Winston Smith is a 39 year old member of the outer party and is the protagonist in the story. He works for the Ministry of Truth, where he rewrites the past; basically creating lies to suit the Party. Smith is against everything he works for, and writes all his true feelings in a diary that he has bought from a junk shop. He hates the totalitarian society he lives in, and wishes there was someway he could change it. He meets a girl, named Julia, who he at first hates as she seems to be the embodiment of what the party stands for: good, obedient, celibate. However, after she sends him a letter saying how she loves him, he realizes he loves her, and so their love affair begins. Other than Julia, trusts no one, having no true friends, or any kin. This character relates to the theme of human nature, as Winston recognizes that the human mind does not like to be imprisoned by false institutions that try to shackle the mind like a prisoner. He wants to find the truth and discover reality. In his world, the human mind and soul is forced to believe the propaganda and the false ideas, going against one's natural instincts to be free. Moreover, Winston embodies the concept of human nature as he has the tendency to rebel against false and oppressive entities and power structures
Nineteen Eighty-Four was written in 1948 by George Orwell and published in 1949. He wrote about a futuristic world, in the year 1984, where there are three states: Oceania, Eastasia, and Eurasia. The main character, Winston Smith lives in London, Airstrip One, formerly known as England. The society is run by a totalitarian government, known as 'the Party', where everything is controlled, from goods, to jobs, to even thoughts. The slogan of the Party is "War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength" (pg. 9). The technology of the time is advanced, with 'telescreens' that are both used as a television that has only one channel, and a surveillance camera, that cannot be turned off. As well, a new language known as Newspeak, which removes a lot of the vocabulary of today's English, known as Oldspeak, therefore removing the ability of expression. Orwell wrote the novel, right after World War II, during the reign of the dictators Hitler and Stalin. He wrote about how he believed the world to be, a world with advanced technology, and constant war. Moreover, he wrote of a world where free-thinkers are inexistent.
"There will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. There will be no laughter, except the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy…There will be no art, no literature, no science…There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life…always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler…If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face"
A totalitarian government is one "that exercises dictatorial control over many aspects of life" (www.dictionary.com). This idea has been demonstrated through the novel, as the whole world is in full control. The government has full control of basically every aspect of a citizen's life, including the minds of the citizens. This is done through fear, manipulation, and propaganda. For example, there is this constant idea that an individual is being watched, by the leader known as Big Brother. No one has seen Big Brother, and no one can even prove or disprove his existence. However, this creates paranoia among the masses, resulting in the full control of one's actions. In addition, all desires, emotions, and sentiments that do not benefit the Party in some way, are removed. This is done through the control of family, sexual desires and friends. With the family, husbands and wives are chosen by a specific committee, making it certain that the couple do not have any attraction to each other. Moreover, the only purpose of sex is to create children, which will, in the end, benefit the Party. Sex is not used to strengthen a relationship, and is not even done for pleasure. It is only their "duty to the Party." (pg. 62). Moreover, once the couple had children, there was only fear of them, as they were turned into spies, sent to see any unorthodoxy among their parents. All this control creates power over the people, and this is the ultimate goal of the Party.
Illusion vs. Reality
Quotation
Annotation
"Telescreens bruised your ears with statistics proving that people today had more food, more clothes, better houses, better recreations - that they lived longer, worked shorter hours, were bigger, healthier, stronger, happier, more intelligent, better educated, than the people of fifty years ago. Not a word could be proved or disproved."
Pg. 68
-propaganda; illusion that their life is better, since there is nothing to compare their life with, no one can tell if this is true
-their whole life an illusion, in order to control the masses
"Somewhere or other [Emanuel Goldstein] was still alive and hatching his conspiracies."
Pg. 15
-create an imaginary enemy, so that the people have something to fear
-with fear comes power and control
"The object of war is not to make or prevent conquests of territory, but to keep the structure of society intact. The very word 'war', therefore, has become misleading."
Pg. 173
-war is an illusion used to make the masses think there is a danger
-through this, they are able to control the people and keep their society intact
"You believe that reality is something objective, external, existing in its own right. You also believe that the nature of reality is self-evident. When you delude yourself into thinking that you see something, you assume that everyone else sees the same thing as you. But I tell you, Winston, that reality is not external. Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else…Whatever the Party holds to be the truth, is truth. It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party."
Pg. 214
-Winston believes that reality is in one's own mind, no matter what others say it is
-O'Brien contradicts this, saying reality is only with the Party
-the boundaries between illusion and reality are being blurred, as he is being manipulated
"The Ministry of Truth, which concerned itself with news, entertainment, education, and the fine arts. The Ministry of Peace, which concerned itself with war. The Ministry of Love, which maintained law and order. And the Ministry of Plenty, which was responsible for economic affairs. Their names in Newspeak: Minitrue, Minipax, Miniluv, and Miniplenty."
Pg. 9
-four ministries; what each one does is contradictory to their names; for example, the ministry of peace is responsible for the war, which is continuous
-the language they are trying to enforce is Newspeak
-all an illusion for the people, think the government is concerned about the truth, peace, love and their economy, when in reality they are doing the complete opposite
In Nineteen Eighty-Four, the boundaries between an illusionary world and the reality are often blurred. This is exemplified through the world that is portrayed, it being a run-down city, completely in control of the government. Throughout the novel there is a constant appearance of the society being a utopia, when in actuality, it is a dystopia. This illusion is often kept through the media, where the telescreens constantly flood the civilians with an image of their perfect world. Along with this illusion comes a 'safe' and 'comfortable' lifestyle. However, the reality of the situation is that with this conformity, an individual follows a false institution, based on inhumane laws. In addition, the illusion that there is a continuous war is put on the people. This is created as a method of controlling the masses. War is a method created to channel out all the emotions of humans.
Style
-foreshadowing
-symbols: big bro,
-third person,
-last pg llove big bro OMG SO MAD
-little colour, pessimistic, gloomy future
-direct, blunt, and straight to the fact, no flowery language
'Politics and the English Language"
-three parts #
-allusion to the times, Julius ceaser, charlemegnechacer
-rm 101 ultimate fears
-imagery
Memories of mother, what the past was like
Quotation
Annotation
war
Char: Julia
Char:O/Brien
Char: Winston
Belef vs knowledge
Human nature
Society
Control
Technology/progress
Utopia/distopia
Time/the past
Hope
Truth/falsehood
Char: big brother
Freedom
61-sex instinct
34-control pasr
171,167164
COntrol
148-alter feelings
-through media
-through fear
-the past
-emotions
-family, relationships, marriage
Big bro
-children
-party cnt control inside feelings
-war
Hate week-get anger out,channelling emotions
Victory gin
35-past quote
the control the past by erasing records, they control the media, showing only their own propaganda, they control emotions, as all relatationships are monitored closely, and children are used as spies, creating a world of distrust and paranoia., as
"Ours is founded on hatred. In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage triumph, and self-abasement."
Pg. 230
"Today there were fear, hatred, and pain, but no dignity of emotion, no deep or complex sorrows."
Pg. 31
This is because human beings have a natural tendency to rebel against false and oppressive entities and power structures. If the appearance of fear and
Illusion vs reality
-If you join the herd you basically are safe and comfortable
Reality being a sheep in a herd, following a false
War created cus humans emotions need to be channelled, tendency to rebel against false and oppressive entities and power structures
