2. Food for Thought.
• How does this novel can be evaluated with
our society?
• Orwell’s Message through this novel.
1. The fear factor?
2. Isolation and Individualism?
3. Societal apathy?
3. 1984: Story Outline
• Winston is sick of his job fabricating and changing
history at the “Ministry of Truth”.
• “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is
strength.” 1984, Ch. 3.
• Winston has a sexual affair with Julia -- he trusts
her and shares his rebellious thoughts with her
• Winston wants to get involved with O’Brien, who
he thinks is part of the Brotherhood rebellion
• Eventually both Winston and Julia are captured
by the Party
4. The Author.
• The real name of “George Orwell” was Eric
Blair.
• Orwell was an Englishman born at Kolkata,
India in 1903. His father was involved in
Opium trade to China. He died at age 47.
• Orwell got education at Eton, a prestigious
boarding school in England.
5. The Author.
• Orwell skipped college education and work as
a British Imperial Policeman in Burma for few
years.
• He did not like working in Burma and returned
to English on sick-leave.
• In England he dedicated himself exclusively to
write for full time.
• The novel 1984 was written in 1948.
6.
7. Orwell’s Political Affiliations.
• He considered himself a democratic socialist
and was critical of communism
• He hated intellectuals, lying, cruelty, political
authority, and totalitarianism.
• Ex. “Man is the only creature that consumes
without producing.” Animal Farm (1945)
Chapter-1.
• He strongly opposed Stalin and Hitler -- he
was very outspoken during WWII
8. Setting of 1984.
• Setting: London, aka “Airstrip One” in the
mythical country of Oceania, 1984 ( Just
sometime in the future).
• Government :- Totalitarian dictatorship
• Big Brother : Symbol and heroic persona.
• THE BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU. 1984. Ch.1
• Inner Party : Intellectuals devoted to the Party
• Outer Party : Mindless class as they are Powerless
• The Proles : The “subhuman” workers
9. Genre of 1984.
• Futuristic, cautionary novel.
• “Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the
present controls the past.” 1984, Ch. 3.
• Dystopia : A perfect society gone wrong. Orwellian.
• Orwell warns against what will happen in the future with
experience of atrocities and dictatorship of the WWII
• Totalitarian Authorities.
• “Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a
dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes
revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.” 1984, Ch. 3.
• Brainwash the society with the help of science and technology.
• No Individual freedom.
10. Significant Characters.
• Winston Smith : The ‘everyman’ and a member of the
Party, that rewrites history. He rebels against the Party.
• “Freedom is freedom to say that two plus two make
four. If that is granted, all else follows.” 1984, Ch. 3.
• O’ Brien : A boss to Winston and a member of the
‘brotherhood’, the underground rebel group.
• Julia: A 25 year old girl works with Winston and
attracted towards him.
• Mr. Charrington: Who provides place for Julia and
Winston.
• Big Brother: He is the perceived ruler of Oceania -- he
looks like a combination of Hitler and Stalin
11. Ranks of Oceania
• Oceania is a huge country ruled by The Party, which is led by a
figure called “Big Brother”
• The Inner Party (1% of pop.) control the country
• The Outer Party (18% of pop.) are controlled by the Inner Party
• The Proles (81% of pop.) are the labor power who live in poverty.
• “The Lottery, with its weekly pay-out of enormous prizes, was the
one public event to which the proles paid serious attention… It was
their delight, their folly, their anodyne, their intellectual
stimulant…the prizes were largely imaginary. Only small sums were
actually paid out, the winners of the big prizes being non-existent
persons.” 1984, Ch.8.
• The Brotherhood is an underground rebellion organization lead by
Emmanuel Goldstein
12. Significant Terminology.
• Newspeak: Newspeak is the official language of Oceania.The goal of the
Party is to replace Oldspeak (standard English). It eliminates undesirable
words and invents new words -- all to force Party conformity.
• “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of
thought? In the end we shall make thought crime literally impossible,
because there will be no words in which to express it.” 1984, Ch.- 5.
• Doublethink: Doublethink makes people believe that the Party is the only
institution that knows right from wrong.
• “Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in
one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.” 1984, Ch.- 9.
• “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” 1984, Ch. 3.
• Telescreen: A two way screen of TV
• THE BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU. 1984. Ch.1
• Ingsoc: English socialism
• “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human
face-for ever.” 1984, Ch. 3.
