GEORGE ORWELL’S



GEORGE ORWELL In His Own Words

On the purpose of 1984: “…I do not believe that the kind of society I describe necessarily will arrive, but I believe (allowing of course for the fact that the book is a satire) that something resembling it could arrive. I believe also that totalitarian ideas have taken root in the minds of intellectuals everywhere, and I have tried to draw these ideas out to their logical consequences. The scene of the book is laid in Britain in order to emphasize that the English-speaking races are not innately better than anyone else and that totalitarianism, if not fought against, could triumph anywhere.”

On modern dictatorships and human nature: “The terrifying thing about modern dictatorships is that they are something entirely unprecedented. Their end cannot be foreseen. In the past every tyranny was sooner or later overthrown, or at least resisted, because of ‘human nature,’ which as a matter of course desired liberty. Be we cannot be at all certain that ‘human nature’ is constant. It may be just as possible to produce a breed of men who do not wish for liberty as to produce a breed of hornless cows. The Inquisition failed, but then the Inquisition had not the resources of the modern state. The radio, press-censorship, standardized education, and the secret police have altered everything. Mass-suggestion is a science of the last twenty years, and we do not know how successful it will be.”

On writing: “What I have most wanted throughout the past ten years is to make political writing into an art. My starting point is always a feeling of partisanship, a sense of injustice. When I sit down to write a book, I do not say to myself, ‘I am going to produce a work of art.’ I write it because there is some lie that I want to expose, some fact to which I want to draw attention, and my initial concern is to get a hearing. But I could not do the work of writing a book, or even a long magazine article, if it were not also an aesthetic experience.”

Build Background Information 1984

1. Author: Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell)

a. Published novel in 1948

b. Orwell was ill with tuberculosis while writing the novel. He later died from this disease in 1950.

2. The Conditions Behind Orwell’s Novel

a. Orwell was inspired to write his novel as a warning against the twin evils of Nazism and Stalinism.

b. Dictatorships—Defeat of Germany’s Adolf Hitler, Italy’s Benito Mussolini. Success of Spain’s Francisco Franco, and Soviet Union’s Joseph Stalin

➢ Specific parallels to Stalin: Big Brother’s physical appearance, forced confessions, executions, “liquidations”; Stalin’s reign of terror resulted in between 8 and 13 million deaths.

➢ Other parallels to Stalin and Hitler: Extreme nationalism, emphasis on public displays of patriotism, food shortages/rationing, censorship of media, forced-labor camps, spying, secret police, constant war/threat of war, youth league (based on Hitler Youth)

3. Dystopian literature presents society as it should not be; dystopian novels are openly critical of existing societies and contain warnings about what could happen to a society that is mismanaged.

4. Irony and Satire

Irony is when a person uses language to say or indicate the opposite of what is meant, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.

➢ Ministry of Truth—information is re-written or erased

➢ Ministry of Peace—military matters

➢ Ministry of Love—law and order are dispensed

➢ Ministry of Plenty—economic matters are managed

a) Satire—is used to expose faults of humanity and/or society. Satire is most effective as comedy.

b) Orwell’s satirical messages to the reader…

➢ People are disinterested in concepts such as integrity, freedom, and individual consciousness.

➢ Fear and hatred can motivate and unite people far better than love and loyalty.

1984 Setting: Post World War II, 1984, in the city of London, located on Airstrip One (England). Throughout the novel, there is a selectively told back story of a war and revolution, which resulted in the current dystopian society.

Main Character: Winston Smith, age 39. As the dystopian protagonist, he questions the society he lives in.

➢ Winston’s name comes from the famous WWII era English Prime Minister, Winston Churchill

➢ Smith happens to be the most common last name in Great Britain, and emphasizes conformity of the citizens and lack of individuality.

Secondary Characters: Julia—the dark-haired girl, Parsons, Syme, Mr. Charrington and O’Brien.

Political World Geography:

➢ Oceania—includes North and South America, British Isles, Australia and South Africa

➢ Eastasia—includes China, Japan, Manchuria, Mongolia and Tibet

➢ Eurasia—includes Russia, Europe, Western Asia

Oceania’s Government Structure: Oceania is ruled by The Party. The citizens are controlled by a political belief system called English Socialism (INSOC), with a figurehead leader called Big Brother.

➢ The Inner-Party: These members possess absolute power.

➢ The Outer-Party: Middle-class members of society are carefully scrutinized and controlled.

➢ Proletariats: Are not Party members. Loosely regulated by the Thought Police. Not considered a threat to the Party. Standard of living among lower and middle class is extremely poor.

Government Ministries:

➢ Ministry of Truth—information is re-written or erased

➢ Ministry of Peace—military matters

➢ Ministry of Love—law and order are dispensed

➢ Ministry of Plenty—economic matters are managed

Propaganda techniques used by INSOC to control the citizens:

1. Doublethink and Newspeak

2. Party slogans and posters

o “Big Brother is watching you.”

o “War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength.”

o “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”

3. Victory brand items (cigarettes, gin, coffee)

4. Newspeak is the language of Oceania, limits thoughts by eliminating words

5. 2-Minutes Hate, changing enemy and constant war, Goldstein the enemy of the state

Surveillance techniques used to control Outer-Party members

The Jr. Spies

Telescreens and hidden microphones

Thought Police

Police Patrols

Helicopter patrols

Attendance at the community center

Workplace monitoring

Marriages are arranged and approved by the Party

The following study questions will assist you in determining the most important concepts from each chapter. In addition to these study questions, you will have vocabulary assignments, quizzes, and essays.

STUDY GUIDE

BOOK I: CHAPTER 1

1. How are the phrases War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength contradictions? What is their purpose so far in the novel?

2. How does Winston feel towards women—particularly the young, pretty ones?

3. Who is Goldstein? Who is Big Brother?

4. What does Winston write in his diary as he recalls the Two Minutes Hate?

5. What happens to those who commit Thoughtcrime? Why the shot in the back of the neck?

6. Is thoughtcrime the ultimate control by any governmental force? Explain.

BOOK I: CHAPTER 2

7. Explain what happens at the Parson’s house. What does this tell you about children and their parents?

8. What is Winston afraid of in terms of writing in his diary?

9. Do you think Winston is alone in his thoughts? Is he a psychopath…or an actual genius?

RESPOND to the following for BOOK I: CHAPTERS 3—4

10. Explain Winston’s dream of his mother. Why do you think these memories, including the one of the old man, are coming out now?

11. Is being alone in your thoughts—being the only one who believes something—more frightening than torture or death? Explain.

12. What is Winston’s job? How does this relate to Doublethink?

BOOK I: CHAPTER 5

13. How does our Essential Question of “words” relate to Syme? What is he so proud of?

14. Explain your opinion on the Parson’s girl.

BOOK I: CHAPTER 6

15. When Winston picks up his diary again, what is he writing about? How does he react?

16. What is the purpose of Big Brother taking away sexual intimacy?

RESPOND:

17. Consider the chocolate ration. Do you believe the falsifying of information happens today? In what contexts?

18. Who are the Proles? Are we (middle to low class) the Proles?

19. Would Winston be better off if he never knew this information—similar to our Essential Question?

RESPOND to the following for BOOK I: CHAPTERS 7—8

20. How is Winston so sure that Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford were not criminals against Big Brother? Why do you think Big Brother has them in the Chestnut Street Café?

21. Why is the conversation between Winston and the old Prole man very disappointing for Winston.

22. Is Winston a very, very brave man…or a very, very foolish man? Explain your thoughts.

23. Which Essential Question do you think best applies to Book 1 of 1984? Explain.

24. What is so special about the coral paperweight that Winston buys?

25. What are your predictions for the next section of the novel? Explain.

26. Find 3 quotes that you find interesting within BOOK I: CHAPTERS 7 and 8.

|QUOTE |THOUGHT |

| | |

| | |

| | |

| | |

Doublethink

The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them....To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies — all this is essentially necessary. Even in using the word doublethink requires the use of doublethink. For by using the word one admits that one is tampering with reality; by a fresh act of doublethink one erases this knowledge; and so on indefinitely, with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth. __________________________________________________________________________________________

1. Ministry of Truth—really concerned with lies.

a. Changing the records and then actually believing in the change, even though it is a known falsehood.

2. Party must rule as if they are infallible….but they are constantly correcting and learning from their own mistakes

3. Cognitive Therapy: Change the thinking, believe the change, and make the change convincing.

a. Cognitive Distortions are inaccurate thoughts or ideas, which maintain negative thinking.

b. These examples of distortions are what psychologists/psychiatrists intend to change through Cognitive Therapy.

• All-or-nothing thinking - Thinking of things in absolute terms, like “always” or “every” or “never”.

➢ I can never do this right; no one ever listens to me.

• Mental filter - Focusing exclusively on certain, usually negative or upsetting, aspects of something while ignoring the rest.

➢ A tiny imperfection in a piece of clothing; didn’t win the race.

• Jumping to conclusions - Assuming something negative where there is no evidence to support it. Two specific subtypes are also identified:

➢ Mind reading - Assuming the intentions of others.

➢ Fortune telling - Predicting how things will turn before they happen. Good example is when you plan out a fight with someone before the evidence allows the “fight” to happen.

• Labeling and Mislabeling - Explaining behaviors or events, merely by naming them. Rather than describing the specific behavior, you assign a label to someone or yourself that puts them in absolute and unalterable terms.

➢ A person is acting immaturely. You call the person immature.

Doublespeak

In Orwell’s 1984, doublethink is a form of mind control where a person is able to believe contrary ideas or facts at the same time and to forget that one is consciously doing it. Whatever is deemed to be true by the Inner Party is automatically accepted as true by all Party members even if it contradicts what was said to be true previously. Today, the sky is stated as by the Party to be green, yesterday is was purple. By using doublethink, both statements are accepted by all as true. Truth is whatever the Party says is true at the moment. This is a satire on the conformity of thought urged and enforced in certain societies during Orwell’s time (Germany, Russia, and Spain). Although this extreme form of mass mind control has not taken shape in our present societies, a lesser version has evolved. This version is called doublespeak.

What is doublespeak? According to William Lutz, a professor at Rutgers University who has written books on the subject, it is language that attempts to deceive, hides true meaning, and prevents clear thought.

Doublespeak is language which pretends to communicate but really doesn’t. It is language which makes the bad seem good, the negative appear positive, the unpleasant appear attractive, or at least tolerable. It is language which avoids or shifts responsibility, language which is at variance with its real or purported meaning. It is language which conceals or prevents thought. Doublespeak is language which does not extend thought but limits it.[1]

The National Council of Teachers of English has been tracking doublespeak since the early 1970s. A Committee on Public Doublespeak was formed to search out abuses of language by the government, industry, advertisers, military, health care, educators, and anyone who influences public policy in our country. This committee gives out annual awards to those who have most abused or misused the language. Below, a partial list of doublespeak expressions the committee has uncovered is printed.

Part A Directions: Match each doublespeak expression with its meaning. Write the letter of your answer in the column provided after the expression.

|Military Doublespeak Terms |Meaning |Choices |

|Front-leaning rest exercises | |Retreat |

|Preemptive counterattack | |Invasion |

|Air support | |Civilian Casualities |

|Servicing the target | |Push-ups |

|Wood interdental stimulators | |Toothpick |

|Collateral damage | |Bombing |

|Tactical redeployment | |Nuclear Bomb |

|Large potentially disruptive reentry system | |Killing the enemy |

|Business and Industry Doublespeak Terms |Meaning |Choices |

|Career scanning professional | |Greeting Cards |

|Social-expression product | |Fired from job |

|Non-performing assets | |Plane Crash |

|Management turnovers | |Polluted |

|Excessed | |Dump |

|Controlled flight into terrain | |Cashier |

|Negative patient-care outcome | |Bad loans |

|Inhalation hazard | |Prison |

|Resource development park | |Death in a hospital |

|Adult correctional institution | |Poison gas |

|Environmentally destabilized | |Job layoffs |

|Energetic disassembly | |Toilet |

|Guest-relation facility | |Nuclear-power-plant explosion |

|Government Doublespeak Terms |

|Sub-standard housing | |Recession |

|Revenue enhancement | |Ghetto |

|Poorly buffered precipitation | |Taxes |

|Period of accelerated negative growth | |Acid rain |

Part B Directions: Professor William Lutz writes that “doublespeak is not the product of careless language or sloppy thinking.” Rather, it is the “product of clear thinking and is language carefully designed…to mislead…to distort reality…to corrupt the mind.” Select three doublespeak expressions from the list and explain why you think this doublespeak expression was created and how it misleads the reader.

1.

2.

3.

BOOK II: CHAPTER 1

1. On the scale below with 1 being trouble and 10 being innocent, where does the dark-haired girl fall?

1 10

2. Why?

BOOK II: CHAPTER 2

3. Explain your opinions about Julia after you read Chapter 2.

4. Winston considers their affair “a political act”. Do you agree or disagree? Do you think Julia looks at it this way?

5. Choose two quotes from this chapter that most stand out to you. Why?

BOOK II: CHAPTER 3

6. Complete the chart with specifics from the novel.

|JULIA’S THOUGHTS TOWARDS THE PARTY, OTHERS, AND SEX |

|OTHERS | |

|PARTY REPRESSION | |

|SEX | |

7. How does doublethink apply to Julia since she “would not accept...the individual is always defeated”?

BOOK II: CHAPTER 4

8. Do you trust Charrington? Explain.

9. Why is the scene with Winston and Julia lying together so perfect? Do they really love each other?

BOOK II: CHAPTER 5

10. Why has Winston’s health improved?

11. On the scale below with 1 being the least selfish and 10 being the most selfish, where does Julia fall? Why?

1 10

BOOK II: CHAPTER 6

12. How do you feel about O’Brien?

13. Complete the graphic organizer with how we are just like the citizens of Oceania.

RESPOND to the following for BOOK II: CHAPTERS 7—8

14. Can you justify Winston’s behavior as a child?

15. What is the real betrayal, according to Winston?

16. Do you trust O’Brien?

17. Is the Brotherhood worth what could happen to the individual?

BOOK II: CHAPTER 9

18. Read pages 195—200, 218-219, 238.

19. What has changed in Oceania and who is blamed for it?

20. How does Julia react to Winston’s excitement over Goldstein’s book? Why?

BOOK II: CHAPTER 10

21. Winston views the large, singing woman as beautiful. Most likely, she is not beautiful. Why does he call her this?

22. How is the smashing of the coral paperweight a symbolic?

23. Who is most to blame for what has happened to Winston and Julia. (cannot be Party). Explain.

24. Complete the triangle below with the 3 methods the Party uses to manipulate (your opinion).

*SUMMARY OF: The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism. By Emmanuel Goldstein

Chapter One, “Ignorance Is Strength,” asserts that the goals of the three classes—High, Middle, and Low—contradict one another. Winston, who is delighted with the freedom to read, now skips to Chapter Three, “War Is Peace.”

This chapter details the locations of the three superpowers who have been permanently at war for the last 25 years. The book describes war as occurring without purpose since, with the introduction of self-sufficient economies, there is no reason to fight. The main purpose of war is to use the surplus of consumer products without raising the standard of living for everyone. War, which accomplishes destruction in a relatively acceptable way, provides a basis for fear and hatred. All members of the Inner Party believe that war ends with conquest, perhaps resulting from the discovery of a new weapon. All three powers, for example, possess the atomic bomb which is the most powerful weapon. After the first atomic bombs were exploded, the superpowers became frightened, produced no more, and stored the remainder for the day when the inevitable would occur.

Usually, large-scale campaigns involve surprise attacks on an ally. Once an area is surrounded with a ring of bases, the powers sign a friendship pact to remain allies, but, in the meantime, a strategic missile build-up is ongoing. No fighting ever occurs except in some disputed areas; there is never an invasion of enemy territory lest the soldiers discover that the conquered foreigners are fellow human beings.

Philosophies of 3 states are almost the same—Ingsoc (Oceania); Neo-Bolshevism (Eurasia): and Obliteration of the Self (Eastasia).

Key concepts to all philosophies are:

1. Pyramidical structures

2. Worship of a semi-divine leader

3. Economy geared toward war

Each of the three states have become unconquerable. Therefore, the previously held concept of war occurring because of some provocation no longer exists. In fact, permanent peace would be the same as permanent war; it has the same effects. This concept is the real meaning of the belief “War Is Peace.” In the end, the supersates are not fighting against one another at all. The war is actually waged by each ruling group against its own subjects—with the intention of using surplus consumable goods, and serving the mental atmosphere that the society needs a hierarchy.

Winston is not surprised by what he reads. After Julia arrives and they make love, he begins to read aloud Chapter One, “Ignorance Is Strength,” which begins with an overview of the class system with one underlying constant; history shows a recurring series of clashes for power with the low class remaining low.

By the late nineteenth century, the book claims, these patterns had become apparent but were of no real concern since historians had declared them as cyclical. Even variants of Socialism after 1900 aimed less and less for liberty and equality, but, instead, aimed for unfreedom and inequality.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, there was no longer any reason for social or economic class distinction because machines had made a life of productivity and leisure possible for everyone. Although the descendants affected by the French, English, and American revolutions may have believed in equality, by the 1930s political thought had changed and a hierarchy had become desirable. This thinking explains how long-abandoned practices such as trial, torture, and public executions became more widespread.

The new totalitarianism had leaders whose origins were in the salaried and upper middle class; therefore, wealth meant little to them, but power meant everything. Perhaps this interest in power stemmed from the fact that it became easier to control opinion through print and television.

In this setting the high class knew how to maintain its power, for it relied on the principle that oligarchy is collectivism, that wealth and privilege can be defended when they are possessed jointly. The real effect, though, is that when the principle of private property is abolished, the real control is in the hands of a few. Together the Party owns everything in Oceania, but the decisions are made by a few. Ingsoc, based on this Socialist idea, resulted in a permanent economic inequality.

The ruling group can only fall from power under the following circumstances:

1. defeat from the outside superstates

2. ineffective leadership causing the masses to revolt

3. allowing the dissatisfied Middle-Class to gain strength

4. losing its desire to rule

In Oceania the continuation of the hierarchy is due to the persistence of the belief through children. One becomes an Inner or Outer Party member at age 16 after taking an exam. The proles really are no threat since their world has been shaped by the Party. They need no education, since military and commercial rivalries no longer exist and they have no intellect.

Commitment to the Party, combined with hatred of the enemy, shapes the life of every Party member, who has been taught from the earliest ages the skill of “crimestop,” the faculty of stopping any dangerous thought. The need for flexibility in dealing with facts demands their continuous alteration made possible by “doublethink.”

Since mutability (changeability) of the past is the central belief of Ingsoc, “doublethink” becomes critical because the Party seems to have a firmness of purpose associated with honesty. Under the disguise of straightforwardness, the Party has deviously altered events in accordance with its philosophy. Thus, the Party has been able to stop history.

The linking together of opposites is the distinguishing feature of Oceania’s society. Even the major institutions are examples of “doublethink”

1. The society undermines family but preaches family loyalty to Big Brother.

2. Ministry of Peace concerns itself with war.

3. Ministry of Truth spreads lies.

4. Ministry of Love is in charge of torture.

5. Ministry of Plenty oversees starvation.

As he concludes Chapter One, Goldstein asks the same question that has continued to bother Winston throughout the reading: Why should history be stopped at this particular time to avert human equality? Goldstein seems as perplexed as Winston.

At this point Winston realizes that he has not really learned anything new from either chapter. Symbolically, Winston falls asleep before Goldstein is about to answer the central question: “I understand HOW: I do not understand WHY,” which will be addressed later in the novel. Although Winston does not get the answer to his most troubling dilemma, the reading at least proves to him that he is not insane, nor is he alone.

RESPOND to the following for BOOK III: CHAPTERS 1—2

1. What are you most afraid of? What would be the worst way to die?

2. Should Winston have always known that he and O’Brien would meet in the place where there is no darkness? Explain.

3. In the face of pain, there are no heroes. Do you agree or disagree?

4. What is your Room 101?

BOOK III: CHAPTER 3

5. What are the three stages to Winston’s reintegration to society?

6. Do you agree or disagree with Winston’s statement that the world O’Brien and the Party have created will never endure?

7. Is the mental torture (Winston seeing himself and being told he’s alone) worse than the physical torture? Explain.

BOOK III: CHAPTER 4

8. Explain with specifics how Winston has changed.

RESPOND to the following for BOOK III: CHAPTERS 5—6

9. What is significant about Winston betraying Julia?

10. Julia says, “All you care about is yourself,” when referencing saving yourself while in Room 101. Are human beings truly this selfish, or is this simply the workings of an author in a fictional story?

11. What do you think was in Julia’s Room 101?

12. Is Winston alive or dead at the end of the novel? Provide at least 3 reasons to support your opinion.

13. At the end of the novel, does Winston really love Big Brother?

REFLECTIONS:

14. Who is most to blame for what has happened to Winston?

15. Reflecting back to the beginning of the novel, is it possible to know that Winston was going to end up the way he did? Explain.

16. Do you agree or disagree that physical pain can overcome the body’s sense of reason? Explain further, despite your answer, if the Party (or any totalitarian government) can gain complete control through physical pain. How does this happen in 1984?

17. How do you feel towards Winston at the end of this novel? We’ve taken a long journey with him…what are your thoughts towards him? Consider his last “memory”. Explain your thoughts.

18. What have you learned from this novel?

19. Has technology actually moved us to a world that will resemble Oceania? Explain.

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[1] Lutz, William, “Fourteen Years of Doublespeak,” English Journal (March 1988): 40.

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WE ARE OCEANIA

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