#6: pain.

 hi, everyone!! time to talk about 1984 again :) 

yes winston is gone!! and captured and all these horrible things are slowly moving in motion, per the thought police and orwell's desire to put us through hell and back. 

pain is a fickle thing. ive fallen off of a snapped trampoline and it hasnt hurt as much as a stubbed toe-- that kind of thing, you know? it's not just something we experience, it can be used as a tool for power. we've seen that in countless literary sources, in our own lives through dire real world events, and of course, in 1984. 

nice segue, right?

i'm talking about how winston is so dreadfully tortured. the way orwell warps his pain into a tool for the unification of his thought with the standard, as well as neutering his mind, is so delicately conveyed. its a twisted cycle, that transforms his thoughts in a slashed mirror style of how we've seen him think about love. so, naturally, i've thought a lot about this in relation to my own life. i dont think ive ever been so obsessed with it like winston, but it's a rather indelicate feeling that permeates your life suddenly. isn't it kind of natural to fixate on it?

in the real world, police regularly use pain to shape marginalized communities. leaders and presidents use pain to shape narratives and legislative path forwards (thinking of Trump's justification for the Muslim Ban). 1984 has a haunting mirror image of how we really see pain in our lives.

i don't know where i was going with this. i think orwell does a lot of great observations and commentary on the nature of pain and how we experience it, and it sent my mind down a rabbit hole. again, thanks for reading, and shout out to orwell <3