readers when his repetitive mention of warm sunlight and firelight and then the sudden plot twist at the end where Winston is picked up by the party and thrown back into the sterile, cold light of the workplace. Readers might think that Winston will succeed with his plan to corrupt the government with his lover Julia, but we are disappointed when Winston doesn't just fail his plan, but betrays Julia in the process. So, in conclusion, i think that the "place with no darkness" could foreshadow the horrible ending ( an overthrow of the government with a seemingly Disney-esque ending would be too good to be true) and symbolize the false front that humans put on in times of danger; we try to appear courageous and create magnificent plans in our heads, but when the real time arises to have courage, most humans will find themselves running away to hide in a corner.
ReplyDelete~Isabelle
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DeleteThanks for commenting and I liked how you answered my question; when you brought up the ‘Golden country’ I thought that was a great idea because the golden country is a huge contrast to the ‘place with no darkness’ but both were mentioned in the book to refer to somewhat the same thing: a happy ending. I think both refer to the same ideas but like you said “lighting is important to the plot and sets the reader for the next big event” I also like how you shared the idea of an overthrow of the government would lead to a seemingly Disney-esque ending, and I completely agree with that. If Orwell wants to get his point across about the government but in the end someone got what they wanted and overthrew the government the message would be a little different than intended. The main message of the book was, don’t let government overtake your lives.
DeleteBecause it turns out being the exact opposite of what he was expecting it to be. The ultimate happiness foreshadowed the interrogation and the ending when Winston finally gives in to big Brother and loves him. He has been corrupted by the government to thinking that loving big brother is the ultimate happiness, which is the parties entire plan and strategy to control everyone anyways. So after Winston had been tortured in the "place with no darkness" his human spirit as Winston and O'brien call it was finally crushed, burned, and pulled away from him, making him part of O'brien's sick version of mankind, while Winston dying as the last human as he put it.
ReplyDeleteHey Kurt thanks for commenting, you brought up some great points. I agree that the “place with no darkness” is the exact opposite of what he was expecting it to be, and instead of sunshine and rainbows it was artificial light hanging over his head while he was tortured. Overall this was a great analysis and it was where my thought process was taking me to answer this question I had. With the human spirit part that was some in-depth thinking of how O’brien makes people to bow down to big brother because at the end Winston almost seems like a mindless robot and all of his sense of curiosity is gone and that’s a part that makes us all human.
DeleteI like to think that a place with no darkness would a place that is "pure" and full of "light" but only on the governments watch. What I mean is that Winston was subject to brainwashing just as anyone else in the society. This would of course mean that what the government desires would be, in a way, forced upon Winston. A place without darkness to me is a place without evil, and this evil can be prevented through the mass brainwashing of citizens. In a previous lit circle, I discussed the idea that "ideas cannot be killed, people can be killed (quite easily) but ideas will live on forever." The whole "FREEDOM IS SLAVERY" thing that was going on can also be applied here. Slavery is bad, would you not agree? If freedom equals slavery, then if you get rid of the freedom then there is no slavery. This "place without darkness" foreshadows how with Winston's "semi-freedom" he becomes a slave to his own ideas and desires, and is "filled with darkness", therefore they must take his freedom away in order to purify him and bring him to a place with no darkness.
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