1984

The Chestnut Tree was almost empty. A Ray of sunlight slanting through a window fell yellow on dusty tabletops/ It was the lonely hour of fifteen. A tinny music tickled from the telescreens (236). We know that everything in the book has more meaning than at first glance and I was curious if the Chestnut Tree also has more meaning to it. After I did some googles about chestnut trees and, to no surprise, "chestnut (Castanea) group is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere" (Wikipedia.com). It's a nice tree. However, I did find something rather interesting about chestnut trees relating to 1984 , the tree could symbolize prevention, foresight, and longevity which is important; knowing how to the book ends. Winston is essentially the empty chestnut tree; a shell of his former self. Winston has lost himself after horrible things, such as torture, they have done to him....

His eyes had a wide-open, staring look, as though he could not prevent himself from gazing at something in the middle distance. 'What are you in for?' said Winston. 'Thoughtcrime!' said Parsons, almost blubbering. The tone of his voice implied at once a complete admission of could be applied himself (192). In book 3, Winston is in miniluv and he is shocked to see Parsons. This section reveals that Parsons, a devoted party member, had committed a thought crime; his children have turned him in for uttering the phrase "down with Big Brother" in his sleep. This shows that the children are truly messed up in terms of treating Big Brother as some sort of game. The children in 1984 are only loyal to Big Brother and no one else; they only wany to please Big Brother because essentially Big Brother is like a Big Brother to them. Big brother has a "common enemy," their parents, because 1) the children don't seem to care about their parents and 2) Big Br...