Socratic Seminar Reflection #2 1984

             The Socratic seminars made me think more about the power that the proles had and Winston's attitude towards them. Before the seminar, I knew that the proles were the only ones who would be able to lead a successful revolt against Big Brother but I questioned if they actually wanted to. After the discussion I am more confident that Winston would be able to lead the proles into a revolution if he wanted to. Charlie said that if Winston were to confide in anyone about his revolutionary thoughts, he would confide in the antique shop keeper. Before the seminar I had thought about that a little but I didn't really analyze it. It makes sense that Winston would trust someone who appreciated the pre Big Brother world and who was not under constant supervision of a telescreen. 

             During the Socratic Seminar, a lot of people thought that the proles were oblivious to the party's discrimination towards them. I agreed with Molly when she thought that the proles did know that they were thought of as animals compared to the party. Like Molly, I believe that the proles are aware that they are discriminated against but they are content with their lives because that is all they know. I disagreed with Ryan when he said that Winston was not the type of person that would be able to rebel against Big Brother. I disagreed with him because Winston has been able to rebel. He started a diary against Big Brother which is highly illegal, he has been with prostitutes, wandered in the prole section of town, and has illegally thought of taking down Big Brother. In the time of 1984, what Winston was doing was completely and utterly against the law so I believe that he is the type of person to rebel. I wish I had said this during the discussion to make a point and to see if other people agreed with me. 

         During the seminars, everyone was able to contribute and really thoughtful questions were asked. Everyone was very passionate about our reading and I felt that everyone was very well prepared and interested. Also, I thought that most people emphasized rhetorical appeals more than last time. Lastly, I thought that the conversation never hit an awkward point and that the conversation was rich with thought.

              One thing that hurt the seminars was that I felt a lot of people were repeating similar thoughts and questions. Even if a question had been asked already or a passage had already been analyzed, ten minutes afterward a person would bring it back up again which seemed redundant. Also, even though everyone got to speak, there were three or four people who dominated the conversation and made it hard for other people to talk. Overall, the conversation went really well but the dominance and repetition needs to be worked on for the next seminar.