Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) and George Orwell :: Nineteen Eighty-Four 1984 Essays

1984 and George Orwell 1984 is about life in a world where no personal freedoms exist. Winston the main character is a man of 39 whom is not extraordinary in either intelligence or character, but is disgusted with the world he lives in. He works in the Ministry of Truth, a place where history and the truth is rewritten to fit the party's beliefs. Winston is aware of the untruths, because he makes them true. This makes him very upset with the government of Oceania, where Big Brother, a larger than life figure, controls the people. His dissatisfaction increases to a point where he rebels against the government in small ways. Winston's first act of rebellion is buying and writing in a diary. This act is known as a thought crime and is punishable by death. A thought crime is any bad thought against the government of Oceania. Winston commits many thought crimes and becomes paranoid about being caught, which he knows is inevitable (Greenblast 113). He becomes paranoid because a young woman who is act ively involved in many community groups follows him. Winston is obsessed with the past, a time before Oceania was under strict dictatorship. He goes into an antique shop and buys a shell covered in glass, which is another crime punishable by death. He sees the same woman following him. Many thoughts race through his mind "I wanted to rape you and then murder you afterwards. Two weeks ago I thought seriously of smashing your head in with a cobblestone. If you really want to know, I imagined that you had something to do with the Thought Police" (Orwell 101). The girl who was following him slipped him a note while at work. The note said, "I love you"(Orwell 90). They make plans to meet each other and carry on an illegal love affair. This love affair is another rebellion against the government. It goes on for some time. Winston rents a room where he and Julia can be secluded from the outside world. They meet a man named O'Brien who indicates that he is another revolutionary . Winston and Julia go to his house to meet with him. O'Brien gives than a seditious book to read.

Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Essay

Response to Prompt 1 In the novel Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Henrietta had cells removed from a tumor on her cervix without her knowledge or consent. Henrietta’s family also had no idea that the cells were being removed or the advances they would soon make in medical research. What the doctors and researchers did not realize is that in taking the cells from Henrietta, they were degrading the family and violating her dignity. By definition, dignity is â€Å"nobility or elevation of character; worthiness†. (â€Å"Dignity†) When George Grey took the cells from Henrietta, he was not considering her dignity or her worthiness. He was considering the benefits for himself and for medical research. At the end of chapter eight, we learn that Grey had never visited Henrietta while she was sick. Grey would receive the cells from an assistant and keep doing his research, almost as if the cells did not come from a living, breathing human being. â€Å"There is no record that George Grey ever visited Henrietta in the hospital, or said anything to her about her cells. And everyone I talked to who might know said that Grey and Henrietta never met. Everyone, that is, except Laure Aurelian, a microbiologist who was Grey’s colleague at Hopkins.† (page 66) By Grey never visiting Henrietta, he violated her dignity. As a patient, white or black, she deserved to meet the man that was taking her DNA and sending it to other laboratories for more research. Today, that would be illegal. But back in 1950, it was acceptable. Additionally, the doctors and researchers at John Hopkins violated Henrietta’s dignity by keeping critical information from her and the family about her cancer and the removal of her cells. If Henrietta had been given the right to know her diagnosis and treatment options, she could have made a more informed decision, thereby maintaining her dignity. â€Å"There’s no indication that Henrietta questioned him; like most patients in the 1950s, she deferred to anything doctors said. This was a time when â€Å"benevolent deception† was a common practice – doctors often withheld even the most  fundamental information from their patients, sometimes not giving them a diagnosis at all.† (page 63) Black people were given less opportunities to demand their dignity, and Henrietta was no exception. And when it came to white doctor’s treatment of black patients, the same rules applied. â€Å"This was 1951 in Baltimore, segregation was law, and it was understood that black people didn’t question white people’s professional judgement† (page 63)

Vietnam After The Saigon Fall 1975 - 2642 Words

Vietnam After the Saigon Fall 1975 Overview Many books, magazine articles, and papers have been written about the Vietnam war and its consequences, but most are written from the perspective of an outsider looking in without actually living in Vietnam after the fall of Saigon in 1975. Few reporters ever came back to Vietnam to live there and describe day-to-day life in Vietnam after the war. Under the control of Communist rulers and an embargo from the US, Vietnam was almost isolated from the western world between 1975 and the very late eighties (one can recognize a similar pattern in North Korea now). Western reporters were not welcome or even permitted to enter Vietnam for reporting purposes without an agreement from government†¦show more content†¦The situation in Vietnam closely parallels that of the current situation in North Korea, and demonstrates why it is very hard to find good published reliable sources about that country: officially, none exist. The only reliable source of information about North Korea one c an find is from the experience of the people who have survived and escaped from North Korea; reports from its government are simply propaganda. Introduction Vietnam lies along the eastern coast of the Indochina peninsula in an â€Å"S† shape. It is about 1,650 km long and is from 50 to 560 km wide. Its area is about 329,560 sq. km--slightly larger than Mexico (CIA World Factbook). It is bordered on the north by China and the west by Laos and Cambodia. With a population of more than 81 million, Vietnam is one of the 15 most highly populated countries in the world. It is also one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia with many problems like pollution, uneven population distribution, and a very fragile economic infrastructure. History According to archaeological discoveries, around the fourth millennium BC and during the Bronze Age the first Vietnamese civilization, called Lac Viet (People of the Valley) was established in northern Vietnam. Lac Viet reached its prime in the third century BC before it was conquered by the Chinese ruling Han Dynasty in 207 BC (Booz 20). For the next thousand years Vietnam was