Transcript ENG2D 1984 Book Two Test Review

ENG2D 1984
Book Two Test
Review
Blyth - Fairbloom
Winston Smith
• Protagonist
• Minor member of the
ruling Party
• Thin, frail, contemplative,
intellectual, and fatalistic
thirty-nine-year-old
• Hates the totalitarian
control
• Has revolutionary dreams
Winston Smith
Julia
• Winston’s lover
• Beautiful dark-haired girl
• Works in the Fiction Department
at the Ministry of Truth
• Claims to have had sexual affairs
with many Party members
• Pragmatic and optimistic
• She privately rebels against the
Party for her own enjoyment
(unlike Winston’s ideological
motivations)
O’Brien
• Mysterious, powerful and
sophisticated member of the
Inner Party
• Winston thinks he is also part of
the Brotherhood (the anti-Party
rebels)
Big Brother
• Never appears in the novel /
may not actually exist
• Perceived ruler of Oceania
• Everywhere people look there
are posters of Big Brother’s face
with the message “BIG
BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.”
• His face is on coins and on
broadcasts on the telescreens
• Haunts Winston
Big Brother
Big Brother represents the
power of the Party, and the
pinnacle of the propaganda
machine. It is unclear whether
or not he truly exists, since he
never seems to age, and since
readers are privy to what goes
on at the "Ministry of Truth”.
He is plastered on posters and
on telescreens all over
Oceania, and citizens are
constantly reminded that “Big
Brother is Watching You”, to
control their thoughts and
actions at all times.
Mr. Charrington
• Old man who runs a secondhand store in prole district
• Kind and encouraging
• Shares Winston’s interest in
the past
• Supports Winston’s rebellion
against the Party and his
relationship with Julia
• Rents Winston a room without
a telescreen so he can have his
affair
• We later find out he is not as
he seems
Character
About
Syme
•
•
•
•
Intelligent, outgoing
Works with Winston at the Ministry of Truth
Specializes in language
Working on a new edition of the Newspeak dictionary
Parsons
•
•
•
•
Fat, obnoxious
Party member who lives near Winston
Works at the Ministry of Truth
Dull wife and a group of suspicious, rude children who are members
of the Junior Spies
Emmanuel
Goldstein
• Never appears in the novel
• According to the Party, Goldstein is the legendary leader of the
Brotherhood
• Party describes him as the most dangerous and treacherous man in
Oceania
Katherine
• Emotionally indifferent wife that married Winston out of their duty to
the Party
• Divorce is not permitted, but they were allowed to “separate” – live
separately – because she cannot bare children
• Winston hopes she dies so that he can marry Julia
Emmanuel Goldstein
For Winston, Emmanuel
Goldstein’s book represents hope,
a potential way to revolutionize
and overthrow this oppressive
government and bring back free
thought and personal
independence. However, once
Winston actually reads the book,
he feels let down because he gets
a history of how Ingsoc came to
be, but he doesn’t get the why it
came to be, or even what can be
done about it. He thinks the book
will hold the key, or some
answers, to solving their current
predicament.
Inner & Outer Party Members
CRIMESTOP
“The faculty of
stopping short,
as though by
instinct, at the
threshold of any
dangerous
thought”
CRIMETHINK / THOUGHTCRIME
• “Thoughtcrime is death”; thoughts
that run contradictory to the
ideology put forth by the Party
• Any thought or idea that went
against the party doctrine or
questioned Big Brother’s
infallibility
• Winston’s diary is an example of
thoughtcrime.
• In today’s society, this would
trample on freedom of speech,
religion, and basic human
individuality
• Responsible for arresting people
guilty of crimes and enforcing the
policies of the Party
Diary
Example of
Thoughtcrime
UNPERSON
• A person who has been
“vaporized” and written out
of existence
• A person who has been
purged of anti-Party ideas.
The person has been
removed from the Party and
perhaps even vaporized and
removed from history
through changes in written
records.
• Comrade Ogilvy, a made-up
person, was created to fill
the gaps when the unperson,
Comrade Withers,
disappears
DOUBLETHINK
• To hold two contradictory
beliefs simultaneously
• Newspeak
• The ability to believe
contradictory opinions or facts
even though you know one is
false
• 5 Steps:
Know that 2 + 2 = 4
Be told that 2 + 2 = 5
Know that they can’t both be
true
Force yourself to forget that 2 +
2=4
Accept as a fact that 2 + 2 = 5
• … and Eurasia has always been
the sworn enemy of Oceania
yet only a few years ago they
were allies.
Newspeak
• Oceania’s official language created by shortening words
• Devised by the Party to serve Party ideology
• The purpose of Newspeak is to express the Party’s
worldview and to “make all other modes of thought
impossible.”
• It achieves its goals by inventing new words and eliminating
“unnecessary” words
• Three levels:
1. Describe concrete objects and actions
2. Compound words used for political purposes (facecrime),
as euphuisms (joycamp), and abbreviations (Minitrue)
3. Scientific and technical terms that science workers need in
order to do their jobs
Newspeak / Language as Mind
Control
• Language is of central importance to human
thought because it structures and limits the ideas
that individuals are capable of formulating and
expressing
• Makes it impossible to even conceive of
disobedient or rebellious thoughts because there
are no words with which to think them
• Goal of Newspeak is that no one will be capable
of conceptualizing anything that might question
the Party’s absolute power
Control of Information and History
• The Party controls every source of information,
managing and rewriting the content for all
newspapers and histories for its own ends. The
Party does not allow individuals to keep records
of their past, such as photographs or documents
• Memories become fuzzy and unreliable, and
citizens become perfectly willing to believe
whatever the Party tells them
• By controlling the present, the Party is able to
manipulate the past. And in controlling the past,
the Party can justify all of its actions in the
present
ORTHODOXY
“To think in an
orthodox (or
acceptable)
manner”
Ministries
The names of these
organizations/buildings are
paradoxes; the Ministry of
Truth changes the truth
through propaganda
constantly; the Ministry of Love
tortures people; the Ministry of
Peace is where wars are
planned; and the Ministry of
Plenty is a lie because the
rations for the people are
always running out. The
Ministries hold the truth about
the government: it is one big
lie. These buildings are also
used to help suppress any
incidents of free thought or
speech.
The Party’s Four Ministries
1. Ministry of Peace (Minipaux) deals with war
and defence
2. Ministry of Plenty (Miniplenty) deals with
economic affairs (rationing, starvation)
3. Ministry of Love (Miniluv) deals with law and
order (torture, brainwashing)
4. Ministry of Truth (Minitrue) deals with news,
entertainment, education and art
(propaganda)
Party’s Slogans
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength
These slogans are an
example of paradox: a
statement that is selfcontradictory on the
surface and seems to defy
logic or reasoning.
EXPOSITION
Winston Smith works for
the Ministry of Truth, the
government
propaganda/media center,
editing old history to make
the government and Big
Brother look truthful. He
comes home and begins
writing rebellious thoughts
in a journal, which is
"thoughtcrime". A woman
who also works at the
Minitry, Julia, sends
Winston a note telling him
she loves him.
CONFLICT
Winston and Julia begin an
affair, which is treasonous.
They begin to question the
government, and Winston
wants to find out more
about the rebellion called
“The Brotherhood,” headed
and influenced by a
mysterious figure named
Emmanuel Goldstein. Julia
is less interested in
revolting against the Party,
but she is having a good
time with Winston.
RISING ACTION
Winston places his trust in a
man named “O’Brien,” a
member of the Inner Party
who Winston believes is
collaborating with the
Resistance. O’Brien provides
Winston with a copy of
Goldstein’s book, and Winston
and Julia take it to their room
over Mr. Charrington’s shop in
the Prole district. The book
does not shed any new light
on the Resistance, or Ingsoc’s
need to control the people.
CLIMAX
After reading the book,
Winston decides that if there
is any hope to overthrow Big
Brother’s government, it lies
in the proles because they are
the greatest in number, and
they are not being watched as
closely. All of a sudden, the
picture on the wall begins
speaking, and Winston
realizes it is Mr. Charrington,
who is a member of the
Thought Police, and who set
Winston and Julia up. They
are arrested.
Class Hierarchy
• Upper-class Inner Party –
the elite ruling minority
(2% of the population)
• Middle-class Outer Party
(13% of the population)
• Lower-class Proles
(Proletariat) – represent
the uneducated working
class (85% of the
population)
• Short for
“proletariat” or
the lowest and
poorest class of
people
• Considered
unimportant to
the Party because
they lack the
ability to organize
any revolution
• 85% of the
government
• Controlled
through alcohol
and lottery, and
lack of education
INGSOC
• INGSOC is Newspeak
word for English
Socialism, the political
ideology (systems of
beliefs) of the ruling
Party of Oceania.
• Maintains Control
Through:
– Newspeak
– Doublethink
– The Mutability of the
Past
Dystopia
• Totalitarianism: The
ruling governmental
style of Oceania. The
government, usually
under the control of a
single political person
or group recognizes no
limits to its authority
and strives to regulate
every aspect of public
and private life
wherever possible.
• Dystopia: A futuristic
imagined universe of
oppressive societal control
• The illusion of a perfect
society is maintained through
totalitarian control using
corporate, bureaucratic,
technological, philosophical,
or religious means
• Dystopias are an exaggerated
worst-case scenario that
makes a criticism about a
current trend, societal norm,
or political system
Telescreens
• A two way television screen
that allows the government
to monitor the actions and
words of every party
member
• They can watch you and
speak to you, but you
cannot see them
• Omnipresent telescreens
are the books most visible
symbol of the Party’s
constant monitoring of its
subjects. In their dual
capability to blare constant
propaganda and observe
citizens, the telescreens
also symbolize how
totalitarian government
abuses technology for its
own ends instead of
exploiting its knowledge to
improve civilization.
Hate Week
• The Two Minutes Hate:
an organized
demonstration of hate,
anger, and rage directed
at the enemies of
Oceania: Eurasia and
Emmanuel Goldstein
• Outlet for pent of
emotional energy
• A tool of uniting the
Party against a common
enemy
• Winston says, the most
horrifying part of it was
“it was impossible to
avoid joining in.”
Paperweight
• Winston buys a
paperweight in an antique
store in the prole district
(Mr. Charrington’s store)
• Symbolizes his attempt to
connect with the past
• The Party deliberately
weakens people’s memories
and floods their minds with
propaganda. The Party
replaces individuals’
memories with its own
versions of the truth.
• It becomes nearly
impossible for people to
question the Party’s power
in the present when they
accept what the Party tells
them about the past
• Winston struggles to
recover his memories and
formulate a larger picture of
what has happened to the
World
• Symbolically, when the
Thought Police arrest
Winston at last, the
paperweight shatters on the
floor.
St. Clements Church
The old picture of St. Clement’s Church in the
room that Winston rents above Mr.
Charrington’s shop is another representation of
the lost past. Winston associates a song with the
picture that ends with the words “Here comes
the chopper to chop off your head!” This is an
important foreshadow, as it is the telescreen
hidden behind the picture that ultimately leads
the Thought Police to Winston, symbolizing the
Party’s corrupt control of the past.
Repression
A successful totalitarian state cannot accommodate
private loyalties, since private loyalties will often
trump loyalty to the Party. Because sex and family
create private loyalties, the Party must somehow
control these social acts and constructs. Thus, the
Party brainwashes children to believe that sex is
despicable, unpleasurable, and merely a means to
create new Party members. Chastity is encouraged,
sexual drives become repressed, sex is seen as a
“duty to the Party,” and all potential private
loyalties are thus eliminated.
Themes
• Video by eNotes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPJwbGw
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