1. 1984
George Orwell

2. George Orwell
George Orwell was born Eric Hugh Blair in India in 1903.

3. George Orwell Sent to an expensive prep school at age 8.
He was accepted at a reduced tuition rate.
Caused him to be treated as a “ charity case” by his peers.

4. George Orwell He felt like a constant failure.
Believed that the rich and strong made the world’s rule.
Therefore, he identified with the underdog and sympathized with victims of poverty.

5. Communist Views
Orwell concluded that all revolutions fail because those who attain power are corrupted by it.
This is a theme that permeates his writing.

6. Orwell saw in nature the only truly “Utopian State” possible.
He felt that 20th- century man’s move away from the land was a mistake.

7. Utopia
Utopia = a land where people live by reason and all poverty and injustice have been abolished.

8. Utopia
1984 and Animal Farm are Anti- Utopian novels.

9. Totalitarianism
Orwell’s purpose in writing 1984 was to warn the world about the dangers of totalitarianism.
In the setting, Oceania, the government seeks to control the actions of its citizens.
Gov. also wants to control their innermost thoughts and feelings.

10. Background Information
1984

11. Totalitarianism
The aim of totalitarianism is to make people less and less conscious.
Less able to make distinctions between truth and falsehood.
Unable to draw logical conclusions.

12. Totalitarianism
Censorship and propaganda are essential methods of controlling the proletariat (working class).
Helps convince them that they are on the right political path.
Those in other political systems are fools.

13. Total Control
This is what happened to the citizens of Oceania in 1984.
The “newspeak” language keeps most from crossing the line into individual thought
Or questioning of those in power.

14. Main Character
Orwell tells us what happens to Winston Smith when he dares to cross the line.

15. Purpose
1984 is a political novel written with the purpose of warning readers of the dangers of totalitarian government.

16. Purpose In 1984 Orwell portrays the perfect totalitarian society.
The most extreme realization imaginable of a modern-day government with absolute power.

17. Title
The title was meant to indicate to its readers in 1949 that the story represented a real possibility for the future.
If totalitarianism were not opposed some variation of the world described in the novel could become a reality in only thirty-five years.

18. Total Control
Orwell portrays a state in which the government monitors and controls every aspect of human life .
To the extent that even having a disloyal thought is against the law.

19. Controlling Techniques
The Party (government) in 1984 uses a number of techniques to control its citizens.
Psychological manipulation
Physical control
Control of information and history
Technology
Language as mind control