1984 George Orwell Menu Introduction Background Discussion Starters

1984: Introduction Big Brother Is Watching You.

1984: Introduction Big Brother is everywhere in Winston Smith’s life— on every corner of London and on every telescreen. Winston Smith is 39 years old. He can barely remember when life was different.

1984: Introduction Life changed after the atomic wars of the 1950 s after the Revolution and after his mother disappeared in one of the first great purges of “criminals. ”

1984: Introduction Now the world is split among three superpowers, Oceania Eurasia Eastasia which are constantly at war. Oceania

1984: Introduction You have to be a Party member if you want to work. You must work for the State— for the Ministry of Peace, the Ministry of Plenty, or the Ministry of Truth.

1984: Introduction The Party keeps its members under constant surveillance. Anyone—co-workers, neighbors, or even your own children—can denounce you to the Thought Police.

1984: Introduction Winston works for the Ministry of Truth, rewriting news stories to fit the Party’s current version of what happened in the past. But Winston Smith is also a Thought Criminal.

1984: Introduction Winston wonders if any organized resistance movement really exists. Is his co-worker, Inner Party member O’Brien, secretly a member of a resistance group? Should he trust O’Brien?

1984: Introduction And then there is Julia acts like a Party fanatic, but she doesn’t believe any of the propaganda. Winston falls in love with Julia. But can he trust her?

1984: Background In 1984, Orwell invents an “official” language for Oceania: Newspeak was 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. ” Newspeak achieves its goals by • inventing new words • eliminating “unnecessary” words

1984: Background Newspeak has three separate vocabularies. A words describe “concrete objects” and “physical actions”—house, field, hit, and run. Parts of speech are interchangeable, and endings are simplified. English Newspeak Noun thought think Verb cut, gave knife, gived Adjective quick, sharp speedful, knifeful Adverb quickly, well speedwise, goodwise

1984: Background B words are compound words created for political purposes goodthink crimethink facecrime Oldspeak or to be used as euphemisms forced-labor camp joycamp or as abbreviations Records Department Recdep Ministry of Truth Minitrue

1984: Background C words are scientific and technical terms that science workers need in order to do their jobs. The Party hoped that Newspeak would totally replace Oldspeak (English) by the year 2050.

1984: Background The first half of the twentieth century was a time of great turmoil and uncertainty. • two world wars • revolutions in Russia and China • rise of totalitarianism • worldwide depression In 1984, which was published in 1949, Orwell draws upon and refers to many of these events.

1984: Background Big Brother, who is the head of the Party and whose image is posted all over London, is based on the historical figure of Joseph Stalin. Emmanuel Goldstein, leader of the resistance group called the Brotherhood, is based on Leon Trotsky, said to be a main organizer of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia.

1984: Discussion Starters Discuss (1) • Does language control thought? • Can we think about or understand concepts and ideas if our language doesn’t have the words to express them?

1984: Discussion Starters Discuss (2) In 1984, the Party’s Ministry of Truth works hard to alter facts and documents—to change the past—to justify current events and conditions. • Is all news biased? Do news stories always reflect a writer’s personal views or a publisher’s agenda? • Can the events of history be written objectively?