Reading Memorial High School - Pioneer Yearbook (Reading, MA)

Page 9 text:

Nature As a fond mother, when the day is o ' er, Leads by the hand hen little child to bed, Half willing, half reluctant to be led, And leave his broken playthings on the floor, Still gazing at them through the open door, Nor wholly reassured and comforted By promises of others in their stead, Which, though more splendid, may not please him more: So Nature deals with us, and takes away Our playthings one by one, and by the hand Leads us to rest so gently, that we go Scarce knowing if we wish to go or to stay, Being too full of sleep to understand How far the unknown transcends the what we know. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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Lisa Cummings Patrice McNeil Lisa Thompson Michele Rhoades Our junior year in high school — a time for fun, laugh¬ ter, friendship — and a time for growth. In the span of those few short months, we lost four friends in tragedies over which we had no control. Suddenly our class was forced to look at death from a new perspec¬ tive — not as something that happens to older people, but as something that can happen to teenagers as well. When Lisa Thompson died in November of 1 982, feelings of shock, anger, frustration and depression gripped the students and faculty of RMHS. It was im¬ possible to understand how a person our own age could suddenly be taken from us. Three months later when another freak accident claimed the lives of Michele Rhoades, Patrice McNeil, and Lisa Cummings, we began to realize the extent of our own vulnerability. No longer was death a far away stranger — we had begun to grow up. During the months following these tragedies, the reality of death drew us together and strengthened many friendships. We realized that people may die at any age; therefore, we came to value to a greater extent those around us. In our four years at Reading Memorial High School we have met many outstanding faculty members who have helped us prepare for the future in different ways. But the death of four friends has bonded our class together and left an impression that will never be for¬ gotten. Because their deaths have so deeply affected our class, we dedicate Pioneer ' 84 to the memory of Lisa, Michele, Patrice, and Lisa. We love you. A

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George Orwell’s momentous novel, 1984, de ■ ibes a world in which war, alienation, dehumaniza ion, and fear are the only constants. Society is hierar and consists of several echelons. Big Brother itely rules Oceania, one of the three nations make up the world. The story focuses on one ir Party member, Winston Smith. In illustrating both the monotonous lifestyle of Smith, and the furtive iduality of this man, Orwell provides the reader a duality of vision; we gain a comprehensive under- fo the rigid and limited life experience of the member, as well as insight to Smith’s coura- if unusual and ultimately suicidal, thoughts. ie point during Smith ' s childhood, the state of it and worldwide nuclear warfare had resulted creation of three separate nations, all headed by itor. London, where Smith lived, became a part mia. From that point on, life had become a of blurry past, fearful future, and endlessly id present. The Party’s motivation for con- life in such a manner is the statement: ’ho controls the past, controls the future: controls the present controls the past. ” The Party work, community are constantly eluded from this feel it necessary to ex them; it is believed rebel. All over Oceania, there are posters of Big Brother which read, Big Brother is watching you! ” This is sym¬ bolic of the way in which the Party members are under constant surveilance. There are four means by which the Party member is watched: he is surrounded twen¬ ty-four hours a day by telescreens, two-way televi¬ sions by which he can be constantly seen and heard; his peers are commanded to report any non-conforming behavior amongst them; the Thought Police, an undis- tinguishable member of which may be present at any time, discover and punish those who commit thought crimes’’; and finally, the Party member monitors him¬ self by participating in “doublethink , a process de¬ scribed by Orwell in the following manner: To know and not to know, to be conscious of com¬ plete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneoulsy two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democ¬ racy was impossible and that the Party was the guard¬ ian of democracy, to forget, whatever it was neces¬ sary to forget, then draw it back into memory again at the moment it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again, and above all, to apply the same pro¬ cess to the process itself — that was the ultimate subtlety: consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed. Even to understand ’doublethink’ involved the use of doublethink. Thus, by restricting the individual in his thoughts, emotions, and actions, the Party controls the pre¬ sent; it therefore controls the past, and therefore the future. All of the aforementioned is a thematic summary of the novel. In terms of plot, the story involves both Smith and a young girl named Julia. These two became lovers, despite the Party’s condemnation of such. Their lovemaking is both a romantic and a political act — the ultimate rebuttal of the Party. The pair seeks to become a part of the legendary underground move¬ ment, which hopes to destroy the power of the Party by introducing corruption from the inside-out. While the Party was aware of their thoughtcrimes , it chose to place Winston and Julia at a pinnacle of hope before apprehending them, thereby making their fall to reality all the more harsh. All of their apparently successful efforts to escape suspicion of thoughtcrime, there¬ fore, are to no avail. Indeed, their lovemaking, a politi¬ cal statement, becomes null, and their individuality is crushed when the Party decides to confront them. Once the Party has decided to act upon Winston and Julia’s thoughtcrimes, the pair is put on an extreme