NCEA English 3.4 Writing Folio – Chapter One

Dystopian future Notes: There is no religion!. The law states you have to believe there is no god. If you are caught praying you will be sent to jail to where they brainwash you into not believing in any religion anymore. This process is called “unbaptised.” it is the year 2063, Others that don’t believe in religion are called “The Realists”

Chapter One

On the 3rd In the month of March 2063, it was a cold foggy day in South London, Left hand hitting midnight. Adam Nostradamus, his hands buried deep in his jacket pocket all the way to the old strawberry gum that he left there last week as a way of escaping the endless winter breeze, brushed quickly as he could across the intersection of Blackmore street through to Ralph Tell road, which was empty as a church and smelt of decayed food. He rushed through his old rusty doors of his house, swiftly as he could, however not swiftly enough to stop the flakes of snow coming along with him into his hallway which reeked of dirty laundry and old shoes. First thing Adam noticed when he entered, through the door at the end of the hallway that lead directly to the living room was that old Samsung TV from 2024 that he left on foolishly. The TV was repeating the end of the advert that resembled the praying emoji with a cross going over it. The society of “The Realists”, the symbol of “unbaptism.” Adam saw it in boredom impersonating the old man that speaks over it ruggedly. “God isn’t real! The belief of him is a lie! Praying and any sort of support towards religion will lead to justified punishment from the law! We Are The Realists!”
Adam chucked his bag onto the living room coffee table, which erupted too clouds of dust, too tired to drag it into his room. Wanting to lie down and bury himself under the covers, but beneath his skin was still the subtle frosty breezes running through his bones.
As Adam collapses down onto his unmade bed, he immediately was alarmed by something outside his window. “Get off me!, I didn’t do it I swear, I didn’t pray!, Please, Please sir, Please!!!” A man outside, who sounded in his mid 40s, screaming and yelling in desperation. Dragging himself out of bed to investigate. Slowly opening up the curtain enough to get at least one eye squinting through, parting the curtain just slightly. Under a dimmed light post the man who Adam assumed was screaming, now seemed to be unconscious. Bleeding from his head while being dragged cruelly down the concrete kerb by a big dark figure, towards a police car that was stationed in front of them.
Adam cautiously closed the curtain. He shuffled his way back to his bed trying to make as little noise as possible, in the hope he can fall back to sleep. Beneath him, his bed creaks uncomfortably, making his spine freeze. Trying to close his eyes, forcing himself to sleep, the image of that man being dragged across the pavement kept reoccurring in his mind. Slowly, but surely he drifted into a phase of darkness.

Eyes aching to open, he finally woke up, checking his phone only to feel panic. Sleeping through all of his alarms, his phone which had 61 messages and 34 missed phone calls from Noah, Adam’s brother. Noah was stress texting him on all social medias, I-Message, Messenger, Snapchat, all of it. You could feel the sweat from the other side of the screen with the way he was typing. The brightness making his eyes burn, squinting his eyes in able for him to read through the foggy blur. “Dad is going to be unbabtised!” “Get up now!” “He has been taken to the camp!” Adam, his mouth wide open, mind in awe, burst off energy, got up immediately, didn’t waste any time to brush his teeth or even have a shower. Throwing his clothes on his body, and starting to panic more, sweating through the clothes he just put on. Trying to call everyone who knew his dad. But no one picked up.
Lying in the corner of his living room, with the constant ringing in his ear, on the floor which hasn’t been vacuumed in weeks, lying in the puff of dead skin, freaking out with his phone surrounded by his hand, trying to think of solutions for what he can do, but there was nothing. There was nothing he can do. No one was picking up, not even his mum who always had her phone on her. Adam, getting so upset and concered, to the point where he was furious, talking and mumbling to himself under his breath. “How can no one have their phones on them, its f***en 2063!” As he continues with his heavy breathing he begins to have dark thoughts and speaks them out loud “Do they know about me?” “Why can’t I and my family have freedom of thought and belief?”
Out of nowhere. Adam woke from his thoughts, he was alarmed by hearing slamming and yelling on the door, his phone revived, Noah messaging him several times, telling him in panic . “they know! The Realists know!” Adam read the message in disbelief. Tears fall from his eyes and drips down his cheek slowly, beneath his skin, his bones shiverer, his heart skipping a beat. Adam didn’t know what to do. There was no way out of this situation. It was too late at this point for him
In a split second after dropping a tear the door broke down, slamming into the wood floor, charging through were 5 men, yelling in demand as loud as they can in a psychotic yet rugged way “We know who you are!”

Chapter Two

NCEA English 3.4 Writing Folio – Critical Review of Nineteen Eighty-Four

George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four is more than a work of fiction. It is a dire warning. Explore the means by which Orwell reaches through the decades and grabs us by the neck: What is he trying to tell us?

George Orwell’s prediction for a dystopian future in his novel, Nineteen eighty-four is nothing less than a disappointing fact. This excellent piece of writing was published in 1949 and is set in 1984 in a 3rd person perspective with his ideas of a dystopian future where the state controls the societies train of thought using security cameras to track everyones single move and having a robot type language. George Orwell alerts a warning of a dystopian future in the novel, Nineteen Eighty Four from Orwell’s example called “Telescreens.”, “Big Brother” and many more.

The telescreen in Nineteen Eighty-four is a tool used by the Party to detect instances of rebellion towards the state. The telescreen is designed to monitor every movement and hear every conversation between Party members, whether they are at home or at work with “no way of shutting it off completely”. Every unusual moment would be picked up and you would be accused of what Orwell calls thoughtcrime. It means that the people of Oceania had to consciously be aware of every movement they made. The telescreen was used in Nineteen Eighty Four as a form of power, as if George Orwell was purposely describing the use of telescreens in the book as a form of power. Giving that ability to whoever is on the other side of the screen, invading the privacy of anyone who is on the opposite end of the screen. “You had to live- did live, from habit that became instinct- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinised.” this quote was found on part 1 page 4 chapter 1 and it means that us as humans will evolve to get used to always being under surveillance even though it’s not right to remove all privacy and completely remove freedom of speech its the sad acceptance to the power of control that the state had in the novel Nineteen Eighty-four. George Orwell displayed a warning for a dystopian future in his novel, Nineteen Eighty Four as a form of the use of high power in a society in a form of a monitor known as a “Telescreen” and the real question is has his warning actually come true?

Telescreens/CCTV

In Recent society we have been slowly becoming limited with our own privacy. For example of this control of power and security, one of the biggest cities in the world. London. The Capital of England has one of the largest rates of CCTV cameras. CCTV cameras are used as security for the purpose incase something bad happens like theft and traffic monitoring. However due to these surveillance cameras we are constantly being watched by security. But is that ok? Do we trust security. Too many cases we have seen security cameras being hacked by anonymous people to stalk people gifting them that power, to gather information about the people, finding possible weaknesses to use against them. This is exactly what George Orwell was warning us about in Nineteen Eighty-Four. CCTV was made with good intentions but who is to say it won’t become what Orwell called a “telescreen”? George Orwell in his novel Nineteen eighty four is warning us to always be weary on what we say and what we do cause there could always be a CCTV camera around and seeing what we are doing. Orwell tells us we will lose our security and secrecy once society evolves. Having everyone in the governments pocket. Giving them more power against us.

Telescreens/Phones

Another device that also resembles Orwell’s warning is a device that follows us everywhere we go that we use to communicate to each other, use as news sources and play games. Our own phones is another form of “telescreen.” All phones have a camera and a microphone that can easily be hacked which shows “telescreen” aspects. We can’t turn our phone completely off as that then defeats the purpose of having them for our use, allowing an opportunity for us to be watched at all times by anyone who could hack just like the state watching through the “telescreens”. In recent times we have become so reliant on our own cellular devices, so much so that our phones now on our maps app the phone knows where you live and where you go on a weekly base. George Orwell predicted the “telescreen” back in 1949 it may not have the same name however our phones is very much capable of doing the exact same thing as the “telescreen” did in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Who is to say that your phone can’t be hacked. Once a phone is hacked in this case whoever the hacker is could take over your entire life. Founding out everything about you, where you live, who you talk to and what you’re possible scared of, taking complete control over you. George Orwell warns us from the telescreens that from all the devices around us we could be being watched and that anyone with a high ability of hacking can become a real antagonist in our own lives. Orwell somehow knew back in 1949 that society will come to a point where we have to be weary with every move we make as we will come to a point where we could all be being watched.

Big Brother/Social Media

Big Brother in Nineteen Eighty-Four was a way of giving George Orwell’s “telescreen” a face “telescreens”. It made the “telescreens” seem more scary, giving the camera a face. “Big Brother is watching you”, someone else is watching you. You have to “worship Big Brother” because he is always watching everything you do. It was through the personification of the “telescreens” that Big Brother was always there.Having the person that is your leader he controls you. you have to obey, having someone watching your every move makes you act a different way. You become conscious of every step and breath you take. Big brother was used to manipulate the mind of everyone if you did not act in the way “he” wanted you to, dulling the human train of thought. In a way social media is Big Brother in a sense that you don’t know who can truly see what you post out there on the internet, whether that would be a post for all your friends or even a simple text message. We can’t determine who is watching us on social media. Social Media, like big Brother can manipulate our thoughts. For example if a high social media source like Facebook posted about news that was happening on the other side of the world we would believe it as its the only form of news we can get and that we have heard. How can we truly trust Social Media? How George Orwell predicted BigBrother to become true in a form of social media in 1949 in that respect is nothing less than impossible. The way that social media can impact the way we look at the world Just like Big Brother. George Orwell is warning us that we can’t believe everything we believe on Social media. Just because it seems like it’s all true. You can never fully believe anything.

George Orwell’s prediction for a dystopian future in his novel, Nineteen eighty-four is nothing less than a disappointing and true fact. This excellent piece of writing was published in 1949 and is set in 1984 in a 3rd person perspective of Wilson Smith, with Orwell’s ideas of a dystopian future where the state controls the societies train of thought using security cameras known as Telescreens to track everyones single move and having a robot type language. George Orwell alerts a warning of a dystopian future in the novel, Nineteen Eighty Four from Orwell’s example called “Telescreens.” and “Big Brother” with the telescreens correlating to todays society with cirvalence cameras known as CCTV and everyone little devices known as phones which like telescreens have a camera and a microphone. With these modern outcomes of Orwells telescreens they can all be hacked and used by people for power. Orwells big brother prediction relates heavily to our own Social Media with giving the telescreen a very demanding face that looks trust worthy. Orwell taught us in this text nineteen eighty four that we can’t believe everything we see and from the telescreens he taught us that we could always be being watched.

Wanaka Sun Crime line: Tourist Drivers

10 January 2019 a local tourists rental vehicle crashed on Aubrey road at 4pm on Thursday. It appears that driver ended up on the right hand side of the road crashing into on coming traffic hitting a local driver who seemed somewhat understanding of the situation some witnesses say. The tourist driver was in disbelief after crash and got out the car saying in shock “Why you on left side road?”

The local that was driving said after the crash to other witnesses says “How drivers like that are allowed to just pick up a car and drive it where ever they like without doing at least a test or in his case an eyes check like most asians should do!” what he said was much more cryptic than that but my boss advised me not to quote all of it as he thought the language seemed pretty aggressive.

11 January 2019 A Wanaka tourist has crashed onto the roundabout at the top of Gunn Road at around 2pm on Friday afternoon. This time the local tourist who has been staying in Wanaka for his second day now has found himself crashing his second rental car by going 40kph into a roundabout. Witnesses that were walking up Gunn road at that time say “it was the most bizarre thing they have ever seen, it was almost like he couldn’t see where he was going.”

This is your online portfolio

Hello and welcome to your personal online journal.

This platform has been created to enhance and enrich your learning at Mount Aspiring College. Its purpose is to provide you with an audience for your work (or work-in-progress) and you have the choice (by altering the ‘visibility’ of your posts) of whether your work on here is visible to the world, or only to your teacher.

Anything you post here in the public domain represents you and thus it’s important that you take care with that decision, but don’t be afraid to publish your work – as the feedback you may get from people at home, your peers and people from around the internet is only likely to enhance it.

Remember you can always access your class blog and all manner of resources through the Department of English main website – and by all means check out the sites of your peers to see what they’re getting up to as well.

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Make the most of, and enjoy this new freedom in your English learning.

Righto!

 

Chris Waugh