1984 BY GEORGE ORWELL Background: What You Need to Know

The Setting  London, England AKA “Airstrip One”  The year 1984 (but really sometime in the future)  Government= totalitarian dictatorship  Big Brother=symbol and glorious persona  Inner Party=intellectuals dedicated to The Party.  Outer Party=powerless middle class  The “Proles”=the subhuman workers (From “The Proletariat”)

Genre: Dystopia  Name based on Thomas More’s Utopia.  Generally critical of society and governmental systems.  Often depicts a kind of futuristic society in which one can see all of the flaws.

Purpose  Orwell warns of what could happen in the future based upon the atrocities and dictators that gained power in WWII.  He was a socialist revolutionary under Leon Trotsky, and carried a lifelong grudge against Stalin.

Warning!  Totalitarian governments  Use of science and technology to brainwash society.  Distortion of truth through rhetoric.  Restriction of individual freedoms.  George Orwell’s novel 1984 depicts many restrictions on food, speech, relationships, sexuality, and education. Those who do not agree “disappear” and are tortured.

Orwell’s Experiences  Economic depression in the 1930’s.  High unemployment  Shortages of money, housing and food.  Restrictions on daily life and rations.  The beginning of the Cold War.  Iron Curtain  Spanish Civil War  Spies and growing distrust.  Communist “police states.”

Orwell’s New World  Oceania: N. and S. America, Britain, Australia and S. Africa  Eurasia: Russia, Western and Eastern Europe  Eastasia: China  Territory fought over in constant war: Middle East and Northern Africa.

Terms  Doublethink=believing two contradictory ideas at the same time.  Doublespeak=using language that contains contradictory information designed to confuse.  Telescreen=a two-way television used for surveillance.  Newspeak=official language of Oceania, rewritten and simplified for less original thought.  IngSoc=English socialism, whose principles guide the state of Oceania.

Main Characters  Winston Smith  A kind of “everyman” character, who rewrites history and rebels.  Infatuated with Julia, a somewhat shallow girl, who tries to manipulate the rules of the Party to her own advantage.  O’Brien  A man with whom Winston feels a vague connection of rebellion; member of “The Brotherhood,” an underground group of revolutionaries.

Guiding Questions  How does the society of 1984 compare to our current society?  What is Orwell’s message about  Societal apathy  The use of fear to manipulate  Manipulation of the masses  Isolation vs. Individualism  Manipulation through propaganda  Censorship of language/speech

Characteristics of 1984  Winston periodically has flashbacks and dreams that may get confusing. If you have questions about these, feel free to ask.  If the title of the book limits you to thinking only about the 1980’s, consider that the book is meant to contain implications for the future regardless of the year itself. Kind of like “party like it’s 1999” was a song that was thinking about the future, not necessarily the year 1999.