Year+13+notes+2009


 * //Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present, controls the past.//"**

=Table of Contents= Themes to considerSymbolismWritten styleMiscellaneousCLASS NOTESQUOTES Linking Background Knowledge and Secondary sources

=Themes to consider=

Utopia vs Dystopia; utopia //in// dystopia? (functions of mind control)

The functioning of a totalitarian society The student should pay close attention to certain occurrences in Winston and Julia's life, how is Julia aware of Winston? Why does the picture of the three men reappear? (Is it to test Winston's reliability within the party?- or is it simple coincidence).

Nature vs the Unnatural (see the woman singing and hanging up laundry in the yard outside the rented room; Winston sees her to be 'beautiful' though she is not so in the typical sense) Winston's initial eschewing of women represents the unnatural aspect of the society

The importance of language is a very important, as can be seen through the Party's enthusiasm for Newspeak

Lord Acton’s comment: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”, can be compared with O’Brien assuring Winston that a picture of the future is, “a boot stamping on a human face - forever.” Orwell’s message is very clear: totalitarian governments are only interested in maintaining power for themselves; they have no interest in the well-being of their citizens. However, Orwell clearly stated on more than one occasion, that //Nineteen Eighty-Four// was a satire, a parody, not a prophecy of the future. In his //The Novel Now,// Anthony Burgess writes: “It is possible to say that the ghastly future Orwell foretells will not come about, simply because he has foretold it; we have been warned.” That is what //Nineteen Eighty-Four// is primarily: a warning against allowing governments to have too much power. This warning is as valid today as it was when Orwell wrote his book in 1947-8.

It is interesting to note how often Orwell’s work is misunderstood; perhaps because of a reader’s political position, or perhaps because, as T. S. Eliot puts it, “humankind cannot bear very much reality”. Some people say that //Nineteen Eighty-Four// is no longer relevant because the Berlin wall has come down and communism is a spent force. But it is clear that Orwell was not attacking the left or the right. He was attacking any government that sought to take over complete power. Orwell would include those who increase their powers of surveillance and arrest in the name of security.

There are other themes in the book concerning the nature of law, language, family life and so on, but all are subordinated or contribute to the main theme: the danger to the individual, and to basic human decency, of an all-powerful oligarchy.

Back to top =Symbolism=

Big Brother is a symbol representing all of the false hopes and propaganda that have existed in totalitarian regimes.

Degradation of London; the aesthetic nature of society has no importance.

Winston's varicose vein; Winston's physical and emotional health decline and fall apart, like the society in which he lives. (descriptions of physical and societal degradation bring the reader closer to Winston and his plight)

The paperweight; representing freedom and release, it is shattered when Winston and Julia are captured in their rebellion.

Winston's constant state of sickness (until he begins 'rebelling') symbolises the fact that people are not meant to live in such conditions

The Gold Country and the 'beautiful' prole woman symbolise the simple, natural life that Winston longs for Back to top =Written style=

Attention to drab details brings an oppressive tone to the writing.

Language is used by the society to bring down the people's thoughts and limit the expression of their desires.

One should note the way Orwell creates transitions from reality to dream like states through the protagonist Winston. At times the reader, might be even confused due to the way Orwell writes, where reality ends and fiction (dreams) begin. Back to top =Miscellaneous=

It is interesting to note that the epilogue is written in the past tense (perhaps the Party is not truly eternal) Back to top =CLASS NOTES=

Style and how it encourages meaning: - Gradual revealing of details provides tension - Innocent point of view of narrator provides unique perspective and ultimately effects our response to the ending - Focus on the causes of events (and the events as well) - Sharp and succinct syntax and simple diction; power in simplicity (contrasted to rather surreal and convoluted diction at times) - Understand characters in context of their environment - Repetition emphasizes the emotional effect of key and tragic events within the narrative and on the narrator

//Find an example of a narrative change in the novel which seems puzzling.// Back to top =QUOTES=

"We control matter because we control the mind. Reality is inside the skull." (control) "Big Brother is watching you." (symbolism) "Down with Big Brother." "Oceania had never been in alliance with Eurasia." (2 minute hate) "We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness." (irony, foreshadowing) "War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength." (reality control, irony) "To begin with he did not know with any certainty that this //was// 1984." "Man of paralysing stupidity" (the control of the party over the people-- Parsons) "Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death." (Winston thinks this while writing diary) "We shall turn you into a gas and pour you into the stratosphere." (O'Brien-annihilation of Winston's existence)

Back to top =** __Linking__ **= // Nineteen Eighty-Four // can be usefully linked with other works concerned with the powers of the state over the individual. For example works by: Solzhenitsyn, Huxley, Dorfman, Atwood, Gogol, Fugard, Sophocles, and so on. Back to top = ** Background Knowledge and Secondary sources ** = = = The best other sources for understanding //Nineteen Eighty-Four// can be found in Orwell’s own works, especially //Animal Farm// and his essays. Michael Crick’s //George Orwell, a life,// Secker and Warburg, 1981; J. Meyer’s //Reader’s Guide to George Orwell,// Thames and Hudson, 1975; Peter Lewis’ //George Orwell, the Road to 1984,// Heinemann, 1981; Michael Sheldon’s //Orwell, the Authorised Biography,// Minerva, 1991; G. Holderness //et al., George Orwell//.

__Structure__. The novel is divided into three parts with one appendix. The first part consists of an introduction to the world of 1984 (each chapter tends to focus on a new aspect of that world) and to the main characters. The second part is the story of Winston and Julia’s love-affair, and the third part is the account of Winston’s torture and brainwashing. The appendix gives extra information about Newspeak.

Identifying a straightforward structure such as this is, is a basis for understanding more complex structures which will be found in other works in the syllabus. In //Nineteen Eighty-Four,// the story is told chronologically, apart from the times when Winston is dreaming or remembering events from the past (for instance, seeing Jones, Aaronson and Rutherford in the Chestnut Tree Café).

__Digressions.__ The nature of digressions in the narrative can be shown in the use of Goldstein’s book which Winston reads to Julia just before they are arrested. **What is the effect of including it at this point? Another digression is the story of Ogilvie. Why is this included?**

__Point of View.__ The book is written in the third person but stays with Winston’s point of view; does this affect one’s vision of what happens? of the other characters? Winston at first thinks that Julia is a member of the Thought Police, while he trusts O’Brien. **How does this affect the reader?** Here is an opportunity to talk about the different types of narrator and the effects of changing the point of view. Could one have told this story from O’Brien’s viewpoint? Or Julia’s?

__Foreshadowing__. Orwell does not cheat his reader. All the main events of the book are foreshadowed. Some examples: In Chapter 2: “We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.” In Chapter 5: “ One of these days.... Syme will be vaporized”. In Chapter 7, in the scene where Aaronson, Rutherford and Jones are drinking gin in the Chestnut Tree Cafe before they are shot, look carefully at the song, “Under the spreading Chestnut Tree”, and in particular the line “I sold you and you sold me”. In Chapter 8: “It would probably be quite easy to rent the room...”. **What is the peculiar significance of the nursery rhyme,”Oranges and lemons”? What //is// the last line of the rhyme?**

To understand the text properly certain concepts have to be understood. One is “thoughtcrime”, another is “doublethink. **Explain in your own words.**

The word "Thoughtcrime" is somewhat easy to understand, it is basically the crime of thought. However in this case "thoughtcrime" is extrapolated to the point that if one thinks, does, breathes, anything that goes against societies norms, then they will be seen as "rebels" which will later on be executed. The reader knows that they will be executed due to the 2 minutes of hate, and the constant reminder of public hangings. Another important propaganda device is “Newspeak”, dealt with in chapter 5 of the novel. **Consider Syme’s words: “Don’t you see that the whole range of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible because there will be no words in which to express it.”**


 * Discuss the role of the “proles” particularly the idea that hope lies in the proles. Does it? **

To a certain extent the answer to this question would be yes, the "proles" would be sufficiently numerous enough to overthrow the government. However due to the harsh treatment of the party towards the proles, and the "liberty's" they are given and also the lack of education the overthrow would never take place. The proles represent the peasants in modern day society however like the majority of symbolism within this novel, they are exaggerated.

is useful to introduce E. M. Forster’s definitions of “round” and “flat” characters (to be found in Forster’s //The Art of the Novel//). Notice the different ways in which Orwell introduces his characters and motivates them. Julia is a rebel like Winston but of a different kind. Syme represents the intelligent, almost obsessive intellectual, while Parsons (like Boxer in //Animal Farm)// represents the submissive worker who, despite his enthusiasm for Big Brother/Napoleon, will end up as a victim. In such a society no one is safe. Is Winston a hero or an anti-hero?

Despite the fact that he is physically and mentally sick, Winston represents a somewhat powerful character, the piviotal point of his character is when he begins to write "Down With Big Brother" in his little black diary. The way he goes against societies constraints and the Party itself, shows a somewhat powerful strong minded character, which is very contrasting to his physicality. He is represented in sort as an anti-hero since he does not have the steriotypical qualities of a hero "strong, good looking..." however êverything happens in relation to him, whethere it be the emotions he is experiencing, or the reflections and dreams he has, or even the narrative structure, they are all mainlz focused around Winston Smith.
 * __Winston:__** The character of Winston is pardoxal, this being that it is somewhat simple but at the same time complex. He is described as a smallish, frail figure, who wears the compulsory blue Party uniform. He is thirty-nine years old with fair hair and a red face, and has a varicose ulcer above his right ankle (**The varicose ulcer is important and should be taken into account since, it shows a physical manifestation of the detoriating state, and as he furthers from the actual Party, his health and ucler seem to get better).**


 * __Julia:__** The character of Julia is much more simple compared to that of Winston's. She decides to go against societies norms like Winston, however her reason for doing so seems, somewhat banal. She unlike Winston does not want to overthrow the party since she knows that it is something that is impossible to achieve. One could argue that Julia is more realistic to Winston, this also gives the reader reason to believe that she might be working for the "Thought Police". The way she just seems to "fall out of the sky" and begin a sexual and "emotional" relationship with Winston gives the reader the impression that she is hiding something, that she to is working with the party to eliminate all the non believers.

** Compare descriptive passages with dialogue. Do characters speak differently? How does Orwell convey a scene? Is the syntax simple or complex? Is the language easy to understand ? Does Orwell use jargon? technical terms? ** Look at the use of the senses in descriptive passages; the //sound// of the wind flapping posters against the wall, the //taste// of the gin, the //smell// of boiled cabbage, the //pain// of hunger; as well as all the visual images. Winston’s description in Chapter 1 of the war-film of people being machine-gunned in the water (and the audience’s response) is particularly worth close analysis.


 * Tzvetan notes on 1984:

2nd line - Winston Smith - Winston a hero name but Smith awfully plain (contradiction) ; talks in the 3rd person which sets the tone


 * Beginning of 2nd paragraph on pg. 3** - boiled cabbage - it smells like an institute (in England it is how hospital hallways smell like), sets the tone to be dark **


 * Varicose ulcer above his right ankle** - dark and gloomy imagery, makes it sound like a prison


 * BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU** - ultimate control over everyone, someone is always keeping an eye on you wherever one goes


 * World looked cold** //-// no one is warm here, not even the people feel any warmth


 * Sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no color in anything, except the posters that were plastered everywhere** - the Big Brother portrayed as a godlike figure, bringing life to a otherwise dark world


 * WAR IS PEACE ; FREEDOM IS SLAVERY ; IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH** - paradoxical phrases, the first two lines are showing oximoron


 * Victory Mansions you could see all four of them simultaneously** - all of them controlled and had an eye on London, there is a sense of oppresion (constantly being watched on)


 * Winston had never been inside the Ministry of Love, nor within half a kilometre of it** - in this country, no one is in love so why does this Ministry of Love even exist


 * Dark coloured bread, bottle of colourless liquid, sickly, oily smell, as of Chinese rice-spirit** - description of food ; he is comparing it to the state of London


 * In small clumsy letters he wrote, APRIL 4th 1984** - 1st time we see Winston Smith break the law, referring back to his hero/coward name


 * Originally intended to say -** expressing emotion in this state is awfully hard