1984 Post 2: Is There Music?

As I continue reading, slowly but surely, I notice something I believe many tend to overlook. This book focuses on the physical aspect of Oceania, on the colorless sensation due to Big Brother’s posters, as if the only color allowed is on the “commanding corners” watching them. The author paints a picture with his words, but he doesn’t describe what Winston hears in such detail. The idea of music, is it allowed in Oceania, or is it considered a form of self expression? This book strips people of things that we see as everyday experience, such as what we think and how we express but what about everyday necessities? Do these people know what it is like to choose what to eat, what to wear. Lacking such knowledge of this insists that they did not know such a thing could exist. Does the same go for music? Do the comrades of Oceania know what “music” is, and if so is there a newspeak word that restricts music to something one of the Ministries can control like they do with everything else? They hear trumpets, but not as a form on entertainment, more a way to alert people on telescreens. Considering Winston identifies it as a trumpet playing, he has an understanding of what an instrument does, but does he know what it is, is the real question. Does he know that besides using the trumpet to bring attention towards the Two Minute Hate, or to wake people up for work at 7:15, music can be made from the same object? And if they recognize the concept of music, would their perspective be shifted so much that music is instead seen as a collection of noises rather than a beautiful creation? I wonder what are things we hear in Oceania that does not come from telescreen. Besides music, do you hear birds chirping? Do people regularly have conversations? Do you hear children playing? I hope their world is not full of the silence.