Themes of Dementia in 1984

 One day while scrolling through the internet I heard about an album called Everywhere at the End of time. I was intrigued by its name and album art and decided to search it up. While I have not actually listened to it ( its over 6 hours long lol), I decided to search it up. The album is split up into 6 stages, representing the 6 stages of dementia, and I found a great video analysis of it. I feel like the 2nd and 3rd stages have similar tropes to the ideas of memory found in 1984.

Stage 2 is described as "the self realisation and awareness that something is wrong with a refusal to accept that. More effort is made to remember so memories can be more long form with a little more deterioration in quality. The overall personal mood is generally lower than the first stage and at a point before confusion starts setting in. "

This can be seen as when Winston starts to be discontented with his everyday life, and reflects more on the idea of truth and the past, and just how fallible these things really are.

I haven't really seen any more good connections yet, but the themes seemed similar to me, the idea of forgetting, altering the past and the truth that is our own memory.

Does this connection make any sense? Can you see any other / better points of connection? Let me know.



Comments

  1. L. MoffittFebruary 22, 2021 at 7:32 AM

    That is a very interesting connection, and it would make sense as maybe even part of the Party's strategy: if you feel this way, you are demented rather than sane.

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  2. KatelynFebruary 22, 2021 at 7:38 AM

    I know that insanity (which is close to dementia although I know it's not the same) is described as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. I think that as you've mentioned, Winston's repetitive actions throughout his life slowly makes him become more disconnected from his life and who he is, but still he thinks something will save him. Lo and behold, he meets both Julia and O'Brien (which is very notably a "different result"), but only time will tell if his repetitive actions (that is, following a different person blindly) will pay off

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  3. Charlotte EbelFebruary 22, 2021 at 7:43 AM

    I've also heard of this album! I haven't listened to it but I know someone who did and said that it was terrifying and depressing. I think this connection does make sense, because in both cases there is the gradual realization that you don't control your mind anymore. Memory is perhaps the most personal aspect of our identities, and without memory we're all essentially the same.

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