Sunday, June 8, 2014
"They Got Me a Long Time Ago" argument analysis
The essay "They Got Me a Long Time Ago" is arguing mainly that there are similar characteristics shared between the three main villains of the three staple dystopian novels discussed in the essay: 1984, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451. As the title suggests, each villain in each of the novels having a feeling of sympathy toward the main character who they have to hurt in one way or another, in order to bring them back in line, or in Brave New World to send into exile. This sympathy is a kind of condescension, because they all see their victims as naive and in need of guidance. The villain has already given their total allegiance to the cause which the 'hero' is doubting, and which the villain themselves once doubted in some way. The suggestion is that the villain knows they have in some way done wrong to submit to the forces of power of the government of their particular novel, but have crossed a point of no return; for this reason the audience has sympathy for them and their "tragic lost potential". All of them reveal the inconsistencies of their own arguments for what they have done, and Captain Beatty even wants to die for his compromises so badly he pushes Montag to murder him. The argument is that each of the dystopia or totalitarian societies are not what they say they are, and the agents of the government for each, Captain Beatty, O'Brien, and Mustafa Mond all are tragic characters who are themselves human, but corrupted by the forces of power.
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This is a very nice summary. I only wish you elaborated on what inconsistencies the characters reveal, or really just from the films we have watched. Though my main argument in my summary is that finding these characters sympathetic is subjective and relies on individual taste, you point out the Captain Beatty allows himself to be killed, likely to punish himself for his betrayal to society. I seem to forget that part, but I suppose that is the key thing that really makes him the most sympathetic of the three characters.
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