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1984 by George Orwell

 

 

 


 

Big Brother:

  • The society's leader, it's an idea

  • Posters are everywhere, he's always watching 

  • Symbolizes the fiction in which the party is built

  • Manifestation of the lies upon lies that allow them to be brainwashed, therefore giving them control

 

 

Glass Paperweight:

  • Symbolizes hope

    •  Winston's happy to see it in shop

  • It's his desire to connect with the past

  • When Winsotn is arrested, the paperweight shatters to show how his hope was taken away

    • he'll never know the truth

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1984
George Orwell
Winston
Winston and Julia
Two Minute Hate
Thought Police Poster
Party Slogan
Party Slogan
Party Slogan
1984
Big Brother Poster

Symbols

Themes

Manipulation:

  • Mind control, doublethink isn't allowed and the more thought crime commited the more likely one is to disappear and die

  • Propaganda everywhere inflicting fear in the hearts of socety

  • The Party watches for all facial expresses just to assure no disloyalty to the government is occuring

  • Tecnologhy such as the telescren and other mechanisism to manipulate the society by watching their ever move

  • Language is changed to the simplest form to avoid individual thought and complex ideas against government

  • Books, photos, and history is constantly being changed to make sure their lies and manipulative ways are up to date and plausible

 

 

Major Conflicts

 

  • Winston doesn't believe in the society

  • Can't trust anyone, writes in journal

  • Secretly has sexual relations with Julia

  • The government lies and manipulates society constantly

  • O'Brien is a spy, though Winston thought he was part of Big Brother

  • Julia and Winston are torn from each other

  • Winston is brainwashed

 

Characters

Winston Smith:

  • A minor member of the ruling Party

  • Is a thin, frail, contemplative, intellectual

  • Thirty-nine-year-old

  • Hates the totalitarian control and goes against the party

 

 

Julia:

  • Winston’s lover

  • A beautiful dark-haired girl working in the Fiction Department at the Ministry of Truth

  • Thinks sex is optimistic

  •  Her rebellion against the Party is small and personal, for her own enjoyment

 


 

O'Brien:

  • A mysterious, powerful, and sophisticated member of the Inner Party whom Winston believes is also a member of the Brotherhood

  • anti party group

 

 

Mr. Charrington:

  • An old man who runs a secondhand store in the prole district

  • He rents Winston a room without a telescreen in which to carry out his affairs as member of the Thought Police

 

Syme:

  • An intelligent, outgoing man who works with Winston at the Ministry of Truth

  • Specializes in language.

 

Parsons:

  • A fat, obnoxious, and dull Party member who lives near Winston and works at the Ministry of Truth

  • He has a dull wife and a group of suspicious, ill-mannered children who are members of the Junior Spies

Emmanuel Goldstein:

  • Goldstein is the legendary leader of the Brotherhood.

  • He seems to have been a Party leader who fell out of favor with the regime.

 

 

Motifs

Doublethink

  • The thought process that the entire government is built on

  • Destroys capacity for independent thought 

  • Party manipulates its citizens to the point where they literally become mindless and believe ideas that they're told even when that is contradictory to what they were already told

 

Settings

  • London, England (future Oceania)

  • 1984

Author's Purpose

  • To expose the dangers of a totalitarian society

 Significant Quotes

"He who controls the the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past." ~Winston

 

"War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignornace is strength." ~Winston

 

"Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them." ~Winston

 

"Big Brother is watching you." ~Winston

 

 

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