1. 1984 Book One Review

2. Setting Narrator April 4, 1984 Protagonist Antagonist
3rd Person
Limited
Protagonist
Winston Smith
Antagonist
Big Brother
Tone
Dark
Pessimistic
Mood
Fearful
Hateful
painful
Setting
April 4, 1984
Regardless of when read the setting is the near future
London - Airstrip One – Oceania
War torn
Food and necessities hard to find
Dusty – dirty – dark
Posters of Big Brother everywhere
Telescreens everywhere
Thought Police constant threat
Children are spies

3. Characters Winston Smith Big Brother Julia Mrs. Parsons
The Parsons Children
Mr. Parsons
Ogilvy
O’Brien
Mr. Charrington
Goldstein
Syme

4. Themes
Totalitarianism
Psychological Manipulation
Control
People
History
Information
Language
Themes
Loneliness
Isolation
Appearance vs. Reality
Destruction of human values
Individuality
Motifs
Double Think
Thought Police

5. Symbols Big Brother Journal Telescreens The Golden Country Irony
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength
Setting
April should be springtime, but the setting is …
Ministry of Truth
news
Ministry of Love
Law and order
Ministry of Peace
war
Ministry of Plenty
economy
Symbols
Big Brother
Journal
Telescreens
The Golden Country

6. Why does the author introduce all of the characters in Book One?
Sample Test Question
Why does the author introduce all of the characters in Book One?

7. Sample Answer
The author of I984, George Orwell, introduces all of the characters in Book One in order to support the theme of loneliness and isolation. Winston, the main character, is alone even when he is in the company of other people because constant suspicion supersedes all interchanges between characters. For example in his cubicle at the Ministry of Truth, Winston “raised his head for a moment: again the hostile spectacle flash. Winston wondered whether Comrade Tillotson was engaged on the same job as himself. It was perfectly possible.” Even at work, with others near him, Winston must remain on guard. No one is to be trusted.
Mrs. Parsons is also isolated when with her children because she must shield herself from the possibility of her son and daughter turning her over to the Thought Police. “With those children, he thought, that wretched woman must lead a life of terror. Another year, two years, and they would be watching her night and day for symptoms of unorthodoxy.”

8. Another reason the author presents all the characters in Book One is so the reader can experience the sudden loss of a comrade just as the characters do. “Syme will be vaporized. He is too intelligent. He sees too clearly and speaks too plainly. The Party does not like such people. One day he will disappear.” If the reader was not introduced to Syme in Book One, his disappearance in Book Two would not be significant; the reader would, therefore, miss the impact of the “here today; gone tomorrow” principle in which Big Brother functions. By introducing all of the characters in Book One, Orwell allows the reader to fully understand the themes and seriousness of the setting of 1984.