1984 Reading Journal #2

In my opinion, Winston is having a difficult time buying in to what Big Brother and the State are selling because he has memories of his family. Big Brother and the State are trying to force people to believe that things occurred in history that did not, which Winston has a hard time believing due to the memories of his family. He vaguely recalls things in the past and he remembers enough to know that what Big Brother and the State are selling is not right. I think that his small acts of defiance are somewhat a form of protest, but Winston is not protesting intentionally. I think that he is doing the things that he does for personal satisfaction and to know that he is not conforming to what everyone else is, but by doing it in private, I don't think that he is protesting. When people protest, they want to spread a message to get their point across, which Winston is not doing. Winston's protests are very different from current protests like the Occupy Wall Street protests. Today, we have the right to speak our minds and say what we want to say, so protesting is a common thing. In 1984, simple things such as making negative comments about the Party would get someone "vaporized". Because of this, Winston does not openly protest the Party, so it is very different from current protests.