"Winston was in Victory Square before the appointed time. He wandered round the base of the enormous fluted column, at the top of which Big Brother's statue gazed southward toward the skies where he had vanquished the Eurasian aeroplanes (the Eastasian aeroplanes, it had been a few years ago) in the Battle of Airstrip One. In the street in front of it there was a statue of a man on horseback which was supposed to represent
Oliver Cromwell. At five minutes past the hour the girl had still not appeared. Again the terrible fear seized upon Winston. She was not coming, she had changed her mind! He walked slowly up to the north side of the square and got a sort of pale-coloured pleasure from identifying
St. Martin's Church, whose bells, when it had bells, had chimed 'You owe me three farthings.'" (Orwell, 1984)
This passage is describing a famous landmark in London called
Trafalgar Square. Read about it! This is an important example of literary symbolism!
For your reading question, please answer the following questions in short paragraph form: What is Trafalgar square famous for? Why does Winston see a prisoner there in
1984? Who was Oliver Cromwell? What does Oliver Cromwell represent to Winston and Julia's 'rebellion'?
Trafalgar square is famous for manifestations from the XV century trough the XVIII century. Winston might see a prisoner there perhaps due to the fact that a great leader has its statue as the center of the square keeping him somewhat alive in memory and bolted to the ground. The great leader would be Oliver Cromwell, who overturned the monarchy into a commonwealth for a short time, he was a 'rebel' to the system back them the monarchy and the BigBrother for 1984.
ReplyDeleteEgberto Zanon
ReplyDeleteI could see that since it's construction it's been a center for political demonstrations in London, even nowadays. An interesting fact I read on wikipedia is that the fountains were built as an attempt to reduce crowds to get together.
Dear Students,
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