1984: pg 117-157

The oppression of the Party somewhat reminds me of cult religions or overly strict religions for the fact that they don't want the Party members to swear, to have sex without being married, to wear make-up, dress certain ways, etc. I kind of wonder if George Orwell was possibly trying to make a point about some religions. The Party was focusing on these certain activities that a person shouldn't do, but was making them do other sins aside from this--and if anybody didn't follow them, they either vaporized them or cast them out as being worthless and savage proles. The thought of religion keeps reoccuring and I believe that the fact that the Party is trying to suppress these activities so much just gives people more of a reason to rebel. A person cannot be forced to do good (if you could call the Party's demands good). Even God gives humans a choice whether to follow Him or not and doesn't force His will on anyone...so why should humans try to force "good" on others?

I am wondering when Julia and Winston will finally be caught. They are becoming more and more careless as the chapters progress. It was "four, five, six--seven times they met during the month of June." I was wondering if that telescreen would be found or not when Julia was talking about taking the picture down to clean the bugs out from behind it. Why is the government waiting so long to arrest them? The Thought Police could probably just set out a post near the store in secret so that they could catch those two. Are they waiting to actually see them on the telescreen?

Winston's ulcer has cleared up, he no longer needs to drink constantly, his morning coughing had stopped, and he had gained weight. This sort of shows how little stress he's going under now. Before, every time he seemed to be "rebelling" against the Party in any way (even slightly), his ulcer would get itchy. He's becoming relaxed somewhat and has this hope in their oppression; he doesn't need to depend on Victory Gin to get by.

This constant fight for survival has almost breed selfishness in the society. Julia doesn't care--to the point of it boring her to sleep--that the Party is changing history and that Winston could have possibly started a Rebellion if he had kept the evidence from before. Her rebellion was mostly one that wouldn't affect anyone else after she dies, but was mostly for a pleasure of the moment. I found Julia almost annoying when Winston was trying to explain the history's corruption by the Party because she has become apathetic to everything that doesn't pertain to herself.

I liked how Orwell compared Winston and Julia to "a damned soul grasping at his last morsel of pleasure when the clock is within five minutes of striking." This again reminded me of the almost cult religion that the Party has created and how people want to rebel just because they are forced into doing "good." The Party has murdured the morality of the people and has taken so much away from them that they are apathetic about anything but "the now." Winston and Julia are indulging in their pleasure while it lasts and not thinking about tomorrow...which could possibly spell death. But (along the lines of what was stated earlier in the book) they had nothing to live for, so either way they were dead...whether living as the Party wanted or physically dying.