Quote: Near the beginning of the book, the main character, Winston, remarks to himself that "it was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children." (24) Winston talked about this as a result of his neighbor's children being vicious little creeps, who have been brainwashed by The Party, the name for the dictatorial group in charge of where Winston lives. This quote illustrates Orwell's use of matter-of-factness to shock you when he mentions as sad an idea as being afraid of your children. Children are a subject that pretty much everyone feels ought to be inviolate, which makes the message of indoctrination through school and environment much scarier.
Analysis: This is an example of the ease with which you can affect a child through total environmental submersion. This is part of the ongoing theme throughout the book that if you have the power to write history and control peoples' lives, you can make them believe anything. I also think that this may foreshadow Winston being turned in to the Thought Police by the children. There are also alarming similarities to North Korea in the present. Their environment is controlled and filled with propaganda, their leader is presented as superhuman, and reality is bent to support the needs of the dictatorship.
Analysis: This is an example of the ease with which you can affect a child through total environmental submersion. This is part of the ongoing theme throughout the book that if you have the power to write history and control peoples' lives, you can make them believe anything. I also think that this may foreshadow Winston being turned in to the Thought Police by the children. There are also alarming similarities to North Korea in the present. Their environment is controlled and filled with propaganda, their leader is presented as superhuman, and reality is bent to support the needs of the dictatorship.
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