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Nineteen Eighty-Four (Key Themes (Control, Totalitarianism, Sexism,…
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Key Themes
Control
Totalitarianism
Sexism
Revolutions
Security/privacy
The importance of language
physical will vs mental fortitude
Humanity's limits/weaknesses
human relationships and their frailty
Questions
Chapter 7
"If there is hope, it must lie with the proles" Why does Winston believe this? Do you think he is right to believe this?
What is so important about that photograph?
Chapter 8
What does the party have against people being alone?
What does the way Winston treats the hand he finds tell us about him?
Why doesn't Winston bash the girl with dark hair's head in?
Part two: Chapter 9 :
What is an oligarchy?
What does collectivism mean?
Why are the countries at war?
Why does the party view peace/education/wealth as dangerous?
What happens in this long chapter?
Part 3, Chapter 2
Why is O'Brien torturing Winston?
Part 3, chapter 3
"Power for Power's sake". Does this make sense?
The brain in jar theory?
Can you run a society on hate?
"We shall abolish the orgasm."
Questions, Part 1, Chapters 2 & 3
Describe the Parson's Kids and their relationship with their mother.
How are the "Youth League" and the "Spies" connected? First you join the spies, and you can join the "youth league" when you are older
What's up with kids in this book?
What does Winston realise about himself?
Who does Winston dream of?
What's "doublethink"?
Comrade Ogilvy: What does he represent?
Dedication to the Party and Ingsoc
Bravery
Doesn't smoke, doesn't drink, hits the gym for an hour a day
Celibate
Questions, Part 1, Chapters 6 and 7
What's Winston's relationship status?
What do we think about how Orwell writes women?
What are the Party's rules, written and unwritten, about sexual intercourse (banging, smashing, goin' at it, making love, makin' love, makin' whoopee, gettin' nasty, netflix and chill, snapchat and tap that, etc)
the point of the rules: make sex unenjoyable
why was Wintson and Katherine's "duty to the party" so distressing for Winston?
"If there is hope, it must lie with the proles" Why does Winston believe this? Do you think he is right to believe this?
'Proles and animals are free'. Do you think this is true? Why?
any guesses what INGSOC means yet?
What is so important about that photograph?
"Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
Questions
Let's describe Julia
What about Julia does Winston like?
Likes her rebellious nature. Likes the facts that she enjoys sex itself, and that she has had it with many other people.
Young, brown, 26ish years old. Very rebellious, was involved in the spies, anti-sex league, hockey player, gymnast. Cynic. Really likes sex. Has sex frequently with outer party members. Like chocolate, other black market perishables
Why does Julia like Winston?
Where do they meet? Describe it
What do we learn about pornosec?
How do Julia and Winston differ in their rebellion to the party?
The Society: Oceania
Ministry of Love
Law and order
nothing is technically illegal
Ministry of Peace
Military and war
Ministry of Plenty
Economics and rationing
Ministry of Truth
Media (entertainment and news)
Newspeak; an active attempt to control thought by limiting language
Clocks strike 13.
"Ingsoc"
Telescreen
Hate week
doublethink
The Two-Minutes Hate
Ideology
Fascist, but born from socialism
Goldstein refers to it as oligarchical collectivism.
An oligarchy is a system where power is concentrated in a very small group of people. Power is passed from one person to another, but only willingly. There is no effective democracy. If the Oz government suddenly made voting optional, then very hard to do (restricting locations, removing the public holiday, requiring passports/driver's licenses, etc) in an attempt to control an elections outcome, you could argue OZ became an oligarchy.
Collectivism is not really a political ideology by itself. Collectivism is a social value that emphasises the needs of the many over the needs of the few. Naturally, communist and socialists talk/talked about collectivism a lot, but you also see this value in people's approach to the military, public service and heroism.
Critical Perspectives
Marxist
Focuses on the importance of class, power and wealth
Think about the destruction of produce, the rampant alcoholism, gambling and unenforced prostitution laws
Psychological
Focuses on the state of mind of the author and how the character's reflect their state of mind or their beliefs about the state of mind of others
Think about Syme and the existence of newspeak? What is the ultimate goal of newspeak?
Think about how O'Brien views Winston? Does O'Brien think Winston is a traitor, or mentally ill? Could a society encourage people to think sane beliefs are actually derangements?
Historical
Focuses on the references and comparisons to real life historical events and people
Think about the links to Nazi Germany, Stalin's U.S.S.R. and England. Winston's job is clearly inspired by Russian propaganda
Gender
Focuses on how texts represent gender roles and how they reinforce or challenge them
How is Julia portrayed throughout the text? How are the other women? Compare this to the men? Are there any patterns?
Does Winston hate Julia at first because Orwell is making a point about Oceania, or does Orwell simply think women aren't as trustworthy as men?
Try comparing Parsons to his wife. Which is portrayed more negatively? How?
Is
1984
(the novel, not the society which is obviously sexist) sexist?*
The fascist society uses sexism as a method of control, thus Orwell is anti-sexism . However, check how he describes women. Orwell focuses on women's hips a lot and implies things about their happiness based entirely on their physical description.
Compare the male secondary characters to the female secondary characters? Do they have the same faults? are there any patterns?
Characters
The Party
Outer Party. 13% of the population. Educated (to varying degrees) workers
Winston Smith
39(ish) years old
Julia. Woman from the Anti-Sex League, dark-haired "girl"
#
Arguably a early Manic Pixie Dream Girl
is Julia written consistently?
Inner Party
O'Brien
"looks" smart, built like a boxer. adjusts his glasses
inner party member
A snack?
The Proles
The working class. Uneducated, manual labour. Poor. Roughly 85% of the population. Functionally have more privacy, but only because they are a non-threat (and this would change if they ever became a threat)
Doublethink
We are the good ones, the others are bad (but we do the same stuff)
Language Features
Metaphors
Imagery
Lots of urban decay is contrasted with the beauty of nature. While the future is bad, the use of imagery reminds us that the future is only bad when you are around other humans. There is no natural reason for life to be bad, the society chooses for it to be bad.
Contradictions/hypocrites/doublethink
Limited third-person narration
allusion
Multiple allusions to England and London. Think about who the original target audience was and why this might scare them.
Setting
Genre tropes/cliches
Think about which dystopian cliches this novel does and doesn't use and/or subvert
Foreshadowing
Parts of the novel that hint at future events. Normally they create tension, or make later parts of the novel feel satisfying/earned
Reptition
Allegory
Personification
Symbolism
Gin/cigarettes/porn
Why is (bad) alcohol so plentiful? They even drink at work?
voluntary control
The red sash
Temptation
The Paperweight
The Two Minutes Hate
effectively government mandated virtue signaling
Big Brother
Characterisation
Track how Winston changes throughout the story and why. When an event is important enough to change Winston's personality, the author is making a point. Remember, that this techniques requires you to focus on a character who changes in response to the story.
Objectification
When people (normally only one gender in the text) are consistently written in such a way where they lack agency or the ability to control the story.
Paradoxes/oxymorons
Flashback/dreams
Subversion
Violence
Most of the novel isn't violent, but when it is violent, Orwell writes it in such a way that audiences find it confronting and discomforting. How does he manage this? Why present the violence this way?