mechnight Posted October 25, 2014 Report Share Posted October 25, 2014 Hey guys, I'm starting to plan on my Written Task 1 for English (that is, creative piece) and am considering taking 1984. Our teacher sort-of advised us to do a diary entry on some character, preferably other than Winston. Now, while I really like the idea in terms of character analysis and relating the piece to the book, I'm not sure how much sense it would make for anyone of them to write it, regarding the entire system as depicted. Any thoughts on this? Comments would be very helpful. Thanks. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoNo_XD Posted October 25, 2014 Report Share Posted October 25, 2014 You could write diary entries in the perspective of an outside character, someone who was barely mentioned in the book. You could even create your own character! This way your written task will be more focused on character analysis from an outsider's point of view, and that will lessen the chance of you losing marks for being "out of character" Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_awesome Posted October 25, 2014 Report Share Posted October 25, 2014 I guess... you could write diary entries by O'briens assistant Martin. He isn't really mentioned in the book so I guess it would give you the greatest ability to use your own creativity and imagination. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackcurrant Posted October 26, 2014 Report Share Posted October 26, 2014 (edited) An apparently straightforward task and set of instructions. But... ...who you choose as the writer of the diary depends very much on the aims of the assignment. Maybe your teacher has not made this amply clear. Is the aim of the teask to reveal ... 1) your emerging understanding, *as a reader of the book* only?Or2) are you revealing some aspect of a character by exposing *their* internal thoughts, and therefore your diary content and style will reflect that...? Inventing a character seems unjustified. It would be re-writing the novel. And if there are hints of a character in the book, with very little or anything known of them, then writing a diary entry from "their perspective" also appears unjustified. You just won't have enough information about them on which to base a diary entry. If it is *your* emerging understanding (point #1) that you are revealing, then why must it be in diary form? It may be worthwhile clarifying these with your teacher... Edited October 26, 2014 by Blackcurrant 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mechnight Posted October 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2014 Thanks everyone for the replies! I guess... you could write diary entries by O'briens assistant Martin. He isn't really mentioned in the book so I guess it would give you the greatest ability to use your own creativity and imagination. Yeah I was thinking something similar, either by him or perhaps Mr. Charrington, the shop owner. An apparently straightforward task and set of instructions. But... ...who you choose as the writer of the diary depends very much on the aims of the assignment. Maybe your teacher has not made this amply clear. Is the aim of the teask to reveal ... 1) your emerging understanding, *as a reader of the book* only? Or 2) are you revealing some aspect of a character by exposing *their* internal thoughts, and therefore your diary content and style will reflect that...? Inventing a character seems unjustified. It would be re-writing the novel. And if there are hints of a character in the book, with very little or anything known of them, then writing a diary entry from "their perspective" also appears unjustified. You just won't have enough information about them on which to base a diary entry. If it is *your* emerging understanding (point #1) that you are revealing, then why must it be in diary form? It may be worthwhile clarifying these with your teacher... Well, my idea is more to reveal the characters' aspects/personality traits. And it needn't be a diary, it was just a suggestion. I will either do Mr. Charrington or something totally unrelated such as a short story, but I wanted to first see some outside opinions. I was mostly confused with the whole diary thing since the regime in the book explicitly forbids diary writing, but he was nevertheless encouraging us to do that. The point is, I find it a bit silly for a member of Thought Police or the Inner Party to write diaries... Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackcurrant Posted October 28, 2014 Report Share Posted October 28, 2014 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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