It's that time again. At this point the drill should be quite familiar. I have actually made progress on 1984, but perhaps I should pick up a novel I feel more inspired to read constantly so I can provide more interesting perspective rather than my limited reflection on thirty pages of reading.
However, that is all the hard copy material I have to cover this week, so without further ado: this week's segment. I've already passed the introduction of Newspeak, but the idea seemed more like a throwaway reference to the rapidly deteriorating mental capacity of 1984's distopia. Newspeak is the idea of using short words and uncomplicated speech patterns in order to make communication easier. Ironically enough, this provides a small amount of confusion from a narrating perspective as all Newspeak words have to be explained. Thankfully the tireless narrator, with his unique perspective (but that's a blog for another day) gracefully enlightens his audience. In this week's selection we were introduced to Syme, one of the chief editors for the 11th edition of the Newspeak dictionary. I initially wrote him off as a slightly more intelligent but never-the-less mindless slave to Big Brother, however his interactions with Winston (our protagonist) reveal an oddly multi-faceted character. What really made Syme stand out to me was his desire to destroy words. The concept of killing words seems so foreign and unnecessary when applied to our society, but Syme's fervor as he explains his passion for eliminating words that no longer have relevance provides an intriguing look into the heart of Big Brother. His intelligence contrasts with his blind devotion paints an interesting picture of how talents are put to use in the new world.
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