Synopsis of Chapter Two of 1984
Synopsis of Chapter Two of 1984
At “the flicks” the movies were all based on the topic of war. There was scene after scene of brutal acts of war and terrorism. Innocent people died one after the other and the crowd would laugh, even at the sight of a baby child being blow to smithereens and have its limbs fly across the screen. What important information that this reveals about the society as a whole is that it is so morally hardened with violence and death that they think that the whole issue is a joke. The crowd enjoys people dying right in front of them. In fact, they encourage it. The society does not condone violence and war, thus they themselves would be readily on call for war themselves.
The “Two minute hate” is an exercise performed by all the citizens of the city. Everyone gets seated in small groups, at their place of employment, in front of a mid-sized screen. Images of war, terrorism, and hate towards humans as a whole are flashed upon the screen, over and over again. Also, the face of the people’s “enemy” pops up as well. The people who observe the “Two minute hate” become increasingly angry and hateful towards the enemy as the images continue and they proceed to stand and yell and throw objects at the screen. The exercise is developed to fill people with hate and then, at the end, to show the face of “Big Brother”, their “saviour” and the motto’s of the city. In this manor the people become more and more devoted to “Big Brother” and more dedicated to following the mottos. The positive effects of the “Two minute hate” is that people focus all their anger on a common source, thus providing more unity in society. However, this process is simply brainwashing the people of the city into loving their leader and become his slave in whatever he wants them to do. It doesn’t allow the citizens to think for themselves, their opinions aren’t explored; one common opinion is constantly fed to the people day after day.
O’Brien is a co-worker that Winston “caught eyes” with during the “Two minute hate”. Winston is hopeful about O’Brien when he recalls the incident because he believes that O’Brien had a look...