Estelle's Diary: A Daily Account Essay

The great, overlooking aura that is Big Brother is perfectly exemplified in a quote, “It is the hard and reflecting eye rather than the eye itself that seems hostile” (Lyons and Orwell 42). In this book, the people are not certain that Big Brother exists, yet he holds the most power in the entire nation. The threat of abuse in any form for disobeying the Party is what makes Oceania the perfect dystopia. The Party controls everything, even though the people may not accept it. They use force and intimidation to control. Telescreens watch over every move made by every person. There are helicopters full of thought police flying overhead looking for the slightest disobedience to be punished. The Party cheapens sexual pleasure by putting it into

            Big Brother’s opinions are strict—very strict.  They are so strict that there are oversized cameras called telescreens installed everywhere throughout Oceania.  The telescreens ensure that nothing is said about Oceania’s perfect leader.  This device is installed as a reminder that “Big Brother is always watching” (Orwell, 1949).

Although Emilie Davis ends her diary entries by saying “all is well that ends well” (Giesberg, 193), this critical moment in the United States’ history greatly affect both Emilie Davis and her family and friends. Through her diary entries, readers receive a unique perspective from Emilie, a free black woman in her mid-twenties, of events that occurred during the Civil War. Through her diary, Emilie records her journey with her social encounters and her progress with sewing; she uses her journals as handwriting practice for her schooling at the Institute for Colored Youth. Analyzing Emilie’s perspective, the Civil War impacts her and her loved ones through the active participation Emilie plays in war social events, the everyday danger Emilie and her

Elizabeth Drinker’s diary clearly reflects the pronounced differences between the life of a female and the life of a male in the eighteenth century. The life of Drinker is closely aligned with the life of a typical woman during that period. Due to Drinker being a member of the upper class, she had even more responsibility to conform to the stereotypical gender roles of her time. Drinker was well aware of her standing within society and she knew how to live in the fashion her upbringing and class demanded. As a female, Drinker’s life revolved around her family, and she was content to live within the socially constructed restrictions made for women.

This sudden accusation startled me. I didn’t know what was happening nor did I know how to respond to such a situation. Tears shed down my face for a false blame and I was in misery. I believe that I am a victim. I believe I could not have, not in a million years, committed a crime as such to kill someone so close to me. Someone that meant so much to me. Someone I loved as a dear family member.

“A government big enough to give you everything you want, is a government big enough to take away everything you have,” (Thomas Jefferson). This quote is observed throughout the novel 1984, by George Orwell, and galvanizes its theme, which is expressed through the mottos of the Party, the ultimate, unopposed ruler of Oceania. They are “War Is Peace, Freedom Is Slavery, And Ignorance Is Truth,” (Orwell, 4). To begin with, the truth of the quote is observed throughout the actions of the Party.

Every dormitory and office space features a device called a telescreen that is used by the Party to constantly monitor the actions and behaviors of every Outer Party member in order to weed out potential traitors. After Winston and Julia meet with O’Brien, he supplies them with an especially illegal book written by Oceania’s number one most wanted criminal; while the two of them are reading the book together in what they believed was a safe place, they are interrupted by the voice of a telescreen, “’We are the dead,’ [Winston] said. ‘We are the dead,’ echoed Julia dutifully. ‘You are the dead,’ said an iron voice behind them… ‘It was behind the picture,’ breathed Julia. ‘It was behind the picture,’ said the voice. ‘Remain exactly where you are. Make no movement until you are ordered’” (Orwell 221). Winston and Julia had been lying in bed for a while as they read the book aloud, unaware that a telescreen hidden behind a hung picture was listening to every word. There is no place to hide from the Party, because their telescreens will always find you. Outer Party members also live with the fear that they are being watched by the secret “thought police” that specialize in identifying individuals suspected of conceiving rebellious thoughts, then takes them away to be killed or

In the book, every action and thought of every citizen of Oceania is being monitored by the telescreens and the thought police. Even in the their homes, they are being monitored by telescreens, and if anyone suspects someone of having thoughts that might provoke the Big Brother’s power, the suspects are mysteriously taken away and leave no tracks behind of their existence in history. Similar to the modern age, much of the privacy of people have been taken away due to improvements to technology and its uses to keep people safe. Unfortunately many of the inventions that were meant to keep safe have upset many people about their invasion of privacy. For example, drones were originally used for military purposes to keep the country safe but recently, there have been complaints of drones spying on people. Another example of invasion of privacy is the use of phones and phone apps. Using location service apps such as a GPS or Find My iPhone can be easy ways to track where somebody is at any given moment. Social media also makes it difficult to keep an individual’s information private because of its allowance of people’s information to be seen by the public. Social media sites such as Twitter or Facebook can be seen by almost anyone on the web when searched, and so, the information on someone’s private life is also able to be seen by anyone on the web.

The character Estella is imprisoned within herself because of her inability to love. Ever since Estella was a child when it came to a boy, Miss Havisham taught her to "break his heart" (54). Being taught to break boys' hearts imprisons Estella within herself for she is confined and excluded from others because it is extremely difficult for her to care for or form bonds with people. Estella finally realizes what Miss Havisham has done to her when she tells Pip, "there are sentiments, fancies . . . which I am not able to comprehend. When you say you love me, I know what you mean as a form of words, but nothing more" (336). This statement shows Estella's grief with her total incapability to love or form any emotional attachment to another. This grief is a change in Estella from the coldhearted behavior

In the beginning, Estella is completely heartless, because she is raised in an environment where her adoptive mother molds her to break men's hearts, and her relatives

    Estella had to deal with the formations of her expectations in her childhood. If she wasn’t climbing the ranks of society, she was dropping the spirits of everyone around her. To start her story, you must understand who she came from and how she was given these expectations. Her parents were common-in-laws and they ended up losing her after her mother was charged for murder, and Estella was taken away. She was then adopted by Miss Havisham, an older woman with crazed tendencies. As Miss Havisham once said, “‘My dear! Believe me this: when

For months, Jo had avoided Mandy’s questions about Ash. What could she say anyway? Even if she did say something to Mandy, what help would Mandy be? The act of confiding was foreign to her, even with her mother, even when she was young and they’d both been much happier to spend time together. When the anxiety attacks first started, she had tried to tell Mandy about them, about the rising panic that came with sweat, and nausea, and dizziness. Mandy did not understand. She was sympathetic and concerned but dismissive, ‘You don’t have anything to worry about.’

Estella herself was isolated, as for most of the novel she took pleasure in her role as avenger. Her isolation was in part responsible for Pips snobbery and his estrangement from Joe and Biddy. Like Miss Haversham she becomes a victim of her own machinations. She enters into a loveless marriage to Drummle, who is cruel to her. This shows that no matter how heartless one tries to be, there is always someone more heartless. The instrument of revenge punishes the avenger and is punished in return.

A young woman, late twenties, is walking through a grocery store her name is Estela. Her head is hanging low and you can see sadness in her eyes. She is walking down an aisle and sees a woman with her daughter. The daughter is complaining and the mother seems to be annoyed. A tear runs down Estela’s face as she puts food into her cart. As Estela enters her home you can see a picture of a middle age woman sitting on the table next to her door. She walks to the kitchen and begins to cook. She pulls of a book from her cupboard that is labeled “recipes.” She begins to follow the recipe. She looks to the right of her and sees a mother and daughter. The daughter is standing on a chair reaching up the counter mixing the content of a bowl while the mother cleans up after her. Tears begin streaming down Estela’s face as she finishes cooking her meal. She sits down at the table by herself and is eating when the doorbell rings. She answers it to find some of her friends from college at the door. They are dressed up and are asking Estela to go out with them tonight. They are begging her to go out with them, but Estela declines and goes back to her meal.

     My name is Winston Smith, a man of 39 living in Oceania, and I am the last sane man on earth. I believe the date to be 1984, even though I have no real proof of it. London, as I know it, is a place devastated by hunger and disrepair. A place where every action and thought are closely monitored. For as long as I can remember, the Party has been in control. The principles of Ingsoc1 and Big Brother have been dictating public interest here since the 40s. Even though I have never known any other life, it feels like there is something inherently wrong with this one. Big Brother imposes a way of life that is intolerable to me. I have committed acts of subversion, violence, perversion,