Transcript File - Mrs. Trainor`s English class

“Early in life I had noticed
that no event is ever
correctly reported in a
newspaper.”
Context:
• Dictators such as Adolf Hitler in Germany
and Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union
inspired Orwell’s hatred of totalitarianism
and political authority. 1984 was largely
written as a warning against totalitarian
society.
• In Spain, Germany, and the
Soviet Union, Orwell personally
witnessed absolute political
authority and how regimes
used technology as a tool of
repression.
Totalitarianism (or totalitarian rule) is a political
system that strives to regulate nearly every aspect
of public and private life.
Totalitarian regimes or movements maintain
themselves in political power by means of an official
all-embracing ideology and propaganda
disseminated through the state-controlled mass
media, a single party that controls the state,
personality cults, control over the economy,
regulation and restriction of free discussion and
criticism, the use of mass surveillance, and
widespread use of state terrorism.
Joseph Stalin may have been Orwell’s
inspiration for Big Brother
“…the poster gazed from the wall. It depicted simply an
enormous face, more than a meter wide: the face of a
man of about forty-five, with a heavy black moustache
and ruggedly handsome features."
Social class disparity in Oceania
The Proles
• - Proletarians or lower, working classes. Approximately
85% of Oceania's population are in this class. Members
of the party viewed them as animals. They are not as
rigidly observed as members of the party, and very few
(if any) have telescreens in their home. They are
permitted to indulge in pornography, prostitution, and
other acts considered thoughtcrime, simply because it
would be impossible to observe all of them as rigidly as
the party observes its own members. Plus, allowing them
to indulge in these "little joys" helps to keep the masses
content.
Background to Nineteen Eighty-Four
• The world of Nineteen Eighty-Four is
based upon two totalitarian
dictatorships, Soviet Russia and Nazi
Germany.
• The world of Ingsoc (English
socialism) bears strong resemblances
to the Soviet Union, but much of the
detail of the life comes from Germany.
• Like Stalin, Adolph Hitler denied his
subjects access to the truth. His Third
Reich “can be read as a war against
memory – an Orwellian falsification of
reality...” (Primo Levi) Oceania conducts
an unceasing war on memory-evidence
that conflicts with the latest official line is
systematically destroyed & a false trail is
laid in its place.
Children of the revolution
In the Soviet Union,young people were
encouraged to join the political group.
They were called Young Pioneers (aged
between 7-13) and later called
Komsomols.
If you were a Komsomol member you got
into university automatically, so there was
great pressure to join.
Hitler youth flourished…
Nineteen Eighty-Four
• A novel that is also an essay
• Winston’s experience is typical of what
happens to people in Ingsoc.
• Winston’s journey to the Ministry of Love
(Torture Chambers) is inevitable from the
time he picks up the diary.
Why keep a diary?
Anne Frank keeps a diary to explore what she feels and
reflect on what she knows.
She also keeps it as a way of comforting herself.
This activity is difficult for Winston because the activity of
diary writing becomes impossible.
No privacy exists.
‘Big Brother is watching you.’
• Surveillance and control
The people of this society are constantly
being watched by telescreens (monitors
that have an ability to project images and
take in images)
They are also watching each other. Any
small facial gesture or sigh can give you
away.
It doesn’t matter if you are innocent
Cameras everywhere!
Big Brother is Watching
YOU
No joke or popular TV show – he really was watching!!!
The human need for freedom
• In the society Orwell imagines, people
could not:
– Love who they want
– Work where they want
– Walk where they want
– Eat what they want
– Write anything down
– Weren't allowed to have memories
What is someone willing to risk for freedom?
Things you need to take note of
when reading the text:
• The “new” language. Any term that is
unfamiliar to you should be noted down
and defined. At the start of the novel most
words are defined or explained.
• Words/terms like: newspeak, minitrue,
thoughtcrime, proles, Ministry of Love,
Hate Week. Doubleplusgood, duckspeak,
Oceania
Newspeak
The official language of Oceania.
Newspeak is "politically correct"
speech taken to its maximum
extent
http://www.newspeakdictionary.com/
Oceania –
One of the 3 Superstates. (Political
System: Ingsoc) Winston Smith's
home. Comprised of North and South
America, Britain, Australia, and
southern portions of Africa.
Newspeak is the official language of
Oceania, but standard English is still
spoken by many.
The importance of history
• One of Winston’s jobs is to change the
past so that it “fits into” the present beliefs
of those in power.
• No one values history, even personal
history is worthless.
Loyalty to the party
transcends even family ties.
All marriages are arranged to produce
children to serve the state. From the time
that these offspring are very young, they
are trained as spies. Many children, turn
their parents in to the Thought Police.
Neither the parents nor the children are
supposed to have any love for one
another. There is no love in the world of
Big Brother.