George Orwell

1
George Orwell

• An Introduction to 1984

2
The Author

• George Orwell 1903-1950
• Politically Motivated Writer (Socialist)
• Wrote novels, and non-fiction essays
• Wrote 1984 in 1948
• Also author of Animal Farm

3
His Socialist Connections

• He was born Eric Hugh Blair, the middle child of
  a minor govt official.
• Sent to an expensive prep school--treated as a
  charity case. Allowed him to identify with the
  underdog.
• 1936--Goes to Spain to write about Spanish Civil
  War but instead joined the anti-Franco militia
  backed but Trotsky-ite Communists.

4
Orwell Socialism

• Wounded and was discharged just in time to escape
  from the country.
• Communists outlawed the militia Orwell becomes
  disillusioned with Communism
• Orwell concluded that all revolutions fail
  because those who attain power are corrupted by
  it.

5
Orwells Beliefs

• When he returned to England, Orwell his wife
  lived on a farm.
• Orwell seemed to believe that nature was the only
  truly Utopian state possible.
• 1984 was published in 1949 Orwell died in 1950
  not ever having known how famous and widely read
  (and referenced) his novel would be.

6
Context of 1984

• Written 3 years after the end of WWII
• World in state of uncertainty after the traumas
  of the war (Hiroshima Nagasaki)
• Huge divide emerging between Communist USSR and
  Capitalist West
• Beginning of the Cold War.

7
Setting

• The novel is set in a future British society,
  years after a nuclear war has occurred (Oceania)
• Society is split into three groups Inner Party,
  Outer Party and Proles
• Every aspect of a Party members life is
  controlled by the Party--Individual freedom does
  not exist

8
Features of the Society

• Telescreens
• Newspeak-reduction of language
• Thought Police (Thought Crime)
• Constant state of war with other countries
• Rationing
• Control of the media/newspapers/past
• Big Brother!!!!

9
Characters

• Winston Smith the protagonist a party member
  who resents the control the party exerts
• Big Brother the semi-mythical leader of the
  Party. Images of his face are omni-present in
  society.
• Julia-A representative of the perfect party
  member. Is she all that she seems to be?

10
Focus As We Read

• Can you find any parallels with the society that
  Orwell describes and our own society? Make note
  of these we read.
• Our focus will be on the ideas presented, not
  necessarily the plot.

11
Part II Chapter 9Goldsteins Book

• Winston is given a copy of the book and begins to
  read in order to understand the history behind
  the Party and the Totalitarian state.
• Winston reads two long excerpts from chapters 1
  3 of The Book.

12
Chapter 1 Ignorance is Strength

• Details the perpetual class struggle.
• Throughout history, all societies have been
  divided into a caste system of three groups the
  High, who are the rulers the Middle, who yearn
  to take over the position of the High and the
  Low, who are typically so suppressed that in
  their drudgery they have no goals beyond survival.

13
Ignorance is Strength

• Time and time again, the Middle have overthrown
  the High only to become the new High and oppress
  the Low.
• 20th century technological developments made it
  possible for the Inner Party to control the
  Middle/Low.
• The proletarian masses of Oceania itself will not
  rise up against the Party, for they are denied
  any standards of comparison and are thus not even
  aware they are oppressed.

14
Breakdown of the People
15
Chapter 3 War is Peace

• 3 Superstates Eurasia, Eastasia and Oceania
• In one combo or another, these 3 super-states are
  constantly at war with one another
• It is a war of limited aims combatants are
  unable to destroy one another, no material cause
  for fighting no ideological differences

16
Chapter 3 War is Peace

• The war is, essentially, fake. Very little
  fighting, very few casualties
• No super-state can/will overthrow another as they
  are too evenly matched.
• There is nothing to fight about.
• The primary aim in modern warfare is to use up
  the the products of the machine without raising
  the primary standard of living.

17
Chapter 3 War is Peace

• The two aims of the Party are to conquer the
  whole surface of the earth and to extinguish once
  and for all the possibility of independent
  thought.
• It is absolutely imperative that there be no
  contact with foreigners because people would
  discover that they are all alike and all
  information they have been told about the
  foreigners are lies.

18
Chapter 3 War is Peace

• When war becomes literally continuous, it also
  ceases to be dangerous. When war is continuous
  there is not such thing as military necessity.
• Though the war is unreal, it is not meaningless.
  It eats up the surplus of consumable goods, and
  it helps preserve the special mental atmosphere
  that a hierarchical society needs.

19
The Concept of Big Brother

• Big Brother is infallible, all-powerful. Every
  success, every achievement, every victory, every
  scientific discovery, all knowledge, all wisdom,
  all happiness, all virtue, are held to issue
  directly from his leadership and inspiration.
  Nobody has ever seen Big Brother. (page 171)

20
Big Brother

• His function is to act as a focusing point for
  love, fear, and reverence, emotions which are now
  easily felt toward toward an individual than
  toward an organization. (171)

21
The Life of the Party Members

• A Party member lives from birth to death under
  the eye of the Thought Police. (173)
• A Party member is expected to have no private
  emotions and no respites from enthusiasm. He is
  supposed to live in a continuous frenzy of hatred
  of foreign enemies and internal traitors

22
Oceania/Party Terms/Ideas

• In Oceania there is no law. A Party member is
  required to have not only the right opinions, but
  the right instincts.
• Crimestop means the ability of stopping short
  as though by instinct, at the threshold of any
  dangerous thought. It includes the power of not
  grasping analogies, of failing to perceive
  logical errorsIn short, it means protective
  stupidity.

23
Terms/Ideas Cont

• Black/White A loyal willingness to say what one
  knows is not true and more importantly, to
  believe it. 2 2 5
• Mutability of the past need to safeguard the
  infallibility of the Party erases the standards
  of comparison. Central tenet of Ingsoc (English
  Socialism).

24
Terms Cont

• Doublethink the power of holding two
  contradictory beliefs in ones mind
  simultaneously and accepting both of them.