"The Last Voice of a Dying Tongue"

The fact that the author is a linguist and has years of experience and knowledge entices the reader, let alone an attention-grabbing title “Where Have All the languages Gone?”As the author mentioned that he himself has worked to “save” extinct languages from vanishing encourages the reader to further find out and research more about the issue tackled. Using metaphors was amongst the many techniques in which the author used to engage a reader. For example: “the last voice of a dying tongue”, language murder...language suicide” and “when languages lose their speakers, they die.” In the previous example depicted from the text, the author clearly compared language to a human and perhaps personified language. Moreover, comparing the end of languages to endangered animals that ought to reach extinction gives the reader a clear idea of how important this issue is.
The author wrote in an objective manner, as he provided facts and statistics. He uses plenty of statistics enough to support his argument. Statistics are facts that provide evidence and support, and are an important aspect that give the reader assurance and the validity of the article. Further, the statistics used grabs the attention of the reader as they aim to fascinate the reader. For example, “of an estimated 300 languages spoken in the area of the present-day US when Columbus arrived in 1492, only 175 are spoken today.” The previous statistic depicted from the text shows the aim of the author which is to influence the reader by providing interesting facts.

"Muse" muse upon 1984 in The Resistance

It is quite obvious that their new song, The Resistance, is an allusion to the book 1984 by George Orwell. Reading the first verse automatically made me acknowledge the song’s reference to 1984 and where we stand today, as well. “Is your secret safe tonight? And are we ought of sight? Or will our world come tumbling down?” This clearly implies to Julia's  and Winston’s “secret”, their love affair, and the constant fear they’ve been facing from the thought police in order to hide such deadly secret. From where I stand I am able to vision people whom are actually living in constant fear merely because they are keeping a secret, of similar matter to Julia's and Winston’s, from the authorities. The following verse foreshadows the upcoming events that occur in book 3, “will they find our hiding place? Is this our last embrace?”, and the hiding place refers to the apartment above Mr. Charrington’s store in which they use it as their place of escape thinking that its far from the Party’s eyes.

The following two verses signify the Party’s physiological manipulation and perhaps the idea of “doublethink”. The repetition of the line “It could be wrong, could be wrong” conveys doubt and uncertainties about Winston's and Julia’s love and whether they should split apart and adhere to the Party’s principles or resist and endure alongside the love their posses for each other. Due to the Party’s physiological manipulation individuals whom are able to think independently get distracted by thoughts that belong to the principles in which they are forced to abide by and thus they encounter the concept of “doublethink”.

The verse that starts with “love is our resistance” tells the story of Winston's and Julia’s willingness to stay together and go up against The Party in order to uphold the love they possess for one another. Further, the verse “quell your prayers for love and peace you’ll wake the “thought police” we can hide the truth inside” clearly alludes to 1984. It alludes to the constantly worries Winston is having about waking the Thought Police (obvious reference) and he hopes that they can continue their affair without showing outward emotion in public.

The last two verses explain the part of the story when Winston gets fed up from being under constant surveillance and begin perpetuating his path of resisting, “the night has reached its end we can’t pretend…it’s time to run”. Living in an oppressed society leads one to the point of being fed up with the authorities rule and hence resistance.

Is War a link to Peace?

Do all peace signs and peace movements resemble war; are we not aware that fighting in war is a fight for peace? There are numerous questions that come to mind when one thinks of the passage, extracted from the book 1984 by George Orwell, “War is peace”. This passage triggers uncertainties regarding the idea that peace is not able to subsist in our world. If war, the thing that most people dread, is a link to peace then aren’t we living in a world bombarded with peace? If the higher authorities think that brainwashing the public into telling them that “war is peace” then they are most certainly concealing their strategies away from the masses. Obviously, a government akin to the one in 1984 mainly focuses on keeping their people appointed towards a certain aggressor, far from themselves, to annihilate the idea of rebellion and keep it far from one’s ability to think about. War usually injects hatred in one’s mind towards the aggressor, and the hatred obtained stands as a fundamental element that keeps masses not only incapable of rebellion but also unified. Moreover, this passage is marked by physiological manipulation as the masses are being subjected to the idea that war is something for their own benefit while being coerced subliminally to believe in this ideology. However, in reality war is something for the Party’s own benefit in order to maintain stability and the so-called “peace” in their society. Evidently, Orwell is conveying the message that humans have a diabolical instinct wherein they tend to prioritize their wants before others, thinking of only the benefits THEY will gain yet not taking into consideration the aftermath even if the outcome is a total catastrophe for the majority but themselves. Simply put greed has stained the human flesh!