2012 and the Israeli Dimension

We have touched upon how sensitive the Iran question is for our 2012 elections. Roger Cohen brings out the critical Israeli dimension to that issue. One big wild card for this year: will Israel strike? And if they do, what will the fallout be? We have a long year in front of us.

( Read more... )

2012 and the Israeli Dimension

We have touched upon how sensitive the Iran question is for our 2012 elections. Roger Cohen brings out the critical Israeli dimension to that issue. One big wild card for this year: will Israel strike? And if they do, what will the fallout be? We have a long year in front of us.

( Read more... )

1984 (2,4) A Rat

Julia has awaken as well, and as she and Winston begin pleasantly chatting, she espies a rat.

_ _ _

She suddenly twisted herself over in the bed, seized a shoe from the floor, and sent it hurtling into the corner with a boyish jerk of her arm, exactly as he had seen her fling the dictionary at Goldstein, that morning during the Two Minutes Hate.

'What was it?' he said in surprise.

'A rat. I saw him stick his beastly nose out of the wainscoting. There's a hole down there. I gave him a good fright, anyway.'

'Rats!' murmured Winston. 'In this room!'

'They're all over the place,' said Julia indifferently as she lay down again. 'We've even got them in the kitchen at the hostel. Some parts of London are swarming with them. Did you know they attack children? Yes, they do. In some of these streets a woman daren't leave a baby alone for two minutes. It's the great huge brown ones that do it. And the nasty thing is that the brutes always-'

'Don't go on!' said Winston, with his eyes tightly shut.

'Dearest! You've gone quite pale. What's the matter? Do they make you feel sick?'

-- 1984

_ _ _

Thus, Orwell gives us some foreshadowing of the dramatic rat scene to come later.

It is interesting, too, how Orwell draws Julia’s character to make her more masculine than Winston. We know Winston has the penis, but he seems so passive and nervous, whereas she is the aggressor and the one who works with tools and is the greater provider, as she is generally more capable. In this scene, she comforts him in a rather masculine way:

'Don't worry, dear, we're not going to have the filthy brutes in here. I'll stuff the hole with a bit of sacking before we go. And next time we come here I'll bring some plaster and bung it up properly.'

Orwell made some interesting authorial choices, especially for the 1940s. Since Winston is the chief protagonist, it may be that Orwell felt a need to create greater character dynamism by making Julia a stronger character than the typical feminine type of the time. It makes for a richer novel, I find.

1984 (2,4) A Rat

Julia has awaken as well, and as she and Winston begin pleasantly chatting, she espies a rat.

_ _ _

She suddenly twisted herself over in the bed, seized a shoe from the floor, and sent it hurtling into the corner with a boyish jerk of her arm, exactly as he had seen her fling the dictionary at Goldstein, that morning during the Two Minutes Hate.

'What was it?' he said in surprise.

'A rat. I saw him stick his beastly nose out of the wainscoting. There's a hole down there. I gave him a good fright, anyway.'

'Rats!' murmured Winston. 'In this room!'

'They're all over the place,' said Julia indifferently as she lay down again. 'We've even got them in the kitchen at the hostel. Some parts of London are swarming with them. Did you know they attack children? Yes, they do. In some of these streets a woman daren't leave a baby alone for two minutes. It's the great huge brown ones that do it. And the nasty thing is that the brutes always-'

'Don't go on!' said Winston, with his eyes tightly shut.

'Dearest! You've gone quite pale. What's the matter? Do they make you feel sick?'

-- 1984

_ _ _

Thus, Orwell gives us some foreshadowing of the dramatic rat scene to come later.

It is interesting, too, how Orwell draws Julia’s character to make her more masculine than Winston. We know Winston has the penis, but he seems so passive and nervous, whereas she is the aggressor and the one who works with tools and is the greater provider, as she is generally more capable. In this scene, she comforts him in a rather masculine way:

'Don't worry, dear, we're not going to have the filthy brutes in here. I'll stuff the hole with a bit of sacking before we go. And next time we come here I'll bring some plaster and bung it up properly.'

Orwell made some interesting authorial choices, especially for the 1940s. Since Winston is the chief protagonist, it may be that Orwell felt a need to create greater character dynamism by making Julia a stronger character than the typical feminine type of the time. It makes for a richer novel, I find.

The Grand Old Party

"I sometimes wonder if the Republican Party has become the receding roar of white America as it pines for a way of life that will never return."

-- David Brooks

The Grand Old Party

"I sometimes wonder if the Republican Party has become the receding roar of white America as it pines for a way of life that will never return."

-- David Brooks