Chapter 5: Now, Where Have I Seen Her Before? Define intertextuality. Discuss three examples that have helped you in reading the specific work. Intertextuality; that is, the interactions and dialogues that take place between old texts and new texts. In most cases, because of its strong message, 1984 acts as the model for other stories, as in Bambi, A Clockwork Orange, and We.
Bambi, though it may seem to have no connection at all to 1984, does in fact have a slight connection to the "1984" movie. While reading the book, however, this same thought process briefly came to mind; the death of Winston's mother is, in some ways, similar to the death of Bambi's mother.
(I apologize for the horrible quality and lack of sound. The small video playing is a scene from the movie "1984" and shows young Winston looking upon his dead mother and O'Brien acting as a fatherly figure. [moved to the bottom of the page!])
(This is the scene in Bambi where Bambi's mother is killed.)
The death of Bambi's mother goes as follows: Bambi's mother hears gunshots and tells Bambi to find safety, Bambi's mother dies sacrificing herself for Bambi, and Bambi's father comes to take over as his parent and guide him through the rest of his life. In 1984, Winston's mother dies in a similar fashion, although there are some discrepancies between the theatrical interpretation and the literary one. In the movie (and in the above clip) Winston dreams of coming across his mother's dead body, and also of O'Brien coming to Winston as a fatherly figure, and indeed O'Brien does act as a father to Winston at his time of "recovery from insanity" by guiding his through the process of beginning to love Big Brother. He also knows how much his mother gave up for him, in terms of food and of herself by caring for him nonstop. However, in the book, it is not clearly stated whether Winston's mother is actually dead, however Winston does dream of his memories of her "death." In his dreams, his mother had sacrificed herself for his safety, and his fatherly figure was his actual father at first, though the man left before his mother was gone, and so his fatherly figure defaults to O'Brien in the book as well. Even more so than the movie, the book also presents Winston's family as quite dear-like people; his mother "was tall, statuesque, rather silent... with slow movements and magnificent fair hair" (Orwell 25) while his father he "remembered more vaguely as dark and thin, dressed always in neat dark clothes" (Orwell 25) and his sister "a tiny, feeble baby, always silent, with large, watchful eyes" (Orwell 25-26). In the deer species, the does are sometimes tall and fair with careful or slow movements, the bucks are sometimes bold and dark with a neat and dark coat (especially in Bambi), and the fawns always silent and feeble with tiny, scrutinizing eyes. Relating a complex idea to a childlike one is a fair means of allowing one to better grasp the complex idea and, in this way, parts of Orwell's book, such as the death of Winston's mother, become easier to understand. 1984 also shares similarities with A Clockwork Orange, as in both novels the community of focus is governed by totalitarian rule, and there is a rebellious main character. Alex of A Clockwork Orange is thrown in jail for his wrongdoings to society and beaten mercilessly by guards and fellow inmates. Once Alex becomes unmanageable, he is selected to undergo a sort of brainwashing in which his violent natures will be extinguished. In the end, Alex willingly gives up his violence (after a struggle with the brainwashing and an attempted suicide). 1984's Winston Smith is thrown in jail because of his lack of loyalty to Big Brother, and therefore his society, and his somewhat violent thoughts about Big Brother, and also feels much physical pain from the hands and boots of guards and inquirers alike. Winston is, in a way, brainwashed into thinking he became insane over the past several years. In the end he accepts Big Brother and gives up his old lifestyle. The relation between these two novels makes Winston's "brainwashing" clearer and more defined, rather than the disorganized thought process Winston goes through while in jail. One of the inspirations of 1984 was We by Yevgeny Zamyatin. We shares the same purpose as A Clockwork Orange in more clearly defining some events of 1984. D-503, the main character of We, is also ruled by totalitarianism in the State, where activities such as public executions and praise songs are a part of everyday life, just as in Orwell's novel. Also, D-503 has a secret affair with a seductive woman (whom Julia represents) and she eventual is executed. D-503 also goes through an operation somewhat like lobotomy, an operation in which certain nerves in a patient's brain were severed. Although this was not a type of "brainwashing," it was thought to "fix" many and performed on all citizens of the State in We. The plotline of 1984 very closely follows that of this Russian science fiction novel, although brings a more modern aspect to it.
Define intertextuality. Discuss three examples that have helped you in reading the specific work.
Intertextuality; that is, the interactions and dialogues that take place between old texts and new texts. In most cases, because of its strong message, 1984 acts as the model for other stories, as in Bambi, A Clockwork Orange, and We.
Bambi, though it may seem to have no connection at all to 1984, does in fact have a slight connection to the "1984" movie. While reading the book, however, this same thought process briefly came to mind; the death of Winston's mother is, in some ways, similar to the death of Bambi's mother.
(I apologize for the horrible quality and lack of sound. The small video playing is a scene from the movie "1984" and shows young Winston looking upon his dead mother and O'Brien acting as a fatherly figure. [moved to the bottom of the page!])
(This is the scene in Bambi where Bambi's mother is killed.)
The death of Bambi's mother goes as follows: Bambi's mother hears gunshots and tells Bambi to find safety, Bambi's mother dies sacrificing herself for Bambi, and Bambi's father comes to take over as his parent and guide him through the rest of his life. In 1984, Winston's mother dies in a similar fashion, although there are some discrepancies between the theatrical interpretation and the literary one. In the movie (and in the above clip) Winston dreams of coming across his mother's dead body, and also of O'Brien coming to Winston as a fatherly figure, and indeed O'Brien does act as a father to Winston at his time of "recovery from insanity" by guiding his through the process of beginning to love Big Brother. He also knows how much his mother gave up for him, in terms of food and of herself by caring for him nonstop. However, in the book, it is not clearly stated whether Winston's mother is actually dead, however Winston does dream of his memories of her "death." In his dreams, his mother had sacrificed herself for his safety, and his fatherly figure was his actual father at first, though the man left before his mother was gone, and so his fatherly figure defaults to O'Brien in the book as well. Even more so than the movie, the book also presents Winston's family as quite dear-like people; his mother "was tall, statuesque, rather silent... with slow movements and magnificent fair hair" (Orwell 25) while his father he "remembered more vaguely as dark and thin, dressed always in neat dark clothes" (Orwell 25) and his sister "a tiny, feeble baby, always silent, with large, watchful eyes" (Orwell 25-26). In the deer species, the does are sometimes tall and fair with careful or slow movements, the bucks are sometimes bold and dark with a neat and dark coat (especially in Bambi), and the fawns always silent and feeble with tiny, scrutinizing eyes. Relating a complex idea to a childlike one is a fair means of allowing one to better grasp the complex idea and, in this way, parts of Orwell's book, such as the death of Winston's mother, become easier to understand.