Thursday, June 01, 2006

"Under the spreading chestnut tree, I sold you and you sold me"

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah, Orwell... Nineteen Eighty Four... But what be the meaning of this post, wise, wise Quixote?

Don Quixote said...

I was just musing about how we're living under Orwell's spreading chestnut tree, and how the first thing that happens when we fall under its penumbra is that we sell each other out.

I was reading an article on South Dakota's egregious abortion laws.

Anonymous said...

Mmm... there's something to be said for freedom - intellectual, emotional, commercial, political, individual, sexual... any kind of freedom...

Epicurus was right... to be truly happy we need the freedom to be in control of our own lives...

And if we live under the eaves of Orwell's chestnut tree, such a concept will forever be foreign to us.

btw... Your lack of body text in the post played hell with my feed reader! (just randomly..)

Don Quixote said...

Freedom is the word. Unfortunately its meaning has been corrupted by the very people that are taking it away.

Jeremy said...

Watched V for Vendetta last night. Had this quote in my head when I woke up this morning. (John Hurt's forlorn face prompted it, I think.)

At least it pushed out "remember remember the fifth of November, gunpowder treason and plot...".

Don Quixote said...

I found that V's face actually lost its menace as the film progressed. They didn't maintain the mystery quite enough for my liking. One of my mates worked as an extra in the closing scenes of that film.

jardinfleur said...

i think it symbolizes the all encompassing party as the shady chestnut tree.when julia and winston face their worst fears they 'sell each' other out.as in winston begs asking for the rats to be sent to devour julia and it can be assumed from julia's demenour at the end of the story that she too had somehow betrayed winston.