George Orwell 1984

George Orwell’s Biography Born Eric Blair in India in 1903 and died at age 47 Educated in England during his childhood Worked as a policeman in India instead of attending college Hated it because of having to enforce strict laws of a political regime he despised (England was in control of India at this time)

Orwell cont. Health failed and he went back to England, where he started to write Chose to live among the very poor and write about that life Traveled and began to write political novels that showed his disdain for certain political ideologies Capitalism Totalitarianism Dictatorships He was a fan of democratic socialism but not of communism.

Writing 1984 Wrote and published 1984 in 1948-1949 WWII had just ended with U.S. exploding atomic weapons in Japan Cold War was happening Soviet Union (communist) had just exploded its first atomic bomb World was afraid of WWIII (nuclear wipeout)

1984’s Premise A dictatorship (possibly the communist party) had won the war and was in charge of Britain, now called Oceania. It is now 1984 and the Party (Big Brother) is in full-fledged control.

Three Classes of People: Inner Party (less than 2% of population) “Brains” Outer Party (13% of population) Proletariat (85% of population) “Ignorant Masses” Three Slogans: “Freedom is Slavery” “Ignorance is Strength” “War is Peace”

Four Ministries Ministry of Truth (Winston’s Workplace) Responsible for Party Propaganda “Lies” of the Party Ministry of Love Responsible for Law and Order Instills “Fear” and “Hate” Ministry of Plenty Responsible for Food Rations Ministry of Peace Responsible for War/Idea of War

Characters in 1984 Winston Smith—main character, Outer Party Julia—dark-haired girl, Outer Party O’Brien—Inner Party member Big Brother—the leader of the Party Goldstein—supposed leader of Brotherhood Parsons—Winston’s neighbor, Outer Party Syme—writer of Newspeak dictionary, Outer Party Charrington—shopowner in Prole District

Format of Book Separated into 3 sections, or “Books” Book 1: Winston’s Thoughts of Rebellion Book 2: Winston’s Rebellious Actions Book 3: The consequences of Winston’s Rebellion

1984’s Premise cont. The book is Orwell’s idea of what the world would be like under this dictatorship, which is representative of the Communist Party. Party actions: “Big Brother is Watching You!” (Instilling Fear) Rewriting history to fit party propaganda and ideology Censorship and no free thought; no individuality People “vanish” No luxuries or doing things for pleasure Proles (masses) forced to live in ignorance, poverty, and Party-induced immorality