Nineteen Eighty-Four
by George Orwell
George Orwell
Update: 17 May 2008
The Writing Assignment
Once you’ve created your dialectical journal, you should no doubt have an abundance of details from which you can draw some sort of conclusion about themes – that is, you should have facts that lead you to a thesis. Write a two- to three-page paper in which you analyze one of the themes you’ve identified.
As you come to understand some of the following themes, be sure to consider them in light of contemporary American politics. You might consider, for example, the ways in which our own politicians seek to control and perhaps manipulate us. And ask yourself whether such control is necessary or desirable. What’s lost? What’s gained?
The Dangers of Totalitarianism
Orwell wrote 1984 in the late 1940’s, after he had seen the totalitarian governments of the former Soviet Union and Franco’s Spain. Clearly, he was trying to warn those of us in the West against the rise of such widespread oppression and cruelty, particularly how technology could be used to monitor and control citizens. Consider the ways such a government might control its people.
Psychological Manipulation
How does The Party limit an individual’s capacity for independent thought? How does The Party undermine the family structure? How does The Party regard sex? And what happens to pent up frustration and emotion?
Physical Control
How does The Party control the physical bodies of its subjects? What is the relationship between a person and his own nervous system? In what physical state do the people find themselves? What happens to those who display what The Party might consider disloyalty?
Control of Information and History
How does The Party do to control information and history? What happens to newspapers? What happens to personal photographs and documents? And what might these things mean to those who possess them? Why does The Party work so hard to control information and history?
Technology
1984 was written long before Bill Gates and Steve Jobs introduced the personal computer. Nevertheless, how does The Party monitor its subjects? What does the novel suggest about the use of technology?
Language as Mind Control
What does the novel suggest about the importance of language? What would happen if language were centralized and controlled? What is the function of Newspeak? What is the ultimate purpose of Newspeak?
Motifs
Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.
Doublethink
What is “doublethink”? What does it allow The Party to do? Consider what happens during “Hate Week” and how well the Ministry titles fit their functions.
Urban Decay
What kind of neighborhood does Winston Smith live in? What’s up with the quality of the buildings, the conveniences like elevators, electricity, and plumbing? And how well off are the people of London? What happens when a government is bent on control rather than the advancement of its people?
Symbols
Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts. Just as a flag is the symbol of a country and conveys greater meaning than merely a piece of cloth, consider what the following symbolize in the novel:
· Big Brother
· The Glass Paperweight and St. Clement’s Church
· The Place Where There Is No Darkness
· The Telescreens
· The Red-Armed Prole Woman