Charles Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities: Book I Chapters 1-6, Book II Chapters 1-5 (pages 1-82)

I had always thought that books written by Charles Dickens are booring and difficult to understand. After I had read the two first two chapters of this book I still thought that the book will be as booring and difficult to understand as I had thought but after the third chapter I realized that I had been wrong. Now I think that the book is interesting to read because of its historical aspect. I have noticed there are a lot of words in this book that I have not seen anywhere else before and therefore it takes me long time to read the book because I have to check so many words on my dictionary.

The beginning of A Tale of Two Cities takes place in year 1775. The first part of the book (or Book the first) basically tells about Mr. Lorry's and mademoiselle Manette's journey to France. Mr. Lorry works for Tellson's Bank and the reason for the journey is to take mademoiselle Manette's father - Doctor Manette - back to England. Doctor Manette has been released from prison (or "recalled to life") only a short time earlier after he had spend 18 years in prison in France even though he was innocent . Because Ms. Manette was very young when he was sentenced to prison, she doesn't remember much about her father. When Mr. Lorry and Ms. Manette arrive Paris, they find Doctor Manette who is not in very good condition but they still take him with them and travel back to England.

The second part of the book (book the second) takes place five years later so there is a gap in the story and I don't know what has happened during those five years. The second part of the book beginns by a depiction of a trial. A man called Charles Darney is accused for treason. Miss Manette and her father who feels much better now are witnesses and they tell that they had seen the accused on the ship in year 1775 when they came back from France to England. The man is found not guilty and at least miss Manette thinks that it is right.

I'm wondering if it is revealed who is the first person narrator at the beginning of chapter 3 on page 9 . I couldn't figure out who the narrator is and I have a feeling that I may have missed (or skipped) something.

George Orwell: 1984, Chapters 3:III-3:VI (pages 260-297)

Winston is still prisoner at the Ministry of Love and the interrogations are making his body weaker and he even wants that they would shoot him. Nevertheless, he is gradually starting to understand the ideas of the Party and O'Brien even reveals Winston that: "The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We [the Inner Party] are not intersted in the good of others; we are interested solely in power".

Finally the interrogators have tortured Winston so much that he is ready to do anything to prevent them to continue the torture and he even tells them:"Do it to Julia! Not me!". I think that those words indicates that Winston loves Big Brother more than he loves Julia and therefore O'Brien decides to let Winston go.

After Winston has been released he gets an easy job with a good salary. He spends lots of time playing chess and trinking Victory Gin at the Chestnut Tree Cafe. Winston has become a person who loves the Big Brother and believes everything the Party tells him. He still has memories but he thinks that they are not real.

The denouement of the book is different than what I expected. I hoped that the denouement would have been the collapse of the Party and a beginning of a new, democratic era in Oceania. Even though, I still think that 1984 is one of the best books I've ever read because it made me think about the significance of freedom. 1984 also made me feel happy that I don't live in a country like Oceania but I also feel sad at the same time when I think that there still are political prisioners in countries like China and North Korea.

And one more thing: Now I understand where the name of the TV program Big Brother comes from. I didn't know that the name refers to this book until I read the book.

George Orwell: 1984, Chapters 3:I-3:II (pages 225-260)

Winston is arested in the building of the Ministry of Love and he understands that O'Brien refered to the cell when he told about "the place with no darkness" because the light are always bright in his cell. In the cell he meets Ampleforth who is arrested of thought crime because his young daughter has reported to the Thought Police that Ampleforth has said "Down with Big Brother" while he was sleeping. I think that Amplefort's daughter never heard him saying those words but reported him because she wanted to be a good citizen.

Winston wants to kill himself and he hopes that O'Brien would keep his promise and bring Winston a razor blade, because the Thought Police interrogates him in a brutal and merciless way. The interrogators even make him to confess crimes he has not committed. When O'Brien arrives to Winston's cell Winston hopes that he would get the razor blade but he finds out that O'Brien is one of the Thought Polices.

O'Brien tries to make Winston believe that Winston is insane and all the lies the Party has told are true. Winston refuses to believe O'Brien even though his attetude makes O'Brien to torture Winston more. At the end of the torture O'Brien allows Winston to ask questions and Winston asks: "Does he [Big Brother] exist in the same way as I exist?". O'Brien answers: "You do not exist". I think that O'Brien meant that Big Brother exists only because people believe that he exists. Maybe he is just a fictional character, created by the Inner Party.