# 5: IN THE PASSAGE ABOUT THE MOVIE, WINSTON DESCRIBES A WOMAN IN A LIFEBOAT WHO WAS BOMBED AND KILLED. WHOM WAS SHE TRYING TO PROTECT?

CAITLYN

• It can be inferred that the boy was the woman’s son, whom she was trying to protect.

Short answer:

Answer: Part One, Chapter IOrange Version: pg 7

PASSAGE WITH CLOSE READING

CONTEXT

This is the passage from the very first time Winston writes in his journal. He has been contemplating the repercussions of his writing in it, and has come to the conclusion that should he open the diary and begin to write, he will be signing his own death warrant. He opened the diary anyway and wrote this passage.

CONNECTION #1Winston’s first dream about his mother:

“ At that moment his mother was sitting in some place deep down beneath him, with his younger sister in her arms. He did not remember his sister at all, except as a tiny, feeble baby, always silent, with large, watchful eyes. Both of them were looking up at him. They were down in some subterranean place- the bottom of a well, for instance, or a very deep grave- but it was a place which, already far below him, was itself moving downwards. They were in the saloon of sinking ship, looking up at him through the darkening water. There was still air in the saloon, they could still see him and he them, but all the while they were sinking down, down into the green waters which in another moment must hide them from sight forever. He was out in the light and air while they were being sucked down to death, and they were down there because he was up here. He knew it and they knew it, and he could see the knowledge in their faces. There was no reproach either in their faces or in their hearts, only the knowledge that they must die in order that he might remain alive, and that this was part of the unavoidable order of things. He could not remember what had happened, but he knew in his dream that in some way the lives of his mother and sister had been sacrificed to his own.”

Part I, Chapter III

Pages 25/26 in Orange book

CONNECTION #2Winston’s second dream about his mother:

“Once a chocolate ration was issued. There had been no such issue for weeks or months past. He remembered quite clearly that precious little morsel of chocolate. It was a two-ounce slab (they still talked about ounces in those days) between the three of them. It was obvious that it ought to be divided into three equal parts. Suddenly, as if he were listening to somebody else, Winston heard himself demanding in a loud booming voice that he should be given the whole piece. His mother told him not to be greedy. There was a long, nagging argument that went round and round, with shouts, whines, tears, remonstrances, bargainings. His tiny sister, clinging to her mother with both hands, exactly like a baby monkey, sat looking over her shoulder at him with large, mournful eyes. In the end his mother broke off three-quarters of the chocolate and gave it to Winston, giving the other quarter to his sister. The little girl took hold of it and looked at it dully, perhaps not knowing what it was. Winston stood watching her for a moment. Then with a sudden swift spring he had snatched the piece of chocolate out of his sister’s hand and was fleeing for the door. “Winston, Winston!” his mother called after him. “Come back! Give your sister back her chocolate!” He stopped, but he did not come back. His mother’s anxious eyes were fixed on his face. Even now she was thinking about the thing, he did not know what it was, that was on the point of happening. His sister, conscious of having been robbed of something, had set up a feeble wail. His mother drew her arms around the child and pressed it’s face against her breast. Something in the gesture told him his sister was dying. Part II, Chapter VII Page 144 in Orange book

EXPLANATION OF CONNECTIONS AND WHOLE NOVEL SIGNIFICANCE• In both of these passages, you can see the willingness of the mother to protect her children. In the first,

Winston believed she was willing to give up her own life to allow him to continue living. And felt no reproach toward him for surviving while she had to die. In the second, while she knew something bad was coming, she tried to remain cheerful for her children, and tried to protect them from the harm coming their way. Also, in this passage, she holds Winston’s sister in the same way the woman in the movie held the young boy. Both women were trying to protect their children, and were at the same time terrified of what they had to protect against.

• Through all three of these mother-child relationships, Orwell conveys the idea that family is important, that they love each other enough to give their lives attempting to save one another, but later on Winston notes the lack of close family in Oceania under Big Brother’s rule. This is an example of the control of the Party over the lives of the people. The Party has managed to take away even their love of each other. Children turn in their own parents for things they might not have done.

WORD CHOICE

• “little boy screaming with fright and hiding his head between her breasts as if he was trying to burrow right into her and the woman putting her arms around him and comforting him although she was blue with fright herself.”

Blue with fright: Terrified beyond description.

Using “blue with fright” rather than just “scared” brings vivid images, and lets the reader imagine what the lady looked like, thereby truly clueing the reader into the terrified atmosphere of the moment.

THEME

• The love of a family for one another, especially of a mother for her children, is a powerful sentiment, and may be a crucial aspect of a society.

AUTHOR’S PURPOSE

• Orwell is reminding readers of the importance of family, and the impact family can have on a society. Without these family bond’s, life wouldn’t be the same. He is also reminding readers that the bond of a family can be a great motivator to do things you would not normally do, such as put your own life in danger.

LITERARY DEVICE• Foreshadowing: Because of the fact that the first thing he wrote about in

his journal was a film in which you see the relationship between a mother and her child, the intense bond that is there, and then later on has dreams in which he remembers his own bond with his mother, the passage about the mother and child could be considered foreshadowing of the dreams and memories to come.