1. 1984

2. GEORGE ORWELL Life: Eric Arthur Blair Born in India in 1903
Studied at Eton College
Against the British policy in India
Lived like an homeless to see society’s reaction
Joined United Workers Marxist Party in Spain
Worked as a journalist in WWII
Lived on the island of Jura, Scotland
Died in 1950 in London

3. Style FICTION Imagery and symbolism 3rd person narrative
Words are clear, simple and short
NON FICTION
Real-life events
First person point of view
Colloquial diction and sympathetic tone

4. 1984
Nineteen Eighty-Four was written in 1948 and published in This is a dystopian novel, as the writer does not represent the society of his dreams, which would be a clear utopia, but he creates a completely negative world, maybe the worst possible. Every part of the world, which is divided into 3 superpowers involved in a continuous war, is dominated by a different kind of totalitarianism: Oceania by the Ingsoc, Eurasia by Neo-Bolshevism and Eastasia by Obliteration of the Self.

5. PLOT
In 1984, Winston Smith lives in London, in Oceania. Oceania is a totalitarian society led by Big Brother, which censors everyone’s behavior and thoughts. Winston is disgusted with his oppressed life and secretly longs to join the Brotherhood, a group of underground rebels against the government. Winston meets Julia and they secretly fall in love and have an affair, which is considered a crime. One day, while walking home, Winston encounters O’Brian, an inner party member, who gives him his address. Winston had exchanged glances with O’Brian before and had dreams about him giving him the impression that O’Brian was a member of the Brotherhood. Since Julia hated the party as much as Winston did, they went to O’Brian’s house together where they were introduced into the Brotherhood. O’Brian is actually a faithful member of the Inner-Party and this is actually a trap for Winston, a trap that O’Brian has been cleverly setting for seven years. Winston and Julia are sent to the Ministry of Love which is a sort of rehabilitation center for criminals accused of thoughtcrime. There, Winston was separated from Julia, and tortured until his beliefs coincided with those of the Party. Winston denounces everything he believed him, even his love for Julia, and was released back into the public where he wastes his days at the Chestnut Tree drinking gin.

6. CHARACTERS WINSTON SMITH Intellectual, member of the Outer Party
Editor responsible for historical revisionism
Journal of negative thoughts and opinions about the Party and Big Brother
Name is the same of Churchill
In love with Julia(who repairs the Minitrue novel-writing machines)

7. NEWSPEAK
There is a great revelance given to language and thought. In fact there is a complete section of the Party which works on the language spoken in Oceania. Their aim is to simplify and even eliminate all synonyms and antonyms. This fact has an important effect, as it limits the personal way of expressing of every citizen, and doing so also the ability of thinking.

8. DOUBLETHINK
This is the possibility to maintain and believe in two ideas at the same time, even if they are completely contradictory. This principle is particularly important for the Party because people, as they can’t recognise and distinguish between two opposite ideas, are constricted to accept, and even exalt, what the Party states. A clear example is «blackwhite» which has two meanings, depending to who it is referred to. Applied to an opponent, it means the habit of impudently claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts. Applied to a Party member, it means a loyal willingness to say that black is white when Party discipline demands this.

9. THEMES There are five main themes in the novel:
Nationalism, which can be positive(in the love for the Big Brother), negative(in the hate for Goldstein) and transferred(redirects emotions from one power unit to another)
Sexual repression, which is represented by the Junior Anti-Sex-League, and even love is forbidden
Futurology, as the Party wants to create a society completely oppressed by his own power
Censorship, in fact there is a Ministry of Truth which rewrites articles and changes photographs to change the reality
Surveillance, as everyone is always watched and listened to at any time.

10. FAMOUS QUOTES BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU. WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.
The sexual act, successfully performed, was rebellion. Desire was thoughtcrime.
2 + 2 = 5