by George Orwell

Intro. Activity

Prove something to me.

Prove something to me that happened recently (in the recent past).

What if we didn’t have a newspaper or news website to back you up?

What if, instead, we had a newspaper or website that said exactly the opposite of what you are trying to prove, what you say you saw. what you think you saw?

While reading…

While reading, write down quotes that strike you as important. It’ll give you something to talk about and will help you remember important events/themes in the book.

The back of the book…

“Negative Utopia.” What’s that mean?

Other famous negative utopian books: Animal Farm, by Orwell; Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

(England); We, by Eugene Zamiatin (Russia).

Bio page…

Orwell’s real name was Eric Blair. Hated totalitarianism Born in India, was English, spent some time in

Burma – fought in Spanish Civil War. What does he have to do with them? They were fighting against fascists (totalitarians).

Hated communism, but considered himself a socialist. What’s the difference? Did anybody pay attention in Hornbeck’s government

class? Why would he – himself an intellectual – hate

intellectuals? He didn’t think that man was adequate to cope with

the demands of his history. What on earth does that mean?

Major Ideas…

Would you act differently if you were on video cameras all the time? Think about our buses and cameras in

the halls. Can we change the past? If you can’t prove something, did

it/could it have happened? (A dream, something that only you saw,

God/creation?)

Controlling language for politics. Abortion

Pro-Life Pro-Choice

Immigration Illegal aliens, or illegal immigrants Undocumented workers, or undocumented

Americans

“Double-think” Holding two opinions/beliefs that cannot

coexist. With regards to abortion: the “sanctity of

human life” & “the woman’s right to choose.” It cannot be both.

At least two of the national slogans are all double-think phrases. War is peace Freedom is slavery Ignorance is strength

Part 1, chapter 1

“Victory Mansions” Mansion? What victory? Victory over what?

“Hate Week”

“Big Brother is watching you.”

Telescreen Combination: camera and television.

Thought police “Newspeak” Oceania (see map on next slide)

London isn’t London any more. It’s Airstrip One.

The World of 1984

The four ministries.

We’d probably call them “departments.” Ministry of Truth:

news, entertainment, education, art. Ministry of Peace:

war. ??? Ministry of Love:

law and order. Police-type function? Ministry of Plenty:

economic affairs.

Notice the nicknames for the four ministries. Mini-True, Mini-Pax, Mini-Luv, Mini-Plenty It’s probably a joke about how much truth,

peace, love, and plenty there really are.

Winston starts a journal. Why could this be a bad idea? There are thought police, and he’s writing

down his thoughts.

“Speakwrite”

The Movies

Two-Minutes Hate

Junior Anti-Sex League

O’Brien Inner Party Member

Inner Party Party Proles

Emmanuel Goldstein

The Brotherhood The Book

It doesn’t matter what you do. It matters what you think. His face shows no emotion “from long

habit” – used to no emotion at all.

The Thought Police arrest sounds like Stalin; Hitler against Jews; Saddam Hussein.

Not only do you no longer exist – they make it so you never existed.

Story about Hitler wiping out town.

Part 1, chapter 2

“Comrade” Russia But this book is not as much about

“Russia” as Animal Farm is Victory Mansions were falling to

pieces. Simple repairs take forever to get done. Non-efficiency.

Banner for “the Spies” on the wall.

The stability of the Party depends especially on stupid people. What about in our country? Same/different?

Kids are already spies – and dangerous. Trained from a young age – don’t know

anything different. The Party brings up children, not parents.

“Almost normal” to be frightened of own kids.

Winston had a dream He would meet O’Brien “where there is no

darkness.” Foreshadowing? What does that mean –

“no darkness”? Rationing

Expain if needed. What does the national anthem title

suggest? “Oceania, ‘tis for thee” Sacrificing for Oceania.

London is constantly under attack. Whom can he write to if the past

does not exist? (Remember his job.)

 He believes in Party’s power enough to believe that he cannot succeed. He will die. Should he give up?

There is no escape. He is always being watched.

Nothing of your own, but your brain… … but there are Thought Police.

Even if he does not affect anyone else, he seems to think it’ll be worth it if he stays sane.

 He has a pretty smart way to see if diary has been found.

Part 1, chapter 3.

Notice he doesn’t say his mother died. She… “disappeared.”

 “Purges” Sounds like Stalin’s Russia.

His mother sacrificed her life for his. Love. Winston realizes that this would never happen

anymore.  He’s in pretty poor health.

Probably he doesn’t have access to or can’t afford to visit a doctor.

“When there were no external records that you could refer to, even the outline of your own life lost its sharpness.” He can’t be sure if what he remembers

happening really happened.  He says something about remembering

events that probably didn’t even happen. What does he mean? (That they didn’t “officially” happen.)

He can’t prove it, and in some cases sources of external evidence have probably been changed Probably records of his mother and her

“disappearance” have been altered. He has the impression that his

country’s name has been changed. Again, no proof.

England was hit with at least one atomic bomb.

Winston remembers the past differently than historical accounts do

His memory must not be “under control” enough. What does that mean? He does not doublethink enough – he

doesn’t simply accept whatever the Party claims to be true, no matter what, yet.

Why would changing the past be more terrifying than torture or death? Then, the torture or death never

happened, for one thing. The Party will always be right.

“Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” Is that true?

In order to doublethink, you must understand it. The Party doesn’t want people to think about it – they want them to be able to do it, and to do it without asking questions.

Winston starts thinking about the one time he had proof that the Party changed the past… What did he do with it…?

How do we know the people on the other end of the telescreens can see into their rooms. During the exercises, the instructor yells

directly at “6079 Smith W.”

Part 1, chapter 4

Based on other names for things so far in this book, what did you think these were for when you first saw the term “memory holes”?

What are the notes that Winston gets about? Instructions for rewriting past news

articles or records.

What does it mean when it says “refs unpersons”? B.B. refers to people who have fallen out

with the Party since then. These people no longer exist, so B.B. cannot have talked about them, since they never existed.

Why rewrite these articles? What purpose does it serve? B.B. is always right. The Party is always

right. So no one can ever question their judgments, practices, etc.

Why did the Nazis and the Russian communists destroy books, and prevent publication and distribution of literature of all sorts? So theirs was the only voice – no one

could disagree with them, make them look bad, prove them wrong, make them think something those in power disagreed with or feared.

He is “nearly as possible unconscious” when he destroys his messages and his notes. He has been trained not to think about

what he’s doing.

Great quote: “Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date.”

The Party/B.B. never made the mistakes. Mistakes were always misprints, misquotes,

etc.

Probably, Oceania would sound like a great place to live, if you only read its own accounts of their industrial output, or its own records. But already we’ve seen enough of Winston’s

life to know otherwise.

He says that countless boots were “produced” on paper, but that many people went around barefoot because they didn’t have shoes/boots.

How can the sandy-haired woman erase people’s names from history when they’ve been vaporized when her own husband was vaporized a couple years ago?

They even fake photographs here. Stalin used to do the same. Examples?

Winston is very good at his job. He even likes the challenge of parts of it.

What does “doubleplusungood” mean?

Purges and vaporizations are a necessary part of government? Maybe in places like Russia, Iraq, etc.\

Winston creates a new person to have B.B. talk about in the rewritten document. Ogilvy

It’s that “easy” to destroy or create someone, because they control all of the historical documentation.

Ogilvy must have been a great person, based on his accomplishments, which Winston tells us about… Even though they’re all made up. Doesn’t that matter to him?

In Oceania, what’s the proper response to this guy’s death? Envy. Why is that? It is good to sacrifice yourself for Big

Brother/the Party.

This guy Winston made up is now a fact. Indisputable.

Prove to me that Julius Caesar or Charlemagne existed.

Or prove to me that anybody who is now dead existed. The only way we could do it is through

printed sources – text, pictures, etc. We could use the same to create people

who really never existed.

What if our history books are based on elaborate fictions that are all made up by some power above us all?

How would we know?

Part 1, chapter 5

Winston’s “friend” Syme works on Newspeak, the goal of which is to control language.

Why do you think necessary products are in short supply? To keep people dependent on Big

Brother?

Syme likes to see people (enemies) suffer. He likes to see them kick their legs when

they’re hanged, and to see their tongues hang out of their mouths.

Their food has the appearance of vomit. Yum. Eat up!

Our new versions of dictionaries have more words. Newspeak has fewer words. Newspeak’s goal = narrow range of

thought.

Concept of freedom abolished? How could you explain freedom if there

is no term for it or its opposite?

Someone at the next table is talking like a duck – an animal. A smart animal? (AFLAC!)

Reflection in his glasses – 2 blank discs instead of eyes. This is not an accident – this guy is blind.

“Some kind of dummy.” “Talks” but only what the ventriloquist makes it say.

“Duckspeak” can also be used as praise. That’s a good thing? How?

The proles.

Proletariat (working class).

“Voluntary subscriptions” 25% of their income. “Voluntary.”

Irony: Parsons says the Miniplenty is doing a good job. Do you have razor blades?

“Facecrime.” What’s that? Wouldn’t hold up in our courts.

This dark-haired girl seems to be following him around…

The Parsons’ daughter spies on her parents already…

Part 1, chapter 6

Winston saw a man with a twitch. Why would that be dangerous?

Sexual desire is to be repressed. Why? Loyalty and energy are only for Party and more importantly, no pleasure

outside of the Party

Sex with prole not that bad. Promiscuity between Party members

= unforgivable. Why? Probably because they’d have an

emotional bond – love/loyalty for something besides BB.

With a prole, it’s a fling, a release. Not nearly as much “danger.”

Prostitution is outlawed but is basically overlooked. Why? Instincts cannot be completely

repressed. It is joyless, not much of a threat.

Sex not for recreation. Only procreation. Sex = disgusting.

Junior Anti-Sex League. No sex. Artsem (Artificial insemination).

Orphanages, basically, to raise kids. What would this be like? Absolutely no love/attachment.

Remove all pleasure from romance/sex.

No marriage if the people are attracted to each other physically.

They try to make sex disgusting, like an enema.

Winston has been married, to Katharine Describe their marriage.

“As soon as he touched her she seemed to wince and stiffen. To embrace her was like embracing a jointed wooden image.” Ouch!

“Our duty to the Party.” Again, ouch! Winston dreaded it. No

surprise there. She simply submits. Basically, let’s

do what we have to do, I guess.

Sex is rebellion against the Party… …because it’s something the Party is

afraid of and does not want. The prostitute disgusts him (old, tons

of makeup, no teeth), yet he still does it. Why?

Winston now has the urge to yell obscenities. What often happens when people bottle

up their intense feelings? They explode out, or perhaps they come

out unconsciously…

Part 1, chapter 7

85% of Oceania = proles. 15% are in control? Not even that, there are probably some

more people more or less like Winston. So somewhere between 5-15% runs the

rest. How is that possible? Most of the people do not care or are afraid. Think about Russia, Iraq – the people

probably could have stood up to their rulers if they had some guts, because there were so many more of them.

Women riot (almost) about sauce pans. Why couldn’t they shout like that about

anything that really mattered?

“Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.” – paradox. So it’s impossibile?

Inequality. Same as “communism” – inequality is

necessary. Animal Farm – some animals are more

equal than others.

Proles sound like average people to me: simple desires/pleasures, no strong political feelings.

Rewritten history jus primae noctis – the law of the first

night. It’s good to be the king…

Think of Braveheart – the lord of the realm gets to sleep with the wife on the first night.

With no evidence, Winston can’t rely on anything to find truth. One more time – can you prove that

something in our history actually happened beyond all doubt?

Why would these “traitors” be “pardoned” and reinstated? Perhaps so BB and the TP could monitor

them closely – trap anyone who tried to work or communicate with them.

And these guys were original members of the Party. Apparently it changed that much, that

fast that they became its enemies and they were powerless to change it.

Snowball / Trotsky

Why are Rutherford’s cartoons not very good anymore, when they used to be so great? Either he is being told how to do them,

or someone else is doing them

What’s so significant about this picture Winston had? Documented proof that the Party – which

changes history so that it is always right – was wrong!

The confessions were lies! Proof! This would raise a whole bunch of questions: Who made them lie? Why? How many other confessions were lies? Etc.

Why would Winston keep the picture today? What could someone like him do?

Would it change anyone else’s opinion if he did keep it? Perhaps, but don’t forget about doublethink.

Why is it important to him that he held it? He knows with his own eyes.

Why does he think they will say 2+2=5? No truth, historical, mathematical, etc. is

sacred to them. Eventually, they will have to deny that

there is anything called truth. Winston is so worried that they might be

right. What if they are?

Objective truth (explain if needed). Freedom needs absolutes.

If there are such things as facts or truths, then we can use them to find others.

Freedom is the freedom to think what’s right is right.

Part 2, chapter 1

When Julia falls in front of Winston, he “instinctively” wants to help. What does this show?

Why would bathroom stalls be monitored very closely by telescreens?

Part 2, chapter 1 (continued) Explain why Winston’s behavior and

outlook change when he falls in love with Julia.

How does Winston react to Wilsher ruining his attempt to sit with Julia? How do you feel about that?

Part 2, chapter 1 (continued) How does Winston react to the

beetle-like man almost ruining his attempt to sit with Julia? How do you feel about that?

Explain what’s going on at the end of chapter one with the prisoner and the eyes.

Part 2, chapter 2

Discuss appearance vs. reality as far as Julia is concerned.

“The Golden Country”… like in Winston’s dream. How could he dream so accurately about something he’s never seen?

What other dreams has he had?

Part 2, chapter 2 (continued) What’s going on with the bird in the

clearing? What does the bird symbolize? What do we use birds to symbolize?

Why does Winston like how “experienced” she is? Is that different from the way we

typically think?

Part 2, chapter 2 (continued) Winston now has deep feelings for

Julia. Why is this what the Party is afraid of?

How was their love-making a “political act”?

Part 2, chapter 3

Irony – after their little get-together, she has to go back and volunteer for the Junior Anti-Sex League. Hypocrisy? Appearance vs. reality.

“Talking in installments. “

Part 2, chapter 3 (continued) A bomb blows up near them. What

does Winston do? What does this show?

“If you kept the small rules you could break the big ones.” Example from book. Example in real life.

Part 2, chapter 3 (continued) What is Julia’s opinion of the Party?

She doesn’t like it. But she’s not a revolutionary like

Winston. She only cares about the Party as it

affects her directly. Think about Americans who don’t care

about politics except for its direct impact on their own lives.

Part 2, chapter 3 (continued) “Our duty to the Party” The Party controls sex for at least 2

reasons: Creates world (passionate relationship)

that they cannot control. Absence of sex hysteria

(excitability, unmanageable emotion) which the Party pushes for its own uses: hate week war fever, patriotism.

Part 2, chapter 3 (continued) “When you make love you're using up

energy; and afterwards you feel happy and don't give a damn for anything. They can't bear you to feel like that. They want you to be bursting with energy all the time. All this marching up and down and cheering and waving flags is simply sex gone sour. If you're happy inside yourself, why should you get excited about Big Brother and the Three-Year Plans and the Two Minutes Hate and all the rest of their bloody rot?”

Part 2, chapter 3 (continued) Also – not stated here in book: What’s the only way to know if you are

controlling someone else? If he’s acting against his will.

Part 2, chapter 3 (continued) What the Party cannot control, it

twists or corrupts. Sex = “duty to the Party,” not love Kids = thought police spies

Part 2, chapter 3 (continued) “We can’t win. Some kinds of

failure are better than other kinds.” Is that true?

Winston: “So long as human beings stay human, death and life are the same thing.” What does he mean by that?

Part 2, chapter 4

We’re reminded that there is no telescreen in this room he’s renting from Mr. Charrington.

Julia is becoming more than a fling to Winston. He’s starting to depend on her, like he’s in love with

her. He’s starting to get jealous when she tells him she

can’t see him. Is she cheating on him?

Part 2, chapter 4 (continued) Fear of the Ministry of Love > Fear of

death Why?

Fear of the unknown. What happens in the Mini-luv?

WHAT HAPPENS THERE!?!?!?!

Renting this room is stepping closer to their graves. Why use the numbers 99 and 100?

Part 2, chapter 4 (continued) Julia brings in some black market goods.

She explains that the Inner Party has anything they want.

Why not share it with the people? “Some animals are more equal than others”

(Animal Farm)

(More) Fear What frightens Winston more than anything

else? Rats.

Part 2, chapter 4 (continued) Symbol of the past:

The paperweight is “a chunk of history that [the Party has] forgotten to alter.”

Winston looks at the paperweight, which is transparent, and imagines that he and Julia are in it.

It’s become a symbol of them, their life/love. Their world, safe from the outside/the

Party.

Part 2, chapter 5

Syme How do we know what happened to him?

Fear The posters of Eurasian soldier. Extreme fear for extreme patriotism.

Part 2, chapter 5 (continued) Healing

Winston no longer needs gin and his ulcer is healing.

Also, he no longer wants to shout curses. Why is he healing?

Part 2, chapter 5 (continued) Nursery rhymes

4 and 20 Blackbirds The Cow with Crumpled Horn Poor Cock Robin.

What’s the point of this stuff?

Part 2, chapter 5 (continued) Nursery rhymes were a way of

remembering the past in England – much like the Greek myths. Winston and Charrington make attempts

to recover the past, and these nursery rhymes are symbols of this attempt, just like the paperweight.

Also: some rhymes like these are ingrained in us as children, never to be forgotten. This is a sample of the destruction of the past, how these things have been forgotten in Oceania.

Part 2, chapter 5 (continued) Daydreaming.

Not exactly our type of daydreaming.

Hating the Party. Julia believes nearly everyone hates

Party. If that’s true, why do they go along with

it? Out of fear or hopelessness.

Part 2, chapter 5 (continued) Is Big Brother even real?

The bombs. Julia thinks the Party, not an enemy, is

bombing Oceania. Why would they do that?

Part 2, chapter 5 (continued) The truth (about who invented airplanes,

etc.) doesn’t really matter to Julia. Should it? If they lie about that, what else do they lie

about?

Past – Present – Future The past has been abolished. Control past, control the future. Result: an endless present in which the Party

is always right.

Part 2, chapter 6

Winston and O’Brien Newspeak dictionary He’ll have to go to O’Brien’s house to get

it. O’Brien is an ally

He knows he’ll die for this. This is hard to imagine, but try:

Imagine agreeing to do something that you know you’ll be executed for doing.

Part 2, chapter 7

Connection Winston’s mom and Jewish lady (in the

movie at the beginning of the book) who tried to protect her son from helicopter bullets.

Childhood Winston had a tough childhood Describe it.

Part 2, chapter 7 (continued) Food

Winston was very selfish about food. Can you blame him?

Love Love meant something to Winston’s mom. Even if it didn’t change the situation. It mattered that you had feelings. Example from life (death).

Part 2, chapter 7 (continued) Torture Confession

They know they will be tortured and forced to confess.

Confession = Betrayal? Real betrayal = to make them stop

loving each other, to control their emotions.

(Their emotions = The last thing they have control over?)

Part 2, chapter 7 (continued) “They can’t make you believe it.

They can’t get inside you.” We’ll see. We’ll let the book answer that.

“They could not alter your feelings.” If we hold on to emotions, we ‘win.’

Part 2, chapter 8

They meet with O’Brien.

Is it risky for Winston to be here? The dictionary. But is O’Brien a co-conspirator? What proof

does Winston have?

Is it risky for Julia to be here? She has no excuse for being here –

especially with Winston.

Part 2, chapter 8 (continued) Inner-Party members have it better.

I’m reminded of Enemy at the Gates when Vasily Zaitsev meets Josef Stalin.

The telescreen. Wine. Servants. The elevators work.

Part 2, chapter 8 (continued) Just how secret is the Brotherhood?

What are Winston and Julia willing to do? Similarity to today?

Muslim terrorists

What are they not willing to do?

Would you be willing to do what they’re signing up for?

Part 2, chapter 8 (continued) They have the book memorized.

Reminds me of Fahrenheit 451.

How do they get the book to him? What does this show? They’ve done this many times. Reminds me of Julia and her ability to

sneak around.

Part 2, chapter 8 (continued) “Oranges and Lemons say…”

O’Brien completes the rhyme. He seems to know a lot. This is a good guy to have on your side:

Inner-Party (connections) Intelligent/knowledgeable.

Part 2, chapter 9

A change in their ally/enemy. Do people even notice? What if they did?

Double-think. And blame it on GOLDSTEIN!

Who are the most involved in Hate Week? Children. Why?

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) There are only three kinds of people

in the world… High Middle Low

In 1984: Inner-Party, Party, Proles. In our terms?

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) They might have different names,

numbers, slightly different attitudes from time to time and place to place, but…

The essentials (that there are 3 and that they’re different from each other) have never changed.

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) There are three nations… or

“superpowers” Oceania Eurasia Eastasia

(What are the superpowers in our world?)

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) The three superpowers have no

reason to fight. each one is self-sufficient, and they can’t defeat the others.

If their war is about anything, it’s about labor power. But if they are already self-sufficient…

why do they need more labor power?

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) The Book says that war used to be

driven by economics. Is it? Are you OK with a war driven by

economics?

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) What does the term “balance of power”

mean? The powers are evenly matched. Theoretically, we see this in our form of

government (separation of powers between the three branches of government).

How does this play out in world politics? USA – USSR USA – EU USA – ???

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) The real goal (of the Party):

To use up products of the machine without raising the general standard of living.

What do we mean by “standard of living”?

What’s wrong with raising that?

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) Think about our lives.

technology leads to a good economy, which leads to more equality. it’s more difficult for the few in power to

remain in power

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) Because of better technology, lower

class people have become (or can become) educated and think for themselves.

Compare “poverty” in America with poverty around the world…

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) So poverty and ignorance are

necessary for the few to remain in power. Think about the quality of our schools in

general. Think about the quality of our schools in

poor neighborhoods. Are they bad (or at least worse) because

people are trying to hold them back?

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) A government report (“A Nation at

Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform,” 1983) basically said that if our enemies had wanted to ruin our educational system, they would have designed it the way it is today.

Read that again…

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) If wealth is common, then

power would be shared. Meaning there’s no more class

distinction or class warfare. No control over the lower classes.

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) Those in power want working class

people to work… (this will keep them busy and tired)… but not to get the things they produce. The things they make are destroyed in

war.

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) Continuous warfare means people

are busy working all the time, but things are not getting any better for

it. Because comfort intelligence, they

want to keep the lower classes in fear and busy, busy, busy.

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) It’s an advantage for them to have a

short supply of necessities for life. Why? They depend on the government for

supplies and protection. That leads people to want the few in

control to remain in control over the many.

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) The InnerParty members get small

privileges that make them feel better than the Party members.

And the same goes for Party members when they’re compared to Proles

This keeps them happy. At least I’m better off than THEY are…

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) This is a good time for a conspiracy-

theory question here…

How many people really rule this country?

The world?

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) Back to the 3 classes of people –

High, Middle, Low.

“Everywhere there is a pyramidal structure.” Can we ever get rid of that? Who would want to? Who would not want to?

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) What do the three levels of society

want? High – Middle – Low – 

Will the Low ever get what they want? Why not?

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) Is inequality a fact of life that

cannot be changed?

Do we try to promote equality or inequality here in our school? In our country?

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) Now equality is possible because of

what?

Do we still believe in equality before the law?

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) There are only 4 ways those in power

can ever lose it. (Not to get too “conspiracy-theory” on

you, but can you see why some people are suspicious of politicians who support gun control?)

Why are hereditary organizations short lived?

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) How many today think that the world

could be anything other than what it is?

“Crimestop” – notice how they start with the young children. This is better than brainwashing since the

kids’ minds haven’t been formed yet. Brain forming as opposed to brainwashing.

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) There is no law in Oceania except

don’t go against the Party, basically. Does this sound like the USA? Does it sound like USSR/Iraq/the

Taliban,etc.?

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) “Blackwhite” – good and bad meanings.

It’s right to lie to yourself to make the Party always right (doublethink and changing past).

If the past were better, people would want change.

The Party is perfect.

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) “Mutability” of the past.

Ability to change, mutate Party members rewrite history, and then

make themselves forget they did so.

Doublethink – forget inconvenient facts. “I don’t recall…” Example?

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) Another way to think about

Doublethink: Consciously lie to yourself and believe it. Some psychologists say that if you

repeat a lie to yourself enough, you come to believe it.

Part 2, chapter 9 (Continued) “If human equality is to be forever

averted … then the prevailing mental condition must be controlled insanity.” Do you see this happening in USA today? “Controlled insanity?”

Part 2, chapter 10

“Where there is equality, there can be sanity.” Your thoughts?

“You are the dead.” Telescreen. What did you think at first? D’oh!

Part 2, chapter 10 (continued) Why don’t Winston and Julia try to

resist? They’ve been conditioned not to They are conditioned to believe that Big

Brother and the Party are unstoppable

Part 2, chapter 10 (continued) The coral was very small

How does its size and what happened to it relate to what it represented?

BAM! They punch Julia, and Winston just

stands there. Why?

Part 2, chapter 10 (continued) Charrington = Thought Police.

D’oh! They could be anybody.

Part 3, chapter 1

Prison camps. Why is it far worse to be a political

prisoner than a mobster or a murderer? (Think Stalin, Saddam Hussein, etc.)

“Room 101.” What do you associate with this? (School, beginning of classes, etc.)

Part 3, chapter 1 (continued) What time is it?

Cannot even tell what time of day it is or where in the building (miniluv) he is.

Time/place have no meaning anymore? It’s like he’s dead. It’s the place with no darkness…

Part 3, chapter 1 (continued) Ampleforth: “There is only one

offense, is there not?” And that is? Anything against the Party.

Part 3, chapter 1 (continued) Parsons : He thinks they’ll give him a fair

trial for thoughtcrime. I’d call that a crime against reality, thinking

that… What’s Parsons in for, specifically?

Talking in his sleep: “Down with Big Brother.”

He was turned in by his own daughter. No real surprise there.

And he says he’s glad they caught him – so he can be “reformed” before it’s too late.

Part 3, chapter 1 (continued) Oh, no… no… make it stop…

Parsons on toilet – “loudly and abundantly”

And it won’t flush! Ouch.

Starving man and bread incident. Explain what happens here and why.

Part 3, chapter 1 (continued) Room 101

There’s a lot of suspense about Room 101. Where is it? What do they do there? Why is everyone so afraid of it?

What Orwell is doing here is keeping us in the dark just as his character is in the dark. We only know what Winston knows at this

point. And that creates suspense.

Part 3, chapter 1 (continued) The only thing he can feel in Miniluv

is pain. Is pain the opposite of love? (I would say not caring at all – neither for

nor against ~ indifference – is the opposite of love.)

Pain, part 1 Would he take Julia’s pain?

Part 3, chapter 1 (continued) O’Brien!

He’s here, too! He is a member of the thought police… All of this has been an elaborate trap.

Pain, part 2 They hit Winston on the elbow. It hurts so bad, he thinks it’s impossible

to want more. So would he really take Julia’s?

Part 3, chapter 2

[Read the first paragraph aloud.] Isn’t that freaky?

What’s going on in the second paragraph? He has obviously been drugged.

Part 3, chapter 2 (continued) Time for your checkup.

Many brutal beatings and interrogations. Why do the doctors examine him

between some beatings?

Part 3, chapter 2 (continued) Confess!

“He became simply a mouth that uttered, a hand that signed, whatever was demanded of him. His sole concern was to find out what they wanted him to confess, and then confess it quickly, before the bullying started anew.”

Part 3, chapter 2 (continued) He confesses to everything.

There’s no difference between the thought and the deed.

Any thoughts about that? It sounds like Jesus. So is the Party like God, here, only evil?

Part 3, chapter 2 (continued) Think about being put on trial for

your thoughts.

Part 3, chapter 2 (continued) O’Brien’s voice: “'Don't worry,

Winston; you are in my keeping. For seven years I have watched over you. Now the turning-point has come. I shall save you, I shall make you perfect.’

…

Part 3, chapter 2 (continued) He was not sure whether it was

O'Brien's voice; but it was the same voice that had said to him, 'We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness,' in that other dream, seven years ago.”

What does this suggest? That O’Brien put ideas into Winston’s

head using the telescreen while he was sleeping.

Part 3, chapter 2 (continued) O’Brien

He is described as a teacher, a therapist, or even as a priest.

He’s trying to teach/reform, rehabilitate, or purify Winston.

Part 3, chapter 2 (continued) Whom are we at war with?

O’Brien wants Smith’s truth, which is reality.

He wants to force him to doublethink/forget reality and agree with whatever the Party says.

Part 3, chapter 2 (continued) The picture!

The picture that could reveal the truth – or at least one truth that the Party has covered up.

O’Brien destroys it, and immediately says it never existed.

He is doublethinking. He wants Winston to do the same.

Part 3, chapter 2 (continued) O’Brien: “Is it your opinion, Winston,

that the past has real existence?”  So… did the past happen? Did

what happened actually happen? 

Part 3, chapter 2 (continued) Is the past concrete?

No. I can’t point to it, touch it, smell it, etc.

  Does the past have a real existence?

“Yes?” So… prove it.

  You can’t prove it. So did it really

happen? (Yes)

 

Part 3, chapter 2 (continued) The past exists in minds.

So…what if we control what you see, how you think, what you find out?

 

Part 3, chapter 2 (continued) According to the Party:

Reality exists in the human mind and nowhere else.

Reality only exists in the mind of the Party, since individuals can’t be trusted.

 

Part 3, chapter 2 (continued) How many fingers am I holding up?

“… I am trying to see 5.” He is being conditioned here.

 

Part 3, chapter 2 (continued) What’s going on here?

O’Brien: “How many?” Winston: “In all honesty, I don’t know.” Winston is breaking down the barriers

between what he knows and what he wants to know – to stop the pain.

He is becoming willing to doublethink because he has been tortured to the point of death.

Part 3, chapter 2 (continued) So why are they here?

They are not in the Miniluv to make him confess, or to torture him.

But to CURE him. Think about some psychos in movies

who kill people to “purify” them or something like that. We’re dealing with a psychotic system, here. Insanity.

Part 3, chapter 2 (continued) There are no martyrs here because he

won’t exist if they don’t want him to.

O’Brien: “You are a flaw in the pattern.” “You are an anomaly in the Matrix.”

They don’t want just submission… they want you to WANT to submit.

Part 3, chapter 2 (continued) Why do all this?

It’s all about control. They want to control what people think,

and they think their system is right. You will agree with us.

Part 3, chapter 2 (continued) Julia said they can’t control what

they think. Can they?

Next slide…

Part 3, chapter 2 (continued) “And he did see them, for a fleeting

instant, before the scenery of his mind changed. He saw five fingers, and there was no deformity. Then everything was normal again, and the old fear, the hatred, and the bewilderment came crowding back again…

Part 3, chapter 2 (continued) But there had been a moment -- he

did not know how long, thirty seconds, perhaps -- of luminous certainty, when each new suggestion of O'Brien's had filled up a patch of emptiness and become absolute truth, and when two and two could have been three as easily as five, if that were what was needed.…”

Doublethink!

Part 3, chapter 2 (continued) True love.

Julia betrayed Winston immediately.

The Brotherhood. O’Brien says Winston will never know if

the Brotherhood exists. Do you think it does?

Part 3, chapter 3

The Book So who wrote it? O’Brien – he at least collaborated in writing it. What about Goldstein?

Revolution The proletariat will never revolt. Think about Russia, China, Cuba, N. Korea.

Why didn’t/don’t the people there revolt if things are so bad?

Part 3, chapter 3 (continued) The Choice.

Winston knew “That the choice for mankind lies between freedom and happiness, and that, for the great bulk of mankind, happiness is better.“

Happiness > Freedom Happiness < Freedom Your thoughts?

But are these people even happy?

Part 3, chapter 3 (continued) The Party’s motivation

“The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power.”

What motivates American politicians? “No one ever seizes power with the

intention of relinquishing it.” Key word there: seizes.

Part 3, chapter 3 (continued) FREEDOM IS SLAVERY – SLAVERY IS

FREEDOM

Alone (free) the individual is always defeated. That’s “slavery.”

As a part of the Party (slavery), the individual is part of something that is forever. That’s “freedom.”

Part 3, chapter 3 (continued) Power. But what kind of power?

Power over the mind is what’s important.

“We make the laws of nature.” This is psychotic. God complex.

O’Brien: We could do anything if it suited us. [Someone ask Mr. Bulgrien to do something

impossible.]

Part 3, chapter 3 (continued) O’Brien, again: Nothing exists except

through human consciousness. “If a tree fell and no one was around to

hear it…”

Part 3, chapter 3 (continued) The Earth is the center of the

universe. The stars are only kilometers away. Medieval, primitive thinking here. Unreasonable.

So we’ll have two systems of astronomy. We can change “reality” or “truth” to suit

our needs/wants.

Part 3, chapter 3 (continued) “Solipsism”

Theory that the self can know nothing but its own modifications and that the self is the only existent thing.

Part 3, chapter 3 (continued) Progress

Progress in Oceania = progress toward more pain.

Only feelings left intoxication of power, thrill of victory.

O’Brien: “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.”

Part 3, chapter 3 (continued) Goldstein

O’ Brien says that Goldstein and his heresies will live forever.

So, is the Brotherhood real at all?

Holding the mirror up to nature… Winston sees himself in the mirror It’s like he’s looking at someone else,

he’s been through so much

Part 3, chapter 3 (continued) Who did this to Winston?

O’ Brien? “No, Winston. You reduced yourself to it.”

Psychopath, here. Like in psycho movies.

Winston still loves Julia…

In the end, we shall shoot you.

Part 3, chapter 4

Better treatment What explains the much-improved

treatment Winson is receiving now?

Thought Police The Thought Police are able to infer all

of his thoughts. Not able to read his mind, but they could

tell what was on his mind – what he was thinking.

Part 3, chapter 4 (continued) Thought Police, part 2

Probably O’Brien is able to tell what Winston is thinking because he has studied Winston intently.

Winston is getting good at double-thinking. He believes everything they want him to

believe.

Part 3, chapter 4 (continued) Reality.

Can we make our own reality? That’s pretty much a definition of

insanity, right there.

Oops! He slipped. In a dream about the Golden Country –

“…my love, Julia!”

Part 3, chapter 4 (continued) Emotions

Can he keep a secret from himself, or can he control how he feels?

Can you control your own emotions?

Part 3, chapter 4 (continued) Winston’s plan

He wants to hold on to his hatred of Big Brother so that when they kill him, he can express his hatred of him and beat them.

He wants to die hating Big Brother.

It is not enough to obey Big Brother. You must LOVE him.

Room 101…

Part 3, chapter 5

Room 101 'You asked me once,' said O'Brien,

'what was in Room 101. I told you that you knew the answer already. Everyone knows it. The thing that is in Room 101 is the worst thing in the world.‘ There are rats in this mask/cage.

Part 3, chapter 5 (continued) Dreaming…

Was O’Brien controlling Winston’s dreams?

Part 3, chapter 5 (continued) What’s most likely going on here?

“He [O’Brien] looked thoughtfully into the distance, as though he were addressing an audience somewhere behind Winston's back.”

Training exercise, or an audience of some kind is watching?

Part 3, chapter 5 (continued) Fear

“But for everyone there is something unendurable -- something that cannot be contemplated. Courage and cowardice are not involved. If you are falling from a height it is not cowardly to clutch at a rope. If you have come up from deep water it is not cowardly to fill your lungs with air. It is merely an instinct which cannot be destroyed. It is the same with the rats. For you, they are unendurable. They are a form of pressure that you cannot withstand, even if you wished to.”

Part 3, chapter 5 (continued) Everyone has something he/she is

uncontrollably afraid of. Something like an instinctive fear. My daughter: fireworks. What’s yours?

(Don’t let the Thought Police find out…)

Part 3, chapter 5 (continued) Is this really necessary?

“'I have pressed the first lever,' said O'Brien. 'You understand the construction of this cage. The mask will fit over your head, leaving no exit. When I press this other lever, the door of the cage will slide up. These starving brutes will shoot out of it like bullets. Have you ever seen a rat leap through the air? They will leap on to your face and bore straight into it. Sometimes they attack the eyes first. Sometimes they burrow through the cheeks and devour the tongue.'”

Part 3, chapter 5 (continued) And Winston does what is needed of

him. He yells that he wants them to do it to

Julia instead of him. How is this “what is needed of him”?

Part 3, chapter 6

The Chestnut Tree Café “In his usual corner.” How much time has there been between

chapters 5 and 6?

A.D.D. “In these days he could never fix his

mind on any one subject for more than a few moments at a time.”

That’s what “they” want – he can’t focus his thoughts.

Part 3, chapter 6 (continued) “… what was worst of all was that

the smell of gin, which dwelt with him night and day, was inextricably mixed up in his mind with the smell of those – ” Those what? Rats?

Part 3, chapter 6 (continued) Winston has become like whom?

Jones, Ruthorford and Aaronson… before they disappeared for good.

Part 3, chapter 6 (continued) Chess & war.

Juxtaposition. Are these just as real as each other?

Recovery “There were things… from which you

could not recover.” Do you guys believe that? Can you think of examples?

Part 3, chapter 6 (continued) Symbolism

“the earth was like iron and all the grass seemed dead and there was not a bud anywhere except a few crocuses which had pushed themselves up to be dismembered by the wind.”

What is the grass? What are the crocuses? What is the wind?

Part 3, chapter 6 (continued) Just do it.

They could have done that if they wanted to. We see Winston’s opinion of that:

he’s horrified.

Julia She has a scar on her head. Beatings? Some surgery or something from Room 101?

Part 3, chapter 6 (continued) Julia, continued.

Her body reminds him of a corpse now. Ouch.

Winston simply echoes her words. Where have we seen that before? Charrington, the telescreen.

Not thinking, but simply repeating.

Part 3, chapter 6 (continued) Recovery, part 2.

After wanting the other person in your place in Room 101, you don’t feel the same about that person.

You can’t recover that feeling. You've lost that lovin' feeling, Whoa, that lovin' feeling, You've lost that lovin' feeling, Now it's gone...gone...gone...wooooooh.

Part 3, chapter 6 (continued) “Under the spreading chestnut tree, I

sold you and you sold me – ” That song, this situation… It’s just like Jones, Rutherford and

Aaronson.

Winston’s job A useless job – should commas be inside

brackets, or outside? Why do they give him a job like this?

Part 3, chapter 6 (continued) The War in Africa

Arrows on a map. Just like his chess game.

Picture. How is this chess board similar to the

description of the war in Africa?

Part 3, chapter 6 (continued) False memory.

He remembers his mom and sister and himself having fun. Snakes and ladders.

He convinces himself that it’s a false memory There were no good times before the

Party.

Part 3, chapter 6 (continued) Dreaming…

The end is Winston’s “blissful dream.” Back in the miniluv, confessing.

His soul as white as snow – God imagery.

White tiled corridor? In sunlight? That’s not what it was like, was it?

Part 3, chapter 6 (continued) Dream vs. Reality

Is the bullet part of the dream, or is it real?

Is he dreaming of them killing him, or are they killing him while he’s sitting there “remembering” his confession?

Part 3, chapter 6 (continued) Big Brother is Watching You

Ya know, I never saw that smile on Big Brother’s face before!

Remember Winston’s plan to hold on to his hatred of Big Brother? He had won the victory over himself. “He loved Big Brother.”

Part 3, chapter 6 (continued) Big Brother and the Party have won

over the individual.

One vs. Society