Socratic Seminar Preparation #4

   Part I.

  Winston is arrested, interrogated, and tortured by the prison guards as well as O'Brien. For a long    time, Winston refused to give up his beliefs.  Finally, after going to Room 101 and being tortured with his fear of rats, he betrays Julia and recognizes his love for Big Brother.

Part II.

Level 2:

-Why does Winston not know when he is being arrested?
    There are two scenarios that could be possible.  One is that he was most likely knocked out by the guards, so therefore he would have no sense of time.  Another possibility is that the Party manipulated time so that people would be confused as to what day it was.  Those are two scenarios that are possible.(Logos)

-What does Orwell mean by "unexpected movements" on page 201?
    The term "unexpected movements" refers to any movement that does not include someone sitting still with their hands in their laps.  For instance, when Winston put a hand in his pocket, he was promptly yelled at by the telescreen. This shows that the government controls the movements that the prisoners make. (Logos)

-Why do the common criminals in the book act badly, but political prisoners don't?
     The criminals act badly because they most likely already had behavioral problems which led to them becoming criminals.  The political prisoners didn't commit a huge crime, it was just thoughtcrime. They are also not used to going to jail, whereas the common criminals most likely are.  (Logos)

-Were all of the political prisoners beaten to rid them of intelligence?
      It is very likely that all of the political prisoners were beaten.  The interrogators were trying to get the political prisoners to believe in what the Party wants them to believe in, so they beat the prisoners' true beliefs right out of them. (Logos)

-Why is O'Brien inflicting pain on Winston?
       O'Brien is an interrogator for the Party.  He is trying to get Winston to drop his old beliefs and adopt those of the Party.  Every time Winston said something that O'Brien didn't like, he was in pain. . This is a way to "cure" Winston. (Logos)

-What does Winston's refusal to adopt the thinking that O'Brien wants him to show about him?
       It shows that Winston wants to stay true to himself and who he is. He doesn't care what anyone else thinks about him, even if he could potentially be persecuted for it.  He is more interested in staying true to himself then thinking about what everyone else wants him to think. (Pathos)

Level 3:

-How would you feel if you were a parent and your kid turned you over to the police?
        I would feel betrayed because I had raised the kid and done so much for them, and they turned me over to the police.  Especially if I felt that I hadn't done anything wrong, I would be hurt.  However, if I was living in that society, I would expect it because that was the norm in Oceania. (Pathos)

-Would prison guards be able to get away with injuring someone so badly in our society?
        Prison guards in county jails would not be able to get away with beating someone up so badly because they could get in trouble.  However, the guards at a facility such as Guantanomo Bay would be able to get away with it because they are dealing with possible terrorists, so they would be allowed to  torture the suspects. (Logos/Ethos)

-In Oceania, the Party watches its citizens almost all the time.  How is this evident in society today?
    In the US, Edward Snowden leaked information from NSA.  NSA has records of phone calls and Google searches done by people, so they know what a lot of people are doing.  Google tracks the searches done on a computer by a certain person, so certain ads pop up advertising something similar to what the person is searching online.  Also, the US has spied on officials in other countries, such as Russia. (Logical)

Part III.

"'You don't think they'll shoot me, do you, old chap?  They don't shoot you if you haven't actually done anything-only thoughts, which you can't help?  I know they give you a fair hearing.'"(Page 207)

"The beatings grew less frequent, and became mainly a threat, a horror to which he could be sent back at any moment when his answers were unsatisfactory."(Page 215)

Socratic Seminar Reflection #3

The seminar influenced my thinking about the text because it made me consider why there were

restrictions on relations in the society.  I learned more about the restrictions on sexual relations as well.

I hadn't thought a lot about why the laws were the way that they were.  Camilla's comment that the

Party considered love to be a problem, not cheating, was really insightful because I hadn't thought

about it in a lot of depth.
           

I agreed with the fact that cheating was not considered to be a huge problem because love was

forbidden.  The only valid reason for having sex in that society was to create more Party members.  I

didn't disagree with anything that was said.  If I could say anything, I would have asked at least one

more question.  I think some of them that I had would have generated interesting discussion, but I held

back.


The discussion was really insightful and everyone had great ideas.  Everyone contributed to the

conversation at least once, and everyone was receptive to each others' ideas.  We talked a lot about the

book which was good, because there was too much level 3 discussion.  Everyone left the seminar with

a better understanding of the book.
             

The seminar had some awkward silences, which was mainly because people were waiting for others to

talk.  I did that too.  Some of us were hesitant to share our ideas.  We need to be more confident and

willing to take the lead in the conversation, and not defer to whoever the discussion leader is.

Socratic Seminar Reflection #2

    The seminar influenced my thinking because my perspective on the chapters that we had to read

changed.  We talked about a lot of Level 3 questions.  We were able to connect what was going on in

the book to our own lives.  The questions that asked how the reader would feel if they were in certain

situations of the book were the questions that generated a lot of discussion.  The connection to our lives

helped us see what Oceania was like.  The question about why the Party didn't allow sex except for

creating more members made me think a little bit because I hadn't thought about it a lot before.

    I agreed with the statement that the Party members felt threatened, which is why they were a

dictatorship.  They were afraid that an uprising would occur.  I disagreed with the statement that even

though vocabulary was decreasing, it did not affect the thought process of a person.  Thoughts lead to

speech, so if the vocabulary was decreasing, it would also affect how someone thought.  If I could go

back to the seminar, I would have asked a question because I had several that might have sparked good

discussion, but I couldn't bring myself to ask them.

     The seminar flowed very smoothly.  There were no interruptions and everybody listened to each

other.  Because of that, people built off of others' ideas and the discussion was thought-provoking.  No

one disrespected another person's ideas, if someone disagreed, they did it respectfully.  Everyone had

good ideas and contributed to the discussion.

      For the next seminar, we could do a better job talking about the book itself.  It seemed like the entire

discussion consisted of Level 3 questions.  Those kinds of questions are great, but we kind of got away

from the book a little bit.  It would be good to talk about the book so everyone could have a good

understanding of it.