Afterword 1984

The Afterword of 1984 serves as a warning for present day and the future to avoid this society that Winston and Julia are trapped and exposed to. The Afterword discusses how unless the world avoids history repeating itself, future life and people could potentially be transformed into these brainwashed individuals to this communist form of government. This portion of the book continues with describing presented examples as time progressed such as the views of Christianity and Thomas Moore's Utopia, encompassing perfection, as well as Hitler and Stalin. After all of these events and personas that had been presented in history already, Orwell displays how at this rate the desire for that perfect society will entirely destroy the world for the lack of individualism and extreme control over communities established.
Although Orwell displays an extreme situation, it provides a perfect warning for the future. "One can react to this picture in two ways: either by becoming more hopeless and resigned, or by feeling there is still time, and by responding with greater clarity and greater courage." (pg 266). Orwell creates these dehumanized, soulless, machines, a result and product of the controlling government overpowering every individual taking away every last thought in their mind.
"He wants to warn and to awaken us. He still hopes -- but in contrast to the writers of the utopias in the earlier phases of Western society, his hope is a desperate one. The hope can be realized only by recognizing, so 1984 teaches us, the danger with which all men are confronted today, the danger of a society of automatons who will have lost every trace of individuality, of love, of critical thought, and yet who will not be aware of it because of 'doublethink.'"(pg267). The Afterword of 1984, although not created by Orwell, may seem like the impossible; however it serves as a perfect way to complete Orwell's purpose proving that this society can occur at anytime without precaution.

Ayn Rand Lexicon

After reading Ayn Rands opinion of the very controversial topic of abortion, I realize her views have some relation to one another. Abortion is a huge debate presently, constantly focused in politics and special interest groups. The discussion between pro-life (babies right to live) and pro-choice (mothers choice to terminate the pregnancy) is constantly a heated topic faced everyday. Conservative, liberal, and religious views all play into this dicussion between how to enforce this touchy issue.
Ayn Rand discusses on her website how the embryo has no rights, that a child cannot acquire rights until it is born. Rand feels that abortion is a moral right to a woman, whom should be able to make choices of what to do with her own body. The lifelong responsibility of having a child, she feels should be under the mothers control for an unwanted pregnancy and difficult circumstances could hurt the situation even more for not only the mother but the child as well. It is obviously displayed that Ayn Rand is a pro-choice supporter.
Comparing the views presented in Ayn Rand's Anthem and her views on abortion, I feel these views without a doubt connect. A reoccurring theme constantly presented throughout Anthem is individuality. This novel depicts a world of the future, a society so collectivized that even the word “I” has vanished from the language. Numbers to identify individuals, phrasing every sentence with the use of "we", and the bland society of no choice and no creation of identity, overwhelms the main character of this novelette, Equality 72521. This journey that this individual makes throughout the course of the book formulates a discovery of who he is and a creation of his own identity. When fleeing this society with his loved one, the Golden One, he discovers the meaning of "I" promising himself to establish a world of individuality and the supremacy of the ego. "I am. I think. I will." presented in chapter 11, starts the beginning of a world of individualism for the two of them.
This theme of individuality relates to Ayn Rand's view on abortion. The idea of discovering your unique self and formulating your own ideas and choices relates to the pro-choice view that Rand supports for a woman to be able to choose whether or not to terminate a pregnancy, with control over her own body. The idea of doing things for yourself and not for a group as a whole, presented in Anthem, supports these views on abortion.

Final Response to A Long Way Gone Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

A Long Way Gone is an unbelievably powerful and horrific tale of the growing issue of young individuals serving in war. Ishmael Beah narrates us through the course of his journey from fleeing his home town to escape the rebels, with his brother Junior and his friends, struggling to survive and find food. They would flee from town to town unknowingly sometimes encountering these rebels coming very close to losing their lives. The young boys know that they must stick together, constantly be on the lookout for these rebels, and prepare themselves for negative news about their families and the course of this civil war. At one point they are separated with Ishmael on his own soon to encounter other young individuals familiar from school and his home town, after spending days terrified on his own in the forests of Sierra Leone. After weeks on end in search of their families, they are soon informed that their loved ones are most likely dead.
Sadness and anger built within Ishmael and the following town they arrive in they soon become victims of these rebels and become controlled by the army. The young boys are taught to fight, taught obedience, and most importantly how to kill. With revenge in all of their hearts to the individuals who killed their families, they are transformed from innocent children to bloodthirsty killers. They are sent on raids into the villages, killing everyone in sight, and getting their hands on every ounce of marijuana they can find.
Fortunately for the young soldiers the United Nations steps in to fight this tragic effect that this civil war has caused to the young boys of Sierra Leone. Th United Nations arrive to take the boys away and rehabilitate them back to civilian life. Although Ishmael and the others resist, they turn their lives back around only with a brave and determined staff of workers.
The overall purpose of this book was to do whatever necessary to eliminate the use of children in warfare. This transformation of these young children illustrated through the course of the book is overwhelming. Being influenced on their behavior from free spirited rap-loving young kids of Sierra Leone to addicts of killing, the book remains so powerful in it expression of this tragic happenings. After the rehabilitation process is completed Ishmael Beah is reunited with his long lost uncle, and slowly becomes the young boy he used to be.
I truly enjoyed Beah's recount of his story and found it extremely influencial and inspiring. For being such an inexperienced writer, he often surprised me in the powerful statements and recollection of horrific details that just added such power to this memoir. The only aspect that would have made the book a little stronger was the factor of suspense. I feel Ishmael lacked a little of the suspensful narrrative and the exciting effects. Overall I really enjoyed A Long Way Gone Memoirs of A Boy Soldier and I would without a doubt recommend anyone to read it.
Ishmael Beah has continued exposing his story traveling to NYC to speak of the children fighting in war and his new chapter of his life that he was about to begin.