Directions: As you are introduced to some of the ideas presented in 1984, you will be asked to come up with theories and predictions about the text. You will have a minute or so to think and write, then share your ideas with your assigned partner. When you are finished discussing, add something you learned from your partner. My Theory: My Partner’s Theory: *Students will randomly be called on to share your ideas as well as summarize and respond to what others have said.

About the Author Eric Arthur Blair, known by his pen name, George Orwell, was a British author who lived from 1903 – 1950. As an English novelist and journalist he is most known for his dystopian novels, 1984 and Animal Farm. Orwell's work continues to influence popular and political culture, and the term, “Orwellian – descriptive of totalitarian or authoritarian social practices – has entered the language along with several other phrases from his works including Cold War, Big Brother, thought police, doublethink and thoughtcrime.

There are various ideas as to the meaning of the book’s title. It is widely thought that Orwell simply switched the last two digits of the year in which he wrote it. (1948).

What is dystopian literature? A futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive, societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control. Dystopias, through an exaggerated worst-case scenario, make a criticism about a current trend, societal norm, or political system. Examples: Specials, The Hunger Games, Divergent, A Brave New World, Matched

Nineteen Eighty-Four (sometimes 1984) is a darkly satirical, political novel. The story is meant to take place in a futuristic society in which the government enforces perfect conformity among citizens through indoctrination, fear, lies and ruthless punishment.

The World of Nineteen Eighty-Four In his novel, Orwell creates a world in which citizens have no right to a personal life or personal thought. Leisure and other activities are controlled through strict laws. The novel introduced the concepts of the ever-present, all-seeing Big Brother, and the thought police who use telescreens (televisions that contain a surveillance camera found in almost every room of every home).

How would your life be different if telescreens you could not turn off were in every room of your home, every public building and in all public areas?

Who is Big Brother? The mysterious head of government is the omniscient, omnipotent, beloved Big Brother, or "BB." Big Brother is described as "a man of about forty-five, with a heavy black moustache and ruggedly handsome features." He is usually displayed on posters with the slogan "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU."

The menacing figure of Big Brother has been variously interpreted to be that of Soviet leader Josef Stalin and Adolf Hitler.

WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH The world described in Nineteen Eighty-Four has striking and deliberate similarities to the Nazi Party and the extensive and institutional use of propaganda. The three slogans of the Big Brother Party, visible everywhere, are: WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

They echo the slogan "Arbeit macht frei" ("Work Makes Freedom") on the gates of Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps. As you read, look for other similarities to the Nazi party.

Party Slogans IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY Notice the definition of each is an antonym. Discuss why a government might want to indoctrinate its citizens with these ideals.

The world is controlled by three similar authoritarian “Superstates” engaged in perpetual war with each other:

Eurasia – Soviet Union and Continental Europe Oceania – British Empire, the US, Canada, Latin America, Australia, and the Southern part of Africa Eastasia -China, Japan, Korea, and India

The ideologies of the three superstates are basically the same, but the population is led to believe that the other two ideologies are detestable.

The Ministries of Oceania Oceania has 4 “Ministries” or Agencies The Ministry of Peace Minipax is the newspeak name for the Ministry of Peace, which concerns itself with making war The Ministry of Plenty Miniplenty in Newspeak, it is the ministry involved in maintaining ubiquitous poverty in Oceania The Ministry of Truth Minitrue is the propaganda arm of the Ingsoc State. They distribute the leaflets, porno, and of course the telescreens. Winston Smith spends his daytime hours “correcting” historical records in Minitrue. The Ministry of Love Miniluv is a gigantic windowless building devoted to torture and brutality. The home of the thought police, it is surrounded by a maze of barbed wire and machinegun towers.

With your partner, come up with a theory … The Ministry of Peace Why would a government be concerned with making war? The Ministry of Plenty Why would a government be concerned with creating poverty? How might the Ministry of Peace support what the Ministry of Plenty does? The Ministry of Truth Why would a government attempt to “correct” historical documents? The Ministry of Love Why would a government attempt to hide that it is involved with torture?

Newspeak Newspeak, the "official language" of Oceania, is extraordinary in that its vocabulary decreases every year; the state of Oceania sees no purpose in maintaining a complex language, and so Newspeak is a language dedicated to the "destruction of words." Come up with a theory: Why would a government want to destroy words? What purpose would this serve?

Newspeak: "Of course the great wastage is in the verbs and adjectives, but there are hundreds of nouns that can be got rid of as well... If you have a word like 'good', what need is there for a word like 'bad'? 'Ungood' will do just as well... Or again, if you want a stronger version of 'good', what sense is there in having a whole string of vague useless words like 'excellent' and 'splendid' and all the rest of them? 'Plusgood' covers the meaning, or 'doubleplusgood' if you want something stronger still.... In the end the whole notion of goodness and badness will be covered by only six words; in reality, only one word." (Part One, Chapter Five)

The true goal of Newspeak is to take away the ability to adequately conceptualize revolution, or even dissent, by removing words that could be used to that end. Since the thought police had yet to develop a method of reading people's minds to catch dissent, Newspeak was created so that it wasn't even possible to think a dissenting thought. This concept has been examined (and widely discounted) in linguistics.

Can History Ever Be Changed? While we don’t have governmental employees “correcting” historical documents, there are numerous examples of contradictory beliefs, messages attitudes about historical events and people. Example: To this day, there are organizations who question whether millions of European Jews were actually killed during the Holocaust.

Example: To this day, our nation celebrates Columbus Day despite the documented reality of what Columbus did. For example, he used germ-warfare tactics deliberately giving Native Americans blankets used by small pox victims. Example: To this day, there are people in some Southern states that advocate the South won the Civil War.

How Could Things Change So Quickly? The main character, Winston, remembers when he was young how things were different before Big Brother. This was only about 30 years ago. How is it possible that things could change so quickly? Your Turn: What do you know about society 30 years ago—say in the late 1970’s and early 80’s? How different was life then compared to today?