Literary Reflection of 1984

               Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell, is about Winston Smith, a protagonist, who lives in a dystopian society where the people are always aware of Big Brother who represents their government and must be careful not to commit thoughtcrime or negative thoughts about the government. Winston secretly resents the authoritarian of the regime. In the beginning Winston thinks the “dark haired” girl, Julia is a spy who may report him to the police, but she is actually the exact opposite. Winston’s misconception of Julia allows him to open up further and break the law. This relates to me, because I’ve misjudged a teenager who had inexpensive and repulsive clothes. I later learned from this mistake by not judging a person by how they looked.

                A boy who attended my middle school was always seen by others as poor, because he wore the same clothes every day and always smelled displeasing. No one ever talked to him, because of his appearance. I felt especially contrite, when he asked me for lunch money, and I lied, saying I didn’t have any. I later learned from friends that the boy was adopted and lived with many other foster children, so he given little to eat or wear. I decided to, use my weekly allowance to buy him lunch, and donated clothes for him and his foster siblings to wear. At lunch he sat alone, so I decided to invite him to my lunch table. By the end of middle school year the boy became one of my closest friends, who I constantly kept in contact with.

                In the beginning of the novel Winston thinks that Julia is a spy who may denounce him to the Thoughtpolice. My connection of talking with the underprivileged boy applies to this event, reason being that Winston meets with Julia, who has sexual interaction with him, revealing his delusion of her as mistaken. Connecting back to my real world application, I misjudged the boy as poor in appearance, but he turned out to be untouchable in character and personality.  Similar to Winston’s gaffe, I learned you must be careful with the judgments you make, because they are inevitable. We all judge each other, but the trick might be to recognize that you could be wrong and to sit back on judgment. In all, from experience I have realized that you should not be quick to make assumptions.