Book 2 Chapter 7 - Human Emotion

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Book 2 Chapter 7 - Human Emotion

"Whatever happened you vanished, and neither you nor your actions were ever heard of again. You were lifted clean out of the stream of history. And yet to the people of only two generations ago this would not have seemed all-important, because they were not attempting to alter history. They were governed by private loyalties which they did not question. What mattered were individual relationships, and a completely helpless gesture, an embrace, a tear, a word spoken to a dying man, could have value in itself. Proles, it suddenly occurred to him, had remained in this condition. They were not loyal to a party or a country or an idea, they were loyal to one another. For the first time in his life he did not despise the proles or think of them merely as an inert force which would one day spring to life and regenerate the world. The proles had stayed human. They had not become hardened inside. They had held on to the primitive emotions which he himself had to re-learn by conscious effort." (page 136)

     In this section, Winston reminisces of the way relationships used to be valued. Nowadays in their society, loyalty to the government is far more important than loyalty between friends and family. He discusses how generations ago friendships and relationships held the most importance. A simple gesture, such as a smile or wave, held great value. It was pure human emotion. Winston says that these emotions are something he has to relearn. He has been living in a society that wants to take him away from feeling. The government doesn't want their citizens to have healthy relationships with each other. Reading the last line "primitive emotions which he himself had to relearn by conscious effort" reminded me of the book The Giver by Lois Lowry. In the book, pain (and memories of the past) was taken away from the citizens so they never really experienced different emotions. The main character, Jonas, was given the role of Receiver of Memory. The Receiver of Memory stores all the memories of the time before their society. When he begins to receive these memories, he is overwhelmed with new emotions since he has never experience or seen events; he went through these good and bad (war, illness, first love, etc.) memories as his own. Jonas doesn't relearn these emotions like Winston does because he never experienced them in the first place. However, many others, such as Julia, whom have never experienced life outside of the Party would have to learn how to be human. Winston also mentions how he admires the Proles, whom have managed to remain human. Since they are not really influenced by the Party, they in a way remain pure. 

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