"For an idea to exist, we must have words to express it."
I believe this to be false. Many times people have come up with brilliant ideas but cannot express it in words. Perhaps later on when the idea is "processed" more then the creator can express his or her idea into words. In 1984 many of the ideas that Winston was not expressed until he understood what the party was and what they were doing. Later on during the book Winston finds the words to express his ideas. Because an individual cannot express an idea through words does not mean the idea does not exist.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
I think that an individual can have an idea without being able to express it, but it can't be communicated to anyone else without words to do so. Winston found other people's words -like in the book- but before that he wasn't able to fully form it. The other thing is that Winston didn't believe in his own ideas until he knew that he wasn't the only one who thought that way; he thought he was insane. Also, one of the major themes in 1984 was that the individual is always defeated and that a mob has a will of it's own, seperate from the individuals' beliefs who make it up. So by that logic, if you can't tell anyone about it does it do anything or is it reduced to nothingness since it is automatically doomed? The last point is highly subjective, just because Orwell wrote it doesn't make it true.
The above one is by Paige Paulsen.
I also agree that an individual can have an idea without being able to express it, but it can be expressed without out words, I mean in the very beggining of the book Winston expressed his feeling of wanting out to O'Brien and O'Brien understood that right away. Or as what Winston thought, but anyways an idea can always be expresssed through other ways than words. Like if someone was hungry they don't have to say anything, they could just use hand motions or something.
-David Bui
I agree with Paige that you need words to communicate an idea. However, do you need to communicate an idea for it to exist? Yes, Winston thought his ideas were crazy at first, but he still felt what he felt.
-Carly Haeck
I agree with Rachels statement. I also believe an idea doesnt need to be fully formed in order for it to be pondered. This means that you dont necessarily to express it verbally in order for it to exist. It could, so far, just be an experiment...something that hasn't taken full form yet, but still has potential. Ideas dont always need to be expressed through words, especially from the very beginning, in order for it to exist.
Molly Quinn-Shea
I agree with you Rachel but i also think that words have to exist also.
In 1984, newspeak suppresses vocabulary to limit the range of thought. When the words don't exist nothing can be said about the idea so the thought itself may not exist if there are no words to represent it. As we know ideas can be express in both words and in emotions, art. Ideas can be expressed in not only words but thought someone's action or art. Art can display more ideas than words alone sometimes, after all the saying 'a picture is worth a thousand words' must mean something.
-Amanda Jones
Post a Comment