Born and Raised in a North Korean Gulag

This article has an extremely powerful effect and I feel entirely for Mr. Shin Dong Hyok and other members who lived in that camp. This paper was written using Orwell’s techniques; using simple words to be straightforward about the point she is making. Therefore, the impact and imagery that it was able to create was very clear.

This paper is an excellent example of the manipulation of truth. Due to the fact that Mr. Shin was born in the camp and lived there till his late 20’s, he assumed that their approaches towards him and the other members was true and a part of life. He never had a proper upbringing by his parents and hence was unable to distinguish between right and wrong. Inmates living in a “Revolutionary Zone” were re-educated and if they survived long enough they were released. This reminds me of the place that Winston (in 1984) was taken to and many others for committing thought crime. He was taken to a place where they tortured and broke him and he was released after finally believing what O’Brien told him to believe.

There is another connection to the book 1984 about marriage. Mr. Shin’s parents were matched together by the authorities and had Mr. Shin and his 22 year old brother. This is similar to the way things were done in 1984 where people were married not out of love, but to “do their duty” (have a baby). All the inmates in the camp were taught to feel nothing and to contain no emotions. They were like machines that just did what they were told to do. Furthermore, guards were told to not treat them like humans. Living under certain circumstances like this makes one eventually believe that they are not human.  This comes back to the main question that all my blogs approach, what is a human? Is it someone that contains no feelings? Someone who experiences the life in a dystopian country?

When Mr. Shin found out about the outside world, this was an analogous reaction that Winston had when him and Julia first met in the woods which resembled the “Golden Country”. To Mr. Shin, the outside world was a utopian country that was filled with happiness. This was the prod he needed to escape from the camp. D-503 from We got a prod from I-330 to escape the One State and Winston got the reason to escape once he was united with Julia.

Overall, this article has a very strong impact and is able to communicate its story very clearly with the readers. Manipulation of truth, portrayal of how one can live with no feelings and emotions as well as connections to We and 1984 can be recognized making the interpretation of the article much more interesting to read after I had done much analyzing of all these elements.  

Ability to Manipulate Truth

It is extremely easy to manipulate truth because do we really know what truth is? This question cannot be answered because until today we do not know what truth is. I have realized that our senses are not good enough to prove that something is true. My argument today was to prove using my human senses that the wooden utensil was indeed a wooden utensil. From this I learnt that we all have different perceptions and analyticities of ideas and things. Hence from this we can conclude that there are many truths. One truth does not exist. 

Truth relates to the concept: relativism. According to Dictionary.com relativism is a philosophy that holds any criteria of judgment relative, varying with individuals and environments. Does science expose truth? Some theories could be made possible in some environments but could not be applicable in others. Science lets us get closer to truth but does not reveal the truth. Is there anything that can be proved to be true without other variables being involved?

Humans lie all the time, its part of our selfish, corrupted human nature according to Hobbes. When we are re-telling an event that occurred, we are manipulating the truth because we are describing what happened based on our interpretations and our perceptions. We are biased towards ourselves thus we are technically lying. This is a reason why people raise the question of whether the Holocaust really did occur. Reviews, records, photos, these could all be manipulated to make humans believe something else. Last class, we watched a video of penguins taking flight into the skies. It seems so unbelievable that we doubt what we are seeing in front of our eyes. We make reasons to not believe in things, firstly, it was recorded on video and someone could have manipulated it. Secondly, we could be hallucinating – raising the question again whether our senses can be trusted to tell us the truth.

In 1984, the Ministry of Truth controls information and changes history; they make their own history. Due to the fact that history is constantly changing, thought crime exists and the people do not have clear memories that can go back to when they were much younger. The party has the vast power of controlling the truth and uses this to manipulate the citizens of Oceania into following orders. Truth is a complicated thing and there is no specific definition and till today we are unable to distinguish what is the truth and what is not the truth.

Use of Orwell's techniques

Applying Orwell’s techniques to pieces is quite difficult and takes a lot of thinking. His six rules are as follows:

(i)                  Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

(ii)                Never use a long word where a short one will do.

(iii)               If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

(iv)              Never use the passive where you can use the active.

(v)                Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

(vi)              Break any of these rules sooner than say anything barbarous

The first rule requires a creative imagination and broad diction. We, according to human nature are very easily submitted to cliché and hence making an original metaphor or simile can be difficult if one is not a writer. The second rule can be easy for some yet hard for others. For those who are not so experienced writers and resort to a limited diction this rule would suit them easily. However, experienced authors/writers use long words for the reason being that it fits what they are trying to say better. The third rule is a rule that I fail to follow every time I write a piece. Many believe that the longer the essay, the better it is hence many unnecessary words can be used. The fourth rule is very impactful and useful to grab the attention of the reader. Naturally being active and to the point makes it easier to be understood and also makes the reader keen to read more. I believe the fifth rule is the hardest – sometimes a foreign phrase describes the situation better than an English equivalent could and sometimes, the foreign phrase cannot be translated to English. The last rule made me feel very confused because I did not understand the meaning of barbarous: able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering (Google Web Definitions)

All of these things must be taken into account during the editing process of any piece of writing. I followed some of these rules when I was writing my essay about coloration and connotations in We. Once editing it I observed how much more detailed and interesting my essay seemed. Orwell’s rules are not hard to follow but they are not easy either. Using his techniques to edit some speeches in class took a lot of time, effort and thinking.

Politics and the English Language

“Most people who bother with the matter at all would admit that the English language is in a bad way, but it is generally assumed that we cannot by conscious action do anything about it.” (1) This is the first line of Orwell’s essay and it instantly reminded me about his novel 1984. In this quotation, the key phrase is conscious action. Conscious action meaning thought. In 1984, Winston only thinks of rebelling and acting out against the Party and Big Brother. He is not the mastermind of creating a plan to rebel against them. It is only when O’Brien makes the first step and reaches out to Winston that he commits himself.

Next it discusses sentimental archaism. Archaism means a survival of something from the past. At the mentioning of this, the beautiful piece of coral that Winston bought from a prole clouded my mind. This coral was an excellent example of sentimental archaism. It is a part of history that contains a meaning that Winston struggles to interpret.

Orwell’s essay says that society and language are connected. “Our civilization is decadent”, meaning our civilization is spoilt and cannot be controlled. In addition, language is not an instrument and hence cannot be controlled. Both of these elements are in relation to each other. If civilization falls then language collapses. (“Dying metaphors”, “operators”, “pretentious diction” and “meaningless words” are all causes of language collapses.) This contradicts 1984 completely as Orwell portrays an image of a very controlled society limited in their thoughts, feelings, imagination, action and beliefs. The language that is used in Oceania is called Newspeak. Everyone must communicate with that language and all tasks are done with that language. There was the language Oldspeak but the language Newspeak was created and was constantly being perfected to show the party’s absolute power. Language and society is controlled in 1984.

This essay establishes what is essential to a story. In some clips that Orwell provides, there is a “staleness of imagery” and “lack of precision”. A captivating story like 1984 has powerful imagery and precise details. Precision can be difficult to achieve because everyone has their own private definitions. However in 1984, Orwell is sure to include detailed descriptions about any political views.

The question that continuously pops into mind is what causes the language to collapse? The answer that Orwell gives is thought. Thought influences everything that one decides to do. Thought corrupts language. Winston’s rebellious thoughts corrupt him from speaking Newspeak like every other comrade. Overall, this essay focuses on the idea of how thought can influence society and language.

Psychology of the Novel

This essay constantly brings a question to mind: Have you ever thought about how life would be without an imagination and feelings? The effect of words is so great that it causes one to develop emotions and images in our mind. I agree that this essay states that “through the connotations and colorations of the words” emotions and imagination are stirred. My essay on We that I recently turned in is precisely about this and goes into depth about how each word signifies a color and each color has its own emotion. It is the context that the word is used in that creates either a positive or a negative connation. For example, the color pink represents romance and desires yet in We the color pink is used to represent pink coupons. The pink coupons have a negative connotation because they are given out to the humanized machines when they can have sex. The purpose of these coupons is to restrict sex.

The next point that this essay focuses on is “willing suspension of disbelief” meaning whether our mind can accept the idea the author is proposing to the reader. Many fiction books consist of ideas that could not be possible in the real world yet it can be in the world the author is creating. “Willing suspension of disbelief” is a state of mind that every author wants to create in its reader. In We, Zamyatin proposes the idea of the future. It raises a question to the reader: Is this our future? Could Obama become the Benefactor and wipe out imagination and dreaming and such? Could technology develop to such an extent where it overcomes nature? Without an imagination and feelings we would be like the humanized machines in the One State. An imagination is unique in every human and cannot be controlled hence, it is banned in both of the environments in We and 1984.

After reading this essay, I have realized how difficult it is to write a captivating story. One must think of the relationships between characters, the style of writing, the structure, the conflict, the situations of suspense, the theme and so much more. A novel has a “gamelike nature”. The author has to build an idea within the story interesting enough to keep the reader playing the game. The reader’s mind is a game and the words are like passwords that allows the excitement and tension to build as you go further into the labyrinth that our brain is structured to be. Therefore this requires the author to constantly be thinking of the reader and what they want the reader to feel. What a reader thinks and believes is a communication with oneself. However what a reader feels is a communication between the author and the reader. Every point addresses feeling.

I cannot even process the idea of living a life without an imagination and emotions. We would not even be humans and this raises yet again the question of what my previous blog revolved around: What is a human?