Kylee Rahm
English Portfolio
6 Word Memoir
Casting For 1984!
Winston Smith: Adam Shulman
Julia: Anne Hathaway
O'Brien: Tommy Lee Jones
10 Rules for my Utopian Society
-No homosexuality
-No drinking of alcohol
-No sex until marriage
-No form of nudity in media
-No smoking
-One parent must be a stay-at-home parent
-Every couple must have at least one child if medical reasons allow
-No divorce
-No starting physical fights
Ideals of Freedom (blog post)
One of the topics that dystopia investigates is freedom. Some citizens have a lot of freedom, while many others have their freedom restricted. As a citizen in America I have several different freedoms. I have the freedom of religion, press, speech and several other things. Unlike Winston Smith in 1984, I am able to read and watch most things and there are certain laws that protect me from the government invading me or my privacy. As citizens of America we are able to wander freely as we desire, with few restrictions. We have freedom of thought, unlike Winston Smith. We have the right to our own ideas about the government and several other entities, and we will not be persecuted because of what we believe.
The freedom I enjoy the most is probably the freedom we have to go where we want. Winston Smith was not able to wander to another part of town in the book 1984 without being scared that he would get sent to a form of a prison just for being in that particular area. I love to explore and look at the different parts of the country and the beauty of the natural world.
When freedoms are not balanced among individuals I think the citizens start to get upset and war will break out. A certain group of people may have more power over another group due to the amount of freedom one group possesses. When one group has more freedom the other group may also crave the freedom they can’t have. For example, in 1984, the “proles” could be said to have more freedom because the government does not watch their every move and does not care about what they do as much in general. The book leads to believe that Winston wishes he was able to have the freedom to do certain activities he wants to do that the proles can do, but he can’t. The fact that he cannot fulfill his desires makes him crave it even more. When freedom is unbalanced individuals may become jealous, which leads to destructive actions, or one group could end up controlling the other.
word count: 358
Write a New Ending for a Chapter
As Winston was walking away from the prole area of town he noticed an old man in a pub. The man must have been eighty at the least; he and few others like him were the last links that now existed with the vanished world of capitalism. Suddenly, the passage from the history book that he had copied into his diary came back into Winston’s mind, and a lunatic impulse took hold of him. He would go into the pub, he would scrape acquaintance with that old man and question him.
Hurriedly, lest he should have time to become frightened, he descended the steps and crossed the narrow street. As he scurried down the stairs he noticed that girl; the girl with brown hair that he suspected had been following him. His heart raced and he dashed into the pub before he thought she saw him. As he walked in his uniform of blue overalls the pub became silent. Everyone turned and looked at Winston, the odd man out. His hands perspired as he walked over to the bar where the old man was sitting. Slowly, the proles’ eyes started to shift towards the commotion over at the bar where the old man was yelling at the bartender about a drink order. As Winston settled in his seat the door opened again; the girl with dark brown hair entered.
He watched her youthful body cross through the room, finally taking a seat right next to him. His head stayed focused on the old man he was about to question and away from the girl who just sat down. He asked to buy the man a drink when suddenly he felt a rough texture rubbing against his ankle. Instantly, he turned to see not two inches from his own face stood the girl, staring at him. Her eyes pierced through his, yet she did not look vicious. In those light brown eyes he could see tenderness. She crept closer and touched his hand discreetly as she put her mouth to his ear.
Her warm breath melted into Winston’s skin as she whispered, “I love you.”
Word count: 354