1984
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
STYLE
FICTION
NON FICTION
 Imagery and symbolism
 Real-life events
 3rd person narrative
 First person point of view
 Words are clear, simple and short
 Colloquial diction and sympathetic
tone
1984
Nineteen Eighty-Four was written in 1948 and published in 1949. 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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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