EA


 * 1984**

**Lesson 1** Thought Control: Is it really possible?

George Ornwell proposes the idea of though control: The government openly monitors people's thoughts and punishes those who think unconventionally or rebelliously. The intent is to scare people into not thinking about certain unfavorable things. People will try to comply due to fear, however, thought control is not possible because in order to not think "bad" thoughts, people must know what those "bad" thoughts are, and to know that would entail thinking about it. [|This article] talks about suppressing unwanted thoughts. For example, try to not think about what you ate for breakfast today...oh wait, you just did - you fail. Even if you do direct your attention elsewhere, the thought of not thinking about breakfast will still linger in your mind. And if eggs don't specifically pop up in your mind, breakfast will at the very least.

How does this apply to the people in 1984? If they're told not to think about rebellion, then must it be somewhere in their mind? Based on the article, do you think it's possible for the oppression of thought through the usage of fear? The purpose of the mind is to calculate consequences of actions, so it's obvious that action can be suppressed through fear, but can thought really be oppressed? Evidence from 1984 is that Winston does think outside the box and presumably, other do to because the government needs the thought police. The mind can be brainwashed but not oppressed. Search the internet for psychology articles to support this statement orrefute it. Then prepare your argument to share with the class.

Standard:

3.1.H.6 Critique the validity and logic of arguments advanced in public documents, their appeal to various audiences, and the extent to which they anticipate and address reader concerns.


 * Lesson 2**

Deceptive Authority

Today's lesson will focus on deceptive and manipulative tactics used by authority to keep people under control. This is based on Mr. Charrington's trickery. As a member of the thought police, Mr. Charrington works under cover in the Prole district to catch rebellious party members. He hid the telescreen behind a picture to create the illusion of a secure environment. Was it really necessasry for Mr. Charrington to trick Winston and play it out so long? Why not arrest him when he first purchased the diary or retented the room? Shouldn't he try to contain rebelliouness as soon as possible before it spreads?

Write down examples of modern day deceptive police tactics. Go to [|this website] for some background information on deception and search the internet for examples.

Do you think it is condescending for authority figures to deceive people in order catch them? Do you think this is right? Is it really nesessary?

Be prepared to discuss your answers.

Next watch the final drug deal in the movie "Blow." Then discuss police intervention and planned setups. Do you agree with the police's use of Johnny Depps former friends to take him down? Do you think police should spend so much time and effort creating setups for drug dealers? In addition, do you think it is right for police to hold off on arresting a suspect until he accumulates more charges so he can face more punishment?

Standard:

3.2.G.5 Analyze how works of a given period reflect historical and social events and conditions.

**Lesson 3**

Reality

Turn to page 249 and read the top paragraph. Open a document, answer the following questions, and prepare to discuss the answers:

Is it possible that reality only exits in the individual mind and there is no objective reality? Can there be a difference between perception and reality?

O'Brien says that reality exists in the human mind, but not in the individual mind, only in the mind of the Party. According to O'Brien, the party should not really exist outside of Winston's mind, but it is still the source of his truths. Is this contradiction used within doublethink or can you explain this? Is the party a figment of Winston's imagination enslaving him in his own mind?

Go to [|this website] copied in [|this google docs page] due to filters and read the definitions of Objective Reality, Solipsism, and Subjective reality. Which philosophy do you agree with and why? Do you at least accept the possibility of each philosophy? Explain.

Torture

Torture is performed in order to force the mind to conform by inflicting unbearable physical pain. O'Brien's goal in torturing Winston was to make Winston accept the Party's rules and authority and not question big brother. Do you think that torture is a good way to make people conform? Does it always work?

Do you think O'Brien has perfected torture by individualizing it to specific fears of the subjects?

Winston tried to realize that reality only existed in his mind during his torturing so he would be able to bear the pain and perhaps get out of the situation (page 266). Why did he fail? Do you think it is possible to manipulate perceptions? Search the internet for psychology or metaphysics articles to support your ideas or develop new ones.

Look up historical examples of torture and compare or contrast it to O'Brien's method of torture. Did it produce similar results? If there is sufficient time, students will watch scenes from the movie [|What The Bleep Do We Know!?] and discuss.

Standard:

3.1.G.5 Analyze how works of a given period reflect historical and social events and conditions.


 * Interview**

Jean Strauss is a [|survivor] of The Holocaust, one of the worst events in history that killed more than 12 million people. During World War II, she was transported to several concentration camps throughout Europe, where she was provided with very little food and forced to perform slave labor. Jean was nine years old when the conflict in Germany started, 13 when she was taken into concentration camps, and 17 when she was liberated; she grew up in the middle of the largest genocide in Europe, and in the context of the largest war of the world. Jean has an amazing story and wants people to never forget, so that such an atrocity will never occur again.

My Grandmother served me cookies and milk before telling her story. She sat down and was glad to recall the atmosphere of Germany prior to World War II for me. Germany's economy was in a large recession following World War I, and in 1933, the Nazis took power of the government. Hitler blamed the Jewish people for all of Germany's problems and spread [|propaganda depicting Jews as evil, manipulative, and deceptive people.] Signs were posted saying the Jews were the cause of Germany's misfortunes, and warning people not to purchase goods from Jews, or associate with them. Jean recalls [|the growing anti-Semitism vividly]. In 1936, Jewish children were no longer allowed to play with the other children, and were soon not allowed to attend the public school. Gentile children would throw stones and spit at the Jews. [|Hate for the Jews continued to increase]. Jean’s father could no longer make money in the small town of Dinklesburg since he was forced to close his shop due to the Nuremburg Laws. When Jean was nine years old, in 1937, her family was forced to move to Frankfurt, where she attended a Jewish school. On November 9, 1938, [|Kristallnacht], Germans burned all the Synagogues, wrecked and looted Jewish homes and stores, and arrested all Jewish men. Jean's father was taken to jail, but no one knew at the time where the men were being taken. The men returned a few days later. Jean's family had papers to leave Germany for America, but had a high lotto number so they wouldn't fit in the quota. They then filed paperwork to go to Australia, and were ready to go, however, the war then broke out and all transportation ceased. Jews were then forced to wear yellow stars on their clothes in 1939, when Jean was 11 years old. The atmosphere grew progressively harsher and more hostile towards Jews. Jean said she was confused at the reason she was being persecuted, but understood well what was going on. In 1941, Jews started to be transported from Frankfurt; no one knew where they were going and couldn't even fathom the reality. Jean's older brother, Hienz, was called to go. In 1942, Jean was called. She was taken to Terizen with her parents. Jean's father was a WWI veteran who lost his eye in combat, so he was given some preferential treatment. In 1944, Jean was 16, and was then transported, without her parents, to =Auschwitz:= media type="youtube" key="ps64xxJq0mg" height="344" width="425". She had no idea where she was going at the time, and had no idea what to expect. She traveled with a group of girls her age. When she got off the train, she was told to leave all of her belonging and line up for an SS soldier. The SS soldier stood at the divergence of two fenced pathways and ordered the Jews to either go right, or left. From there, they waited on another line, and were then deloused and shaved. They then heard rumors of [|gas chambers] from the Jews who were forced to work there. They said that the Germans will send them into a shower, and either water or gas will come out. At this point, fear and panic rushed through Jean and the other girls, as they didn't know what to expect. They were force into the shower and prayed to God that water would come out. She thought the Germans would kill her right there. Jean vividly remembers water flowing out and hitting her skin and the feeling of relief that produced. When the girls were getting dressed after the shower, one girl put a brace on her leg for her bad knee, so she was taken away and never seen again. Jean later found out that the SS soldier was selecting slave labors at the line off the train, and sending the rest to gas chambers to be killed. At Aushwitz, Jean was provided very little food. The entire time, all she received was potato soup and bread. The Jews were tormented by the SS everyday. They were taken out of the barracks and forced to line up in the yard for hours, in the cold, and anyone who refused, or could not, was taken away. In December, Jean was sent to Kurzbach, a labor camp near the Polish boarder. Her job, along with dozens of other women, was to dig tank traps to deter the Russian army. They were forced to dig all day, everyday, without breaks. Several girls developed frostbite from the cold.

In a few months, the Russian Army advanced, so all the slave laborers were forced to abandon the camp and march west. The people who were too week to march were shot, along with those that fell behind during the march. They walked for 1-2 weeks to Gros-Rosen. Jean said, “Time meant nothing. All you want to do and think about is survive. If you stay behind, they kill you.” At Gros-Rosen they were shoved onto a cattle car. People were packed in so tight that there was only enough room to stand. They were kept in the train for three days, and not given any food during this. Some people drank their own urine on the train and died from it. Many people died on the train and their bodies were left inside, standing upright with the living. The train took the Jean to Mouthausen, Austria, where she stayed for about 3 weeks. She was not forced to do work there, just line up everyday for hours and not move. She was then taken to Nuremburg, where the train was stopped due to an air raid horn, and all the soldiers ran away while the US bombarded the area. She was locked in the train for three days without food or water. All she had was salt, which she had to lick. The train went to Bergen Belsen. At this point, Jean was too weak to walk, and was dragged into the camp by two friends. If she couldn’t make it inside, she would have been killed. Here, 15-20 girls lifted tree trunks onto their shoulders and carried them into camp everyday. She had no idea what they were used for; they just did as they were told. Jeans condition rapidly deteriorated there. She spent her last days there inside the barracks, too sick to move. Fortunately, one day, all of a sudden to Jean, the British showed up and the Nazis were gone. Jean was [|liberated from Bergen Belsen on April 15, 1945].

Jean had contracted Typhus and was treated at a former German Hospital. She wanted to get out of Germany, so she took a hospital ship to Sweden. Jean recuperated in a Swedish hospital for over a year, then worked in a chocolate factory. Jean had no idea what happened to her family and desperately tried to find out. She had made plans with her parents while at Terezin to meet in Australia, where her brother Manfred had gone to before the war. Jean’s uncle in America read through a newspaper there that listed the survivors and their locations for his family and friends. He found out that Jean was alive in Sweden and her parents were alive in Germany and sent telegrams to inform them of this. Jean contacted her uncle through American-Jewish soldiers. Jean was told that her parents were traveling to America due to the discomfort felt in Germany, so she made plans to go as well in December of 1946.

For the first time in about three years, Jean she saw her parents at the docks when her ship arrived. As Jean recalled how happy she was to see her parents, and know that they survived, tears of joy rolled down her face. However, this jubilation was short-lived; Jean said that she then asked about her brother Hienz, whom she hadn’t seen in over five years, and her tears of joy sorrowfully turned into tears of sadness, as she was informed that he perished in the concentration camp, [|Maidanek]. The last time she saw Hienz was in Frankfurt, when he was called to be transported away. After the war, Germany was in ruins, and all services, such as mail, were down. Jean’s parents briefly returned to their hometown, Dinklesburg, and were overwhelmed by the townsmen hassling them to sign off that they were not involved with the Nazis. They felt very uneasy around the people so they left to go to America, where they could start a new life. My Grandmother’s experience in the Holocaust has affected her life and outlook significantly. She learned to appreciate life and take nothing for granted. She realized that America was a great country; she arrived with nothing, worked hard, and lived a good life. She also greatly appreciates the privilege of voting and democracy, which are rights that were not granted to her in Germany. My Grandmother met my Grandfather in the summer of 1947, and they married in 1948. They had two children, and now have five grandchildren.

Jean has become involved in Holocaust education, and has told her story to several groups of students at schools. She said that people must be educated on this awful past so that they will not let it happen again in the future. Prejudice is wrong, and can lead to terrible things, so all people should be respected and treated equally, without hatred or violence.

After answering all of my questions, my grandmother put the tissue box away and served me a delicious dinner. world. Mrs. Strauss has an amazing story, [|like many others], and wants people to never forget, so that such an atrocity will never occur again.

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