1. George Orwell 1984

2. 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)

3. 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.

4. 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)

5. 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.

6. 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”

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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