 Eric Blair was born in 1903 in Motihari, Bengal - in the then British colony of India. His father worked for the Opium Department of the Civil Service. His mother brought him to England at the age of one. With his characteristic humor, he would later describe his family's background as "lower-upper-middle class."

 He chose a pen name based on his affection for the English tradition and countryside.  George = patron saint of England (and George V was monarch at the time)  The River Orwell = one of his most beloved English sites

The Bolshevik Party believed in Marx’s philosophy as set forth in The Communist Manifesto (1848). The Bolsheviks ultimately became the communist party of the Soviet Union.

 Marx & Engels were communist theorists who believed that in order for Utopia to be achieved, in an industrial society, workers (the proletariat) must control the means of production.

 According to Marxist theory, the bourgeoisie (capitalist owners of factories), must be overthrown in a bloody revolution - after which the state will control the means of production.  Ultimately, socialism “should” evolve into communism – a state in which all people are equal.

 The February Revolution  -end of Romanov dynasty  -Czar Nicholas II abdicates throne  The October Revolution (or Uprising)  -Bolsheviks (led by Lenin) overthrow provisional democratic government

Czar Nicholas IIVladimir Lenin

In 1924 (7 years after the Russian Revolution), Lenin dies and Stalin takes over as General Secretary of the Communist Party.

During the Spanish Civil War ( ), Orwell volunteers to fight for the Republicans against Franco's Nationalist (Fascist) uprising.

 Orwell admired the absence of class structure in the revolutionary areas of Spain.

 Dystopia is a negative utopia: a totalitarian and repressive world.  Other popular examples include Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Lois Lowry's The Giver, Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, and Terry Gilliam's Brazil.

 Written in England in 1949 (beginning of the Cold War)  Orwell predicts that our world could change into “Big Brother’s” world in an extremely short amount of time (1984) unless something changes…has it?

 The year 1984, London, England (Airstrip One - Oceania)

 Third person limited - the narrator knows only the thoughts and feelings of a single character, while other characters are presented only externally. Third person limited grants a writer more freedom than first person, but less than third person omniscient.

 Winston Smith - hates the totalitarian control and enforced repression of his government. He harbors revolutionary dreams. (actor John Hurt plays Winston Smith in 1984 film version of the novel)

 Her rebellion is small and personal, for her own enjoyment (in contrast to Winston’s ideological motivation).  Works in the Fiction Department at the Ministry of Truth.  Claims to have had affairs with many Party members.

 O’Brien - member of the Inner Party whom Winston believes is also a member of the Brotherhood, the legendary group of anti-Party rebels. Richard Burton as O’Brien in 1984 film. Note: the Newspeak acronym INGSOC (English Socialism) denotes the political ideology of the totalitarian government of Oceania.

 an economic and political theory based on public ownership or common ownership and cooperative management of the means of production and allocation of resources. (Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto, 1848)

 According to Marx, the proletariat is the class of a capitalist society that does not have ownership of the means of production and whose only means of subsistence is to sell their labor power for a wage or salary. (working class)

 Goldstein = Trotsky? Emma Goldman?  only actually seen and heard on telescreen - may be nothing more than a propaganda fabrication of the Ministry of Truth  Founding member of “The Brotherhood”  The Brotherhood-  mysterious in origin and operations, working to bring down the Party  Goldstein: one of the members of the original inner circle of the Party just below Big Brother himself (turned on Big Brother)

 Maybe exists – maybe doesn’t?!  Stalin-esque? First general secretary of the communist part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) Following Lenin’s death, Stalin rose to become the leader of the Soviet Union (exiled and eventually ordered the execution of Trotsky)

 attempt to control not only the speech and actions, but also the thoughts of its subjects, labelling disapproved thought as thoughtcrime or, in Newspeak, "crimethink” Thought Police - the secret police whose job it is to uncover and punish thoughtcrime.

 Winston’s torture with the cage of rats in Room 101.

 The pyschological, technological, physical, and social dangers of totalitarianism  The importance of language in shaping human thought (Newspeak)

 Dark  Frustrated  Pessimistic = “dystopian”

 Urban decay – (London is falling apart under the Party’s leadership)  The idea of “doublethink” (the ability to hold two contradictory ideas in one’s mind at the same time and believe them both to be true)

Ministry of Love = torture and punishment Ministry of Truth = historical revisionism Ministry of Plenty = economic shortages Ministry of Peace = wages war

 The Glass Paperweight  St. Clement’s Church  Big Brother?  The Red-Armed Prole Woman  The Place Where There Is No Darkness  The Telescreens