1. George Orwell Bengal (India) 1903 Served as a soldier in India, a terrible experience He left the military service because he was against Imperialism He went to Europe and started to write but the publishers did not want to print his books

2. His political ideas (views) He was against any form of totalitarian state: for this reason he fought with the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War. He sympathised with Socialism but when Stalin raised to power, he remained disillusioned. These ideas are reflected in his book Animal Farm, a satirical attack against all totalitarisms.

3. His main work 1984. The title is the reverse number of the year in which the novel was written / published. The novel is set in Oceania, an invented state in the future. The society described in this novel is a nightmarish totalitarian state, which reflects Nazism in Germany or Stalinism in Russia. Therhere isn‘t any privacy and freedom. People are controlled by gigantic two-ways (interactive) telescreens, from which the Big Brother controls everyone and everywhere.

4. Main characters The main characters are Winston Smith and Julia. Winston is a modern anti-hero and he wants to rebel against the totalitarian control. So he falls in love with Julia, a woman dissenter. In this society love is forbidden. For this reason Smith and Julia were imprisoned and brought to Room 101. After many tortures he confesses his „crime“ and he is brainwashed until he becomes like anybody else.

5. Main themes Future world and society Control of people through media and absurd slogans (war is peace) Freedom and individuality, there is no private life.

6. language For Orwell language is very important because through language people can be manipulated and reality can be distorted. Through paradoxical slogans people are convinced that the false is the truth. For example these slogans constantly appear on the telescreens: WAR IS PEACE; FREEDOM IS SLAVERY; IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH; LOVE IS HATE: Orwell invents a fictional language called Newspeak in opposition to Oldspeak.

7. Newspeak - features The most important features of Newspeak are The extreme simplification of vocabulary and grammar. The abolition of synonyms and antonyms, for example the opposite of „good“ is not „bad“ but „ungood“. The invention of new words like „doublethink“ or „doublespeak“.

8. What is …? Doublethink is the perception of a distorted reality. Winston knows that the messages he receives are false, but he must accept /akzept/ them as true. (This can be related to our modern times, where adverts make us believe that eternal youth and beauty are the real truth.) Doublespeak is the language used by politicians to distort reality. „WAR is PEACE“ is the slogan used to make people belive that a „humanitarian war“ is something positive.