1. George Orwell’s 1984 & The Dystopian Novel
Audio Book:
PDF Online: (Google George Orwell’s 1984… multiple PDF versions can be found online).
George Orwell’s & The Dystopian Novel

2. Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) is a darkly satirical political novel by George Orwell. The story takes place in a nightmarish dystopia, in which an ever-surveillant State enforces perfect conformity among citizens through indoctrination (inculcating/instilling/teaching ideas), instilling a culture of fear, lies and ruthless punishment.
It was first published on June 8th, and is Orwell's most famous work. His novel was the inspiration of the word "Orwellian."
Clip:

3. Dystopia:
Dystopian literature is specifically a hyperbolic view of a familiar society—one that exaggerates social ills in order to make a point about society’s flaws.
In this world, the supposed “ideal society” is actually the worst idea possible, ultimately leading humankind to ruin
Dystopian stories normally take place in a society that has pulled themselves back together after a disaster, epidemic, war, etc., and now has a controlling government where the citizens are repressed
Often the citizens have come to terms with the society that they have lived in, but looking in we can see the oppression which is being handed to them.  
Most likely the protagonist of these novels are going to realize the injustice and try to fight the government in some way

4. “Freedom" is relative to what we are capable of doing…
Freedom is not permitted in this society.
Citizens are continuously brainwashed, as history is constantly re-written with false information to suit the needs of the government for the purpose of control and manipulation over the public. Lies, myths and false information controls the thinking of the citizens.
Without any sense of individual fairness, people work for the party just like the gear wheels in a machine.
In order to achieve this, the politicians in “1984” suppress people’s thinking and eliminate their freedom by creating fear through propaganda, strict laws and incessant surveillance.
“Freedom" is relative to what we are capable of doing…

5. More on dystopian literature…
In a dystopian story, society itself is typically the antagonist; it is society that is actively working against the protagonist's aims and desires.
Dystopias explore the behavior of people when the thin veneer of civilization is stripped away, and all hope is lost. What remains is a true glimpse of humanity at its worst and best, and the question "what makes us human" leaps to the forefront of existence.
A dystopia is a society where societal perfection is obtained at the expense of something else. That "something else" could be a devalued class of people, the loss of a fundamental freedom, or the surrender of some aspect of human nature.
Dystopian depiction is imaginary. Dystopian fiction borrows features from reality and discusses them but it doesn't depict contemporary society in general. Dystopian stories take place in the future but they are about today and sometimes about yesterday.

6. YouTube Clip - A Final Warning from George Orwell
From the 2003 Television docudrama: George Orwell - A Life in Pictures.

8. Orwell’s 1984 introduces the concepts of the ever-present, all-seeing Big Brother (a totalitarian dictator type of government), the notorious Room 101, the thought police who use telescreens (televisions that contain a surveillance camera – found in almost every room of the apartments of the characters in the novel), and the fictional language Newspeak.
Orwellian Defined:
"Orwellian" is an adjective describing a situation, idea, or societal condition that George Orwell identified as being destructive to the welfare of a free and open society.

9. Terms in 1984
Telescreen
Thought Police
Two Minutes Hate
The Brotherhood
Vaporize
Ingsoc
Big Brother
Doublethink
Outer Party
Airstrip One
Inner Party
Proles
Newspeak

10. The ministries convey paradox:
WAR IS PEACE
Can war lead to peace?
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
* Can freedom be confining?
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
* Can one know too much?

11. It’s a parody of the historical “1941 Four Freedoms“
The structure of the government resembled a parody in reverse of the famous 1941 USA State of the Union speech by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In that speech before the assembled Congress, the president outlined Four Freedoms:

12. The Ministries of Oceania
Oceania's four ministries are housed in huge pyramidal structures displaying the three slogans of the party on their sides.
1. The Ministry of Peace
Minipax is the newspeak name for the Ministry of Peace, which concerns itself with making war.
2. The Ministry of Plenty
Miniplenty in Newspeak, it is the ministry involved in maintaining ubiquitous poverty in Oceania.
3. The Ministry of Truth
Minitrue is the propaganda arm of the Ingsoc State. They distribute the leaflets, and of course the telescreens. Winston Smith spends his daytime hours “correcting” historical records in Minitrue.
4. The Ministry of Love
Miniluv is a gigantic windowless building devoted to torture and brutality. The home of the thought police, it is surrounded by a maze of barbed wire and machinegun towers.

13. George Orwell appears to have taken this 1941 speech and used it, along with his own experiences at the BBC, to create by reversal, the four key ministries of government in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Each is focused on an object in exquisite irony, utterly antithetical to its name so that the Ministry of Truth is concerned with lies, an idea that Orwell seems to have gained by his work at the BBC.
The Ministry of Truth as a Ministry of Lies would also be a parody of the first of the four freedoms: "freedom of speech."

14. "The Ministry of Peace
concerns itself with war," wrote Orwell. A few years earlier, Roosevelt had described the fourth of his freedoms as being "freedom from fear." Reality said otherwise and so did Orwell in describing the "Ministry of Peace."

15. "the Ministry of Love,"
wrote Orwell, was in reality concerned "with torture." The second of the four freedoms addressed the issue of religion. If "God is love" then the "Ministry of Love" could be interpreted as mocking that ideal as well.

16. Finally, Orwell described the "Ministry of Plenty" as dealing in reality "with starvation." The third of Roosevelt's four freedoms addressed the issue of freedom from want. Orwell seems to have heard these words with a sarcastic mindset.

17. The Party
In his novel Orwell creates a world in which citizens have no right to a personal life or personal thought. Leisure and other activities are controlled through strict mores. Sexual pleasure is discouraged, with females being taught not to enjoy it; sex is retained only for the purpose of reproduction.
The menacing figure of Big Brother has been variously interpreted to be that of Soviet leader Josef Stalin.

18. The mysterious head of government is the omniscient, omnipotent, beloved Big Brother, or "BB." Big Brother is described as "a man of about forty-five, with a heavy black moustache and ruggedly handsome features."
He is usually displayed on posters with the slogan "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU."
His nemesis is the hated Emmanuel Goldstein, a Party member who had been in league with Big Brother and The Party during the revolution. Goldstein is said to be a major part of the Brotherhood, a vast underground anti-Party fellowship.

19. The three slogans of the Party, visible everywhere, are:
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
While by definition these words are antonyms, in the world of 1984 the world is in a state of constant war, no one is free, and everyone is ignorant.
They echo the slogan "Arbeit macht frei" ("Work Makes Freedom") on the gates of Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps.
This type of semiconscious lie, and the deliberate self-deception with which the citizens are encouraged to accept it, is called DOUBLE-THINK.

20. The world is controlled by three functionally similar authoritarian superstates engaged in perpetual war with each other: Oceania (ideology: Ingsoc – English Socialism), Eurasia (ideology: Neo-Bolshevism) and Eastasia (ideology: Death Worship or Obliteration of the Self).
In terms of the political map of the late 1940s when the book was written, Oceania covers the areas of the British Empire and Commonwealth, the United States of America and Latin America; Eastasia corresponds to China, Japan, Korea, and India, and Eurasia corresponds to the Soviet Union and Continental Europe.
The United Kingdom's placement in Oceania rather than in Eurasia is commented upon in the book as an undisputed historic anomaly.

21. Political Geography in the world of Nineteen Eighty-Four

22. London, the novel's setting, is the capital of the Oceanian province of Airstrip One, the renamed Britain and Ireland.
Goldstein's book explains that the three ideologies are basically the same, but it is imperative to keep the public uninformed about that. The population is led to believe that the other two ideologies are detestable.

23. Newspeak
Newspeak, the "official language" of Oceania, is extraordinary in that its vocabulary decreases every year; the state of Oceania sees no purpose in maintaining a complex language, and so Newspeak is a language dedicated to the "destruction of words," as the character Syme puts it.

24. Excerpt:
"Of course the great wastage is in the verbs and adjectives, but there are hundreds of nouns that can be got rid of as well... If you have a word like 'good', what need is there for a word like 'bad'? 'Ungood' will do just as well... Or again, if you want a stronger version of 'good', what sense is there in having a whole string of vague useless words like 'excellent' and 'splendid' and all the rest of them? 'Plusgood' covers the meaning, or 'doubleplusgood' if you want something stronger still.... In the end the whole notion of goodness and badness will be covered by only six words; in reality, only one word."
(Part One, Chapter Five)

25.  By using language as a tool of control, as well as the evidence for sentence and punishment, Orwell creates a world where language, a word or a sentence, can determine one’s life (E.g. Thought police).
Language plays a key role in the Party’s propaganda, strict rules, surveillance, total physical control, as well as psychological manipulation of citizens.
In Oceania, thoughts are suppressed. In this world, no one is free.

26. Newspeak helps to cultivate a culture of ignorance by “dumbing down the nation” and limiting language as a tool to disempower individuals and their ability to convey thoughts and ideas through communication.
Take away the ability to adequately conceptualize revolution, or even dissent, by removing words that could be used to that end. Since the thought police had yet to develop a method of reading people's minds to catch dissent, Newspeak was created so that it wasn't even possible to think a dissenting thought.

27. The unwritten laws are another powerful tool for politicians in “1984” to limit freedom.
No parties, no dates, no love, no citizens are allowed to walk on the street after curfew, laws are everywhere in Oceania.
There is no written law in 1984, or even a constitution or court, but that is exactly how fear is created, as citizens are always living in uncertainty.
For example, “And yet it was a fact that if Syme grasped, even for three seconds, the nature of his, Winston’s, secret opinions, he would betray him instantly to the Thought Police” (George Orwell, 30).
Winston could be arrested any time for committing “thoughtcrime” by even a tiny facial twitch suggesting struggle, and his nervous system literally becomes his biggest enemy.
The Party can change and adjust the strictness of laws as freely as it wants. Citizens never know if they have committed any crime. Therefore, no one is brave enough to defy the Party by any level, so fear is created.

28. Technology
The world of Nineteen Eighty-Four is foremost a political, not a technological, dystopia.
The technological level of the society in the novel is mostly crude and less advanced than in the real 1980s. Apart from the telescreens and speech-recognizing typewriters, it is no more advanced than in wartime Britain. Living standards are low and declining.

29. None of the three blocs has much genuine interest in technological progress, since it could destabilize their grip on power.
Nuclear weapons, in particular, are avoided in the perpetual war, since its whole point is to be indecisive. The technologies that are employed are obsolete and perhaps deliberately wasteful, such as huge floating fortresses.
This stagnation is related to what is perhaps the most frightening aspect of the novel: for all their brutality, the regimes are not going to burn themselves out in strategically significant conquests or technological arms races. Rather, they have reached a stable equilibrium that could last for ever.

30. Surveillance is almost everywhere in Oceania:
There is a two-way tv screen, so-called television in every apartment and on the street, but they only serve the purpose of monitoring and propaganda.
The Party gets simultaneous images of what its people are doing. Even facial expression can be detected. Only senior members of the Inner Party have the power to turn them off for a short period.
Children are also used to keep track of their parents, as “The children, on the other hand, were systematically turned against their parents and taught to spy on them and report their deviations” (76).
Citizens can’t express their ideas towards the negative side of the Party at all, and even thoughts are controlled because the Party can “re-educate” people for an incorrect facial expression

32. Real world connections:
'Post-Truth' was named the 2016 word of the year by Oxford Dictionary.
According to Oxford Dictionary wordsmiths, "post-truth" captures "the ethos, mood, or preoccupations" of Oxford recently selected it as word of the year.
The publisher defines post-truth as "relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief."
CLIP: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
'Post-Truth‘:

33. Connection to our world today… “The Stanford Experiment” - Philip Zimbardo
Clip: MILGRIM + ZIMBARDO EXPERIMENTS:
Learn about the Stanford Prison Experiment: Watch the BBC Documentary:
“What happens when you put good people in an evil place? Does humanity win over evil, or does evil triumph?”
“Does the situation outside of you – the institution – come to control your behaviour, or do the things [that represent you] - your attitude, values, morality)- allow you to rise above a negative environment?”
-Philip Zimbardo

34. Common plotlines in dystopic novels…
Nasty things happen but everything turns out alright
The protagonist(s) beat the establishment at its own game and everyone lives ‘happily ever after’
Nasty things happen and despite everyone’s best efforts the establishment wins
The protagonist can’t beat the establishment and the ending is suitably depressing
Common thread:
Rebellion/Resistance to oppression
Struggle for personal expression/individuality/identity
Defining humanity: What do we live for? What makes us human? (The Human Condition)

35. Common Concepts: The status of the individual One word: Low
The individual is of little, if any, consequence. Desire is for uniformity in society.
Uniformity = control
The nature of power
Power in the hands of a corrupt individual or entity
Individuality is crushed and freedom curtailed
No freedom/access to power = control
Communication
Poor, artificial, stilted
Not able to communicate = control

36. Freedom is limited “The Island”: 1984
Totalitarianism is a political system in which the state holds total authority over the society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life wherever possible.
The leaders of the society make all decisions pertaining to a person’s: career, living situation, life partner, how many children they have, etc. Usually pitched in a “we know what best for you because we know everything” sort of way
With limited freedom, the people have no access to power; the government is in total control. This results in a state of oppression for the people.
“The Island”:
Dr. Merrick controls the compound Given rations of food
Have to stay in their sector Have to obey the rules set out by the Party
Their job is chosen for them Have to work a prescribed job
can’t fraternize with the opposite sex

37. Citizens live in a dehumanized state
Oppression: prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or control
Citizens lived in an oppressed state with no control over their own lives
There is often a large disparity between the rich and poor/powerful and powerless
The overall effect of control is that citizens are not really human anymore
“The Island”:
no love
no independence
no free will
no dreams
no wishes
1984:
The disparity between the proles (regular working class citizens) and the outer and inner parties
Telescreens monitor everyone’s actions
The Thought Police have the power to take people away and vapourize them

38. In Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, Oceania's society is divided into 3 distinct classes: Inner Party, Outer Party and proles (working class citizens with their own upper, middle and lower classes).

39. Individuality and Dissent are bad
Citizens are ‘encouraged’ to conform to the group
Citizens are heavily policed and punished if they go against the government
Individuals who do not follow the rules are publicly punished to set an example to the rest of society (creating fear) or used as a scapegoat
A society run this way requires a large group of people to come together to revolt which requires planning and bravery – putting the group before the individual
“The Island”:
they are killed when they have independent thoughts
monitored to keep them doing what they are supposed to do
1984:
Telescreens, the Thought Police
The hanging in the square
Winston is a rebel in this sense – he fights against the system

40. Citizens are perceived to be under constant surveillance
One way to limit personal freedoms is to monitor your people – policing creates a culture of fear in society
Perception is key
“The Island:” :
Cameras everywhere Work is completed by everyone (self regulation)
Monitored by guards Junior Spies, Thought Police
No private space Telescreens
Regular brain/physical tests

41. Censorship & Manipulation of History
Anything from the past is strictly controlled or destroyed entirely. There’s something about the past that the government/leaders want to stay hidden because they feel it could be dangerous to them. Alternatively, they think their people are too delicate to handle the information overload and they’re trying to “protect” them.
Control of education – often information about the past is changed to make the ‘party’ and their laws seem superior to any other option
Citizens often have limited education (outside party controlled education) and limited access to information from the outside world
“The Island”: :
false memories Winston’s job is to manipulate history with the memory hole
contamination story The Proles are kept ignorant
the lottery The Inner Party are the only free ones
no access to real world

42. Propaganda/mind control
Citizens are kept compliant via hypnosis, drugs, brainwashing, or some other method that renders them docile or makes them forget what they’ve seen
The control of education is another method of mind control
Propaganda is used to keep the citizens under control -- they believe what the government is telling them
“The Island”: :
the lottery was public The public believes all government announcements Minutes Hate
fake memories Victory Gin
only educated to an 8 year old Party Slogans

43. The natural world is banished or distrusted - family/love abolished
Nature and/or natural processes are distrusted – many dystopia’s have a heavy focus on technology/biotechnology
The family unit is abolished – babies are created or taken from their parents at birth, love is disallowed, etc.
Personal connections are often discouraged – loyalty should be to the state
Characters are often searching for meaning and/or love. In many dystopian novels, the protagonist is motivated to rebel due to a love interest
“The Island”: :
no natural birth or family no romantic relationships permitted
No romantic relationships

44. A figurehead/concept is worshipped
A unifying idea or principle guides the society
This idea glues the society together and creates “the norm”
Religion is often abolished because true loyalty should be to the state and/or figurehead of the state
“The Island”:
the lottery
belief in the contamination
1984:
Big Brother

45. Citizens have a fear of the outside world
Usually a threat of a natural disaster, war, disease, chaos, etc.
There is usually something in place (real or imagined) that makes the citizens believe they can’t or shouldn’t leave
“The Island”: contamination
1984:
Party members rarely venture into the prole world
Constant warring with Eastasia or Eurasia (constant state of volatility, confusion, and fear to keep the masses in line and under the government’s control).

46. Society is an illusion of a perfect utopian world
There is a unifying belief that their lives, even if there are limitations, is better than what life would be like in the outside world
A general belief that their government/ruler has their best interests in mind and does know best
“The Island”:
strong belief in contamination and trust that their system works to keep them all safe
1984:
A strong belief in Big Brother and the Party

47. Themes Symbols/Motif Urban decay (motif) Big Brother Paperweight/rhyme
Dangers of Totalitarianism and Control of Freedoms
The Attack on Privacy
The Control of Language
Manipulation through a culture of fear
The Destruction of History
The Attack on Sex
The Value of Memory
The Appreciation of the Past
The Fallibility of the Human Mind
Urban decay (motif)
Big Brother
Paperweight/rhyme
“The Place Where there is no Darkness”
Red-armed prole woman
Winston’s diary
Propaganda materials and other forms of control

48. Winston Smith
"But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother." pg 300
Late 30s, lonely, in poor health, separated
Alienated by his awareness/intellectual
Rebels - diary/Julia
Sexually frustrated
Needs to understand the past
Afraid of rats
Is broken in the end

49. Julia Young, beautiful, sensual
Devious – plans and pretends well
Small scale rebellion
Not as intellectual as Winston
Longs to be feminine
O’Brien says she gives up easily
Loses her sensuality at the end
"she only questioned the teachings of the Party when they in some way touched upon her own life. Often she was ready to accept the official mythology, simply because the difference between truth and falsehood did not seem important to her." pg 154

50. O’Brien Complex/paradoxical
''Do you remember writing in your diary …'that it did not matter whether I was a friend or an enemy, since I was at least a person who understood you and could be talked to? You were right. I enjoy talking to you. Your mind appeals to me. It resembles my own mind except that you happen to be insane.' pg. 271
Complex/paradoxical
Burly and imposing, wears glasses and adjusts them – “refined”
Tormentor/saviour

51. Minor Characters of Interest
Syme – represents the Party’s unwillingness to allow unique minds to exist. He is vaporised.
“One of these days, thought Winston with sudden deep conviction, Syme will be vaporized. He is too intelligent… The Party does not like such people”.
Parsons – a typically orthodox man. His imprisonment at the end reinforces the injustice of the system
“…one of those completely unquestioning, devoted drudges on whom…the stability of the Party depended." —pg 22

52. Clever Things to Discuss
Newspeak – use in your essay and discuss as a method of mind control
Proles – Winston/Orwell thinks they might be the only hope
Past artefacts and Winston’s obsession
Expression of energy through 2 mins hate
Telescreens
Winston’s memories and dreams
What do Winston and Julia get out of their relationship with each other?

53. More Clever Things…. Children are evil – new generation
The inherent contradiction of party slogans
Tease out the relationship between Winston and O’Brien
Goldstein’s book – true or false?
Winston’s betrayal of Julia – the last of his humanity?

54. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU
Key Quotes
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU
“Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime is death." —pg 27
“Who controls the past …controls the future: who controls the present controls the past." —pg 32
“If there was hope, it must lie in the proles..” – pg 60
“We are the dead”.

55. Study Tips
Form a group. Each of you writes or researches as many essay topics as possible. Then discuss how you would answer them. Write practices and send them to your teacher.
Ask your teacher for discussion/essay topics
Re-read the book!
Learn Newspeak – the language of this book is really important
Learn key quotes
Create a timeline of events