1984 Terminology and Background Information

The Characters Winston Smith –Protagonist –Churchill Julia –25yrs. Old. Minitruth O’Brien –Inner Party Big Brother –Always watching Goldstein –Scapegoat Syme –newspeak Parsons –neighbor Mr. Charrington –shop owner

Terminology Newspeak –Language of the party Doublethink –Denial of reality Thoughtcrime –death The Golden Country –Winston’s dreams Thought Police –Monitor the Party Two Minutes Hate –Daily public event Ingsoc –English Socialism Chestnut Tree Café –Location of the doomed

Timeline 1903 – Eric Blair, pen name George Orwell born in Motihari, India – Orwell returns to India and joins Imperial Police in Burma – An Homage to Catalonia released. Account of Orwell’s experiences with Loyalists in Spanish Civil War – Release of Animal Farm, “modern beast fable attacking Stalinism.” 1949 – Release of Dystopia – Orwell dies of tuberculosis – Orwell’s future – Our future.

The Political Structure Oceania –The Country Airstrip One –England The Outer Party –18% of pop. The Inner Party –1% of pop. –Control wealth The Proles –81 % of pop.

The Countries Eurasia –Country with which they are at war. –Russia Eastasia –Country with which they are at peace (for now) –China

The Ministries Ministry of Love –miniluv Ministry of Plenty –miniplenty Ministry of Peace –minipax Ministry of Truth –Minitrue

The Slogans of the Party War is Peace Freedom is Slavery Ignorance is Strength