1984

GEORGE ORWELL

Life: Eric Arthur Blair• Born in India in 1903• Studied at Eton College• Against the British policy in

India• Lived like an homeless to see

society’s reaction• Joined United Workers

Marxist Party in Spain

• Worked as a journalist in WWII

• Lived on the island of Jura, Scotland

• Died in 1950 in London

STYLE

NON FICTION

Real-life events

First person point of view

Colloquial diction and sympathetic tone

FICTION

Imagery and symbolism

3rd person narrative

Words are clear, simple and short

1984Nineteen Eighty-Four was written in 1948 and published in 1949. This is a dystopian novel, as the writer does not represent the society of his dreams, which would be a clear utopia, but he creates a completely negative world, maybe the worst possible. Every part of the world, which is divided into 3 superpowers involved in a continuous war, is dominated by a different kind of totalitarianism: Oceania by the Ingsoc, Eurasia by Neo-Bolshevism and Eastasia by Obliteration of the Self.

PLOTIn 1984, Winston Smith lives in London, in Oceania. Oceania is a totalitarian society led by Big Brother, which censors everyone’s behavior and thoughts. Winston is disgusted with his oppressed life and secretly longs to join the Brotherhood, a group of underground rebels against the government. Winston meets Julia and they secretly fall in love and have an affair, which is considered a crime. One day, while walking home, Winston encounters O’Brian, an inner party member, who gives him his address. Winston had exchanged glances with O’Brian before and had dreams about him giving him the impression that O’Brian was a member of the Brotherhood. Since Julia hated the party as much as Winston did, they went to O’Brian’s house together where they were introduced into the Brotherhood. O’Brian is actually a faithful member of the Inner-Party and this is actually a trap for Winston, a trap that O’Brian has been cleverly setting for seven years. Winston and Julia are sent to the Ministry of Love which is a sort of rehabilitation center for criminals accused of thoughtcrime. There, Winston was separated from Julia, and tortured until his beliefs coincided with those of the Party. Winston denounces everything he believed him, even his love for Julia, and was released back into the public where he wastes his days at the Chestnut Tree drinking gin.

CHARACTERSWINSTON SMITH

Intellectual, member of the Outer Party

Editor responsible for historical revisionism

Journal of negative thoughts and opinions about the Party and Big Brother

Name is the same of Churchill

In love with Julia(who repairs the Minitrue novel-writing machines)

NEWSPEAKThere is a great revelance given to language and thought. In fact there is a complete section of the Party which works on the language spoken in Oceania. Their aim is to simplify and even eliminate all synonyms and antonyms. This fact has an important effect, as it limits the personal way of expressing of every citizen, and doing so also the ability of thinking.

DOUBLETHINK

This is the possibility to maintain and believe in two ideas at the same time, even if they are completely contradictory. This principle is particularly important for the Party because people, as they can’t recognise and distinguish between two opposite ideas, are constricted to accept, and even exalt, what the Party states. A clear example is «blackwhite» which has two meanings, depending to who it is referred to. Applied to an opponent, it means the habit of impudently claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts. Applied to a Party member, it means a loyal willingness to say that black is white when Party discipline demands this.

THEMES

There are five main themes in the novel: Nationalism, which can be positive(in the love for the Big

Brother), negative(in the hate for Goldstein) and transferred(redirects emotions from one power unit to another)

Sexual repression, which is represented by the Junior Anti-Sex-League, and even love is forbidden

Futurology, as the Party wants to create a society completely oppressed by his own power

Censorship, in fact there is a Ministry of Truth which rewrites articles and changes photographs to change the reality

Surveillance, as everyone is always watched and listened to at any time.

FAMOUS QUOTES BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU. WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls

the present controls the past. The sexual act, successfully performed, was rebellion.

Desire was thoughtcrime. 2 + 2 = 5