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Nineteen Eighty-Four (Key Themes (Control, Totalitarianism, Sexism,…

- - - - "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."
  - - - Dedication to the Party and Ingsoc
      - Bravery
      - Doesn't smoke, doesn't drink, hits the gym for an hour a day
      - Celibate
  - - - the point of the rules: make sex unenjoyable
  - - - 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
- - - - nothing is technically illegal
  - - - 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.
- - - - Think about the destruction of produce, the rampant alcoholism, gambling and unenforced prostitution laws
  - - - 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?
  - - - Think about the links to Nazi Germany, Stalin's U.S.S.R. and England. Winston's job is clearly inspired by Russian propaganda
  - - - 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. The third person narration also has a habit of referring to grown women as girls never refers to men as boys
      - Compare the male secondary characters to the female secondary characters? Do they have the same faults? are there any patterns?
      - Why is Julia only written as incrediby compentent when she is assisting Winston or procuring things Winston enjoys, but written as a simpleton the second politics comes up? How could someone hate the party so much but also be so uncaring about how the society functions?
      - Why is Julia a 26 year old? Why wasn't she written as a someone who is closer in age to Winston? Do any of Julia's qualities seem to require her to be young? Is she just 26 years old because straight, male readers are more likely to find her exciting if she is younger?
- - - - 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?
    - - O'Brien
        
        "looks" smart, built like a boxer. adjusts his glasses
        
        inner party member
        
        A snack?
- - - - Many members of the party are compared to insects. Scientists in part 3 are beetle-like. Winston sees the party as more of a hive mind than a group of individuals and O'Brien's philosophy on power also supports this.
    - - 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.
      - Lots of touch and feeling described. this is done for both pleasureable and very unpleasureable moments which creates a contrast. It also ties into Orwell's point that a person can have high-minded ideas, but those ideas can't be focused on if you are feeling extreme pain or hunger. The Party also believes this and this is why the choose to keep people in poverty
    - - Not omniscient third person
    - - Multiple allusions to England and London. Think about who the original target audience was and why this might scare them.
      - There are multiple references to a child's nursery rhyme in Part 2. Why? the repeated use of it makes the audience think it might mean something or be useful, but ultimately it adds nothing (execept it could be one of the clues that gave Winston away)
    - - Think about which dystopian cliches this novel does and doesn't use and/or subvert.
    - - Parts of the novel that hint at future events. Normally they create tension, or make later parts of the novel feel satisfying/earned
    - - The people of Oceania often repeat phrases and saying without actually understanding them. Sometimes Winston thinks negatively of them for this, but he often does it himself as well. He regularly repeats the nursery rhyme about London without understand its meaning and he repeats the phrase about meeting in the place with no darkness.
    - - Gin/cigarettes/porn
        
        Why is (bad) alcohol so plentiful? They even drink at work?
        
        voluntary control
      - The red sash
        
        Temptation
      - The Paperweight
        
        Think about how much focus Orwell and Winston place on this and how much actualy impact it has on the story
      - The Two Minutes Hate
        
        effectively government mandated virtue signaling
      - Big Brother
    - - 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.
    - - 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.
      - What about the few non-white characters in the story? how are they treated and how are they portrayed? Do we ever see them act or are they always victims? Is that a reflection of how Winston sees the world or how Orwell sees it?
    - - Winston often dreams of a vaguely nicer, natural place, but never dreams or remembers details of an actually functional and successful society? Why?
    - - How does Orwell set up certain audience expecations and then betray them later in the novel? what point is Orwell making with this subversion
    - - 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? How is the way violence is presented in the novel change over time. The violences in Part 1 and the majority of Part 2 has an weird, dispassionate quality to it. Winston sees it and thinks about it in manner similar to how we think about TV. At the finale of Part 2 and all of Part 3, the violence becomes far more intimate. Orwell's use of imagery changes and the audience is forced to imagine what the victims are going through.