ShmoopTube

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1984, a la Shmoop. Dear Diary… I think I'm paranoid. I always

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feel like somebody's watching me. Maybe it's because of the giant flat screens in my living

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room that monitor my every move.

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Or the neighbor kids spying on me like snitches-in-training. Or the giant posters that say, "Big Brother

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is watching you."

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It's enough to give a guy a complex. Don’t believe me? You try peeing in front of a telescreen.

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… I'm a member of the Party of Oceania, which

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sounds glamorous…

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…but it's kind of a drag. I have to wear overalls, which are all wrong for my body

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type…

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…and my job is absolutely mind-numbing. The party likes to change history a lot, and

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whenever it does, I'm the “White-out Guy.”

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There aren't many perks to living in Oceania.

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You are the one bright spot in my life, Diary, and I'm pretty sure I'd be killed if anyone

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found out that you existed. The Party isn’t exactly supportive of free thinking.

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It’s not like there’s any juicy bits in here, though, because I don't have much of

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a love life to write about. There is one girl I’ve got the hots for, but she's sworn to

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celibacy. Great.

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Plus, she acts like a real snob. I was pretty sure she hated me, too, but the other day

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she slipped me a note saying that she loved me! Wowza!

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That kind of thing just doesn't happen in Oceania. We aren't really allowed to date,

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much less fall in love. Now that I know her, Julia and I get along

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pretty well, although she's not as into the revolutionary stuff as I am. She just wants

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me for my body. I guess I'll learn to live with it, somehow.

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Julia and rented a secret room in a secondhand store without any recording devices. Which

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is fine with me, because I really don't want a sex tape getting leaked.

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Our gooses are totally cooked if we’re discovered, but torture and death won't be a big deal,

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as long as Julia and I stay secretly true to each other.

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I mean… how bad could a little torture be, anyway…right? …. Right?

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By now you’ve probably gotten the impression that the Party is a sinister, mind-controlling

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government. You’d be correct. But there is one force that resists the party...the

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Brotherhood.

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No, they're not a group of mutants with superpowers, but how cool would that be?

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Still, even without a telepathy-resistant helmet, anyone who fights Big Brother is okay

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with me.

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You know, this guy at work, O'Brien, gave me a weird look the other day, and it made

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me wonder whether he's a member of the Brotherhood!

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But it's not just something you can just come out and mention to a guy, like… telling

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him he’s got spinach in his teeth. Breaking news, Diary…it’s true! O'Brien

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invited Julia and me over to his pad. It was so cool. He even turned off his telescreen

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so nobody could eavesdrop on us!

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O’Brien has tons of actual books which somehow escaped the Party’s clutches, and he loaned

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me the manifesto of the Brotherhood! What a guy.

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I'm actually starting to think that life might not be an endless slog fill of drudgery and

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despair!

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Okay, Diary. I'm writing this entry in my head, because you aren't here. Where am I?

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Well, that's a funny story...

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Let me sum it up for you... O'Brien is really in cahoots with the Thought Police, and he's

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been watching me for 7 years. How did I not figure out that this guy was an evil genius?

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He's also really good at torture, and his goal is to brainwash me until I love Big Brother

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again.

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Yeah right. I'll always secretly hate that mustachioed twerp, and keep on loving Julia.

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Even if O'Brien says she ratted me out in interrogation.

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Speaking of rats…I really hoped nobody would figure out that rats are my worst nightmare,

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but what do you know… O'Brien guessed it!  

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He had rats… big, hungry rats! And he was going to put them on my face!

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And you know what? I decided to opt out of that. Yes sir. I told O'Brien to put those

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rats on Julia's face, not mine! And then it was over!

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Shoot, if I'd known It was that easy, I would have sold Julia out a long time ago. I don't

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need her anymore, anyway. I'm a happy man now. I just love Big Brother. Don't you?

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