COMMON MODULE
1984
Name:
Year 12 Advanced English Booklet 1
1.
2.
Skills & Content
What you need to know
What you need to do
Use the table to complete the activity
Rubric Statement
In this common module students
deepen their understanding of how
texts represent individual and
collective human experiences. They
examine how texts represent
human qualities and emotions
associated with, or arising from,
these experiences. Students
appreciate, explore, interpret,
analyse and evaluate the ways
language is used to shape these
representations in a range of texts
in a variety of forms, modes and
media.
Students explore how texts may
give insight into the anomalies,
paradoxes and inconsistencies in
human behaviour and motivations,
inviting the responder to see the
world differently, to challenge
assumptions, ignite new ideas or
reflect personally. They may also
consider the role of storytelling
throughout time to express and
reflect particular lives and cultures.
By responding to a range of texts
they further develop skills and
confidence using various literary
devices, language concepts, modes
and media to formulate a
considered response to texts.
What you need to know
What you need to do
Skills & Content
Rubric Statement
Students study one prescribed text
and a range of short texts that
provide rich opportunities to further
explore representations of human
experiences illuminated in texts.
They make increasingly informed
judgements about how aspects of
these texts, for example context,
purpose, structure, stylistic and
grammatical features, and form
shape meaning. In addition,
students select one related text and
draw from personal experience to
make connections between
themselves, the world of the text
and their wider world.
By responding and composing
throughout the module students
further develop a repertoire of skills
in comprehending, interpreting and
analysing complex texts. They
examine how different modes and
media use visual, verbal and/or
digital language elements. They
communicate ideas using
figurative language to express
universal themes and evaluative
language to make informed
judgements about texts. Students
further develop skills in using
metalanguage, correct grammar
and syntax to analyse language
and express a personal perspective
about a text.
Summarise the main ideas in the
module statement, listing what you
will look for in the prescribed and
related text and the
composing/responding you may
be expected to demonstrate.
What you need to know
What you need to do
Breaking it down
Breaking it down
Collective Experience – A collective
experience is one which is shared
with others. The collective human
experience may be something that
an individual cannot always control.
Such experiences can be part of
institutions / ideologies such as
religion, education, politics, the
legal system, the workplace and
family. The individual might feel lost
in the masses, or perhaps not heard
when engaging in a collective
experience.
Orwell’s fictional Ingsoc, the totalitarian party
ruling Oceania, believes individualism must be
stomped out of Airstrip One, replaced by three
social classes (the Inner Party - 2% - of which
O’Brien is a member; the Outer Party - 13% - of
which Winston is a member; the Proletariat 85%). These social classes define the people’s
experiences and thus limit their existence,
which is the main reason Winston is disgruntled
at the novel’s onset. All citizens of Oceania are
under constant surveillance, via the telescreen
which airs the required ‘Two Minutes Hate’,
and the daily bouts of exercise.
Paradox – When we experience a
paradoxical feeling/ moment
/situation/etc, we encounter a
seemingly absurd situation that
does not seem clear or logical. Such
experiences are characterised by
contradiction.
The greatest example of paradox in the novel is
the subversion of public services, symbolised
in the work of the four ministries (Minitrue,
Miniluv, Miniplenty and Minipax) that regulate
the state. The Ministry of Truth, where Winston
works, generates propaganda and subverts
history so that it suits Big Brother’s agenda; The
Ministry of Love, where Winston is held
prisoner for most of Part 3 of the novel
conducts the torture and eventual termination
of ‘treacherous citizens’; the Ministry of Plenty
rations the needs and wants of Oceania’s
citizens, ensuring no citizen ever has what they
need; the Ministry of Peace, which oversees the
war (and according to Julia, is responsible for
the war still threatening Oceania) is a means of
instilling fear in the citizens.
Anomaly – An anomaly is a
deviation. In other words, what is
expected and what occurs is
different.
It makes no sense that an intelligent character
who is as devout to the Party’s policies as Syme
becomes an ‘unperson’. Winston predicts his
colleague will be terminated, despite his work
as a lexicographer being integral to the creation
of the next Newspeak dictionary. The reason for
his execution, according to Winston, is that
Syme is ‘too intelligent. He sees too clearly and
speaks too plainly.’
Breaking it down
Inconsistency – An inconsistency
occurs when something changes during
an event or situation. As a result of this
inconsistency the experience may
become confusing or create some
uncertainty.
Despite the Party wanting to strip the people of
Oceania of any pleasure or leisure, they allow the
proles to play the lottery. This is an inconsistency in
the policies of the Party and perhaps is a clever way
of ensuring these citizens remain at odds with one
another.
Quality – A person’s qualities are
developed (or possibly challenged) by
experiences. Our personal qualities are
the characteristics that define how we
act and interact during experiences.
These qualities can be linked to our
personal values, personality, beliefs
and attitude. For example, we can say
that organisation, good speaking skills
and problem solving are qualities of
leadership.
Who is Orwell’s most credible character? Numerous
critics argue O’Brien, who is stoic. Like all citizens of
Oceania, he is a servant to the Party (albeit in the
top 2%) and his unwavering loyalty and clarity in
communication makes his credible – more so than
the novel’s protagonist. Winston’s qualities falter.
He is inconsistent and abrasive. He seems to want
to liberate Oceania, yet has little regard for the
proles when he witnesses a bombing one night. He
is selfish and driven by his sexual desires.
Emotion – Feelings experienced by a
person. When these feelings are strong
and impact on a person’s attitude and
interactions, they are described as
emotions. Emotions are ‘visible’
because they shape the way a person
acts and looks, as well as impacts on
how they engage in an experience.
In the opening chapters, Orwell paints Winston as a
man engulfed by his own anger, bitterness and
hatred. These emotions drive his motivation to join
a revolution against the party and perhaps blind
him enough to believe O’Brien is a leader of the
revolution.
AUTHOR
Additional Reading: George Orwell’s Letter on Why He Wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four
https://www.thedailybeast.com/george-orwells-letter-on-why-he-wrote-1984
To Noel Willmett
18 May 194410a Mortimer Crescent NW 6
Dear Mr Willmett,
Many thanks for your letter. You ask whether totalitarianism, leader-worship etc. are really on the
up-grade and instance the fact that they are not apparently growing in this country and the USA.
I must say I believe, or fear, that taking the world as a whole these things are on the increase. Hitler,
no doubt, will soon disappear, but only at the expense of strengthening (a) Stalin, (b) the AngloAmerican millionaires and (c) all sorts of petty fuhrers° of the type of de Gaulle. All the national
movements everywhere, even those that originate in resistance to German domination, seem to
take non-democratic forms, to group themselves round some superhuman fuhrer (Hitler, Stalin,
Salazar, Franco, Gandhi, De Valera are all varying examples) and to adopt the theory that the end
justifies the means. Everywhere the world movement seems to be in the direction of centralised
economies which can be made to ‘work’ in an economic sense but which are not democratically
organised and which tend to establish a caste system. With this go the horrors of emotional
nationalism and a tendency to disbelieve in the existence of objective truth because all the facts
have to fit in with the words and prophecies of some infallible fuhrer. Already history has in a sense
ceased to exist, ie. there is no such thing as a history of our own times which could be universally
accepted, and the exact sciences are endangered as soon as military necessity ceases to keep
people up to the mark. Hitler can say that the Jews started the war, and if he survives that will
become official history. He can’t say that two and two are five, because for the purposes of, say,
ballistics they have to make four. But if the sort of world that I am afraid of arrives, a world of two or
three great superstates which are unable to conquer one another, two and two could become five if
the fuhrer wished it.1 That, so far as I can see, is the direction in which we are actually moving,
though, of course, the process is reversible.
As to the comparative immunity of Britain and the USA. Whatever the pacifists etc. may say, we
have not gone totalitarian yet and this is a very hopeful symptom. I believe very deeply, as I
explained in my book The Lion and the Unicorn, in the English people and in their capacity to
centralise their economy without destroying freedom in doing so. But one must remember that
Britain and the USA haven’t been really tried, they haven’t known defeat or severe suffering, and
there are some bad symptoms to balance the good ones. To begin with there is the general
indifference to the decay of democracy. Do you realise, for instance, that no one in England under
26 now has a vote and that so far as one can see the great mass of people of that age don’t give a
damn for this? Secondly there is the fact that the intellectuals are more totalitarian in outlook than
the common people. On the whole the English intelligentsia have opposed Hitler, but only at the
price of accepting Stalin. Most of them are perfectly ready for dictatorial methods, secret police,
systematic falsification of history2 etc. so long as they feel that it is on ‘our’ side. Indeed the
statement that we haven’t a Fascist movement in England largely means that the young, at this
moment, look for their fuhrer elsewhere. One can’t be sure that that won’t change, nor can one be
sure that the common people won’t think ten years hence as the intellectuals do now. I hope 3 they
won’t, I even trust they won’t, but if so it will be at the cost of a struggle. If one simply proclaims
that all is for the best and doesn’t point to the sinister symptoms, one is merely helping to bring
totalitarianism nearer.
You also ask, if I think the world tendency is towards Fascism, why do I support the war. It is a choice
of evils—I fancy nearly every war is that. I know enough of British imperialism not to like it, but I
would support it against Nazism or Japanese imperialism, as the lesser evil. Similarly I would
support the USSR against Germany because I think the USSR cannot altogether escape its past and
retains enough of the original ideas of the Revolution to make it a more hopeful phenomenon than
Nazi Germany. I think, and have thought ever since the war began, in 1936 or thereabouts, that our
cause is the better, but we have to keep on making it the better, which involves constant criticism.
Yours sincerely,
Geo. Orwell
GLOSSARY
Word
Definition
Dystopian
(adj.) An imagined society with pervasive injustice and
suffering, usually as a result of heavy-handed totalitarian
government.
Stereotypical
(adj.) Widely held but oversimplified image or idea about a
particular type person, place or thing
Despot
Stalin
Hitler
Tyranny
Ubiquitous
Panoptic
GLOSSARY
Word
Propoganda
Oligarchical
Anxiety
Paranoia
Totalitarian
Supremacy
Slogan
Foreshadow
Reductive
Definition
Genre
Dystopian Literature
1. From the website Literary Devices https://literarydevices.net/dystopia/
Definition of Dystopia
Dystopia is a world in which everything is imperfect, and everything goes terribly wrong.
Dystopian literature shows us a nightmarish image about what might happen to the world in
the near future. Usually the main themes of dystopian works are rebellion, oppression,
revolutions, wars, overpopulation, and disasters. On the other hand, utopia is a perfect world
– exactly opposite of dystopia.
Characteristics of Dystopia
Generally, there is no government, or if there is, it is an oppressive and controlling
government.
Either there is a huge income gap between the poor and the rich, or everyone faces extreme
poverty.
Propaganda put forth by the government or ruling class takes control of human minds.
Dystopian Literature
2. From the website The Honor’s College
Note: This is not the entire article. Use of ellipsis indicates that sections of content have been
deleted; italicised content has been added for clarity of reading.
To read the entire article visit: https://www.muw.edu/honors/merge/articles/4388-dystopianliterature-evolution-of-dystopian-literature-from-we-to-the-hunger-games, (only parts of the
opening and the entire section relevant to 1984 has been included here).
Evolution of Dystopian Literature from We to The Hunger Games, by Philip Stoner
Dystopian literature has long been a vessel for political commentary dating back to the 19th
century. The genre was redefined in 1921 when Yevgeny Zamyatin wrote the dystopian novel
We. This novel is largely considered to be the birth of modern dystopia. We influenced the
use of dystopian literature as political commentary by using it as a vessel for direct analogy
for the existing Russian political system under Lenin and Putin. We also expanded on the
topic of personal discovery and the importance of the arts in dystopian literature. The tropes
that were established in We have remained staples of the evolving dystopian genre.
...Context that influenced the ideas in dystopian literature:
Vladimir Lenin, who strongly constricted the freedom of artists in Russia, ruled the government
in Russia in the 1920s. He insisted that what Russia needed was a unified, singular face that
promoted the ideas of Marxism. This included employing artists by the state to produce “state
approved” works of art that promoted unity and the Marxist ideal. Lenin was also obsessed with
technology and wanted that reflected in the work of artists in Russia (Hutchings, 91). …This
political environment became the inspiration for 20th century dystopian literature, and it
helped establish the tropes of the genre that lasted up to the contemporary iterations of it.
Tropes now common to dystopian literature:
Oppressive Government:
The single most defining attribute of dystopian literature is the presence of an oppressive
government body. … the Russian government in the 1920s become the basis of the oppressive
government trope that prevails in 20th century dystopian literature.
Regulation of the Arts and Original Thought:
This is another very defining trait of 20th century dystopian fiction … This idea of music being
outlawed … the government also limits the fiction and poetry that is produced, and rather
creates government approved poetry that promotes the ideals of … Furthermore, another
means of control that is enacted by The One-State also limits people’s ability to keep their own
children. Instead of being raised by the biological parents, children are raised in child rearing
stations. This is done to prevent the potentially damaging relationships between parent and
child that could undermine the stability of[ authority] …. Also, the people are limited in their
individuality in the means of their dress, they are all made to wear grey-blue jumpsuits. This is to
limit the personal expression of dress.
Self-Exploration:
… a political commentary on the totalitarian government in Russia … also … the idea of selfexploration as a means of commentary on those who blindly followed the regime in place. …
Furthermore, we see the conflict of self with oppressive government … Dreams are strictly
forbidden and are supposed to be reported because they tend to indicate that someone is not
happy with their current life.
Female Instigator:
the (female)character …(who influences) … the development of his [male ‘hero’] individuality.
This becomes a trope of the major 20th century dystopian fiction that follows. While this
particular aspect does not comment on the Russian society as directly as the others, it does
work as a commentary on the idea of love, which Zamyatin saw as being limited in the
oppressive government. This commentary on love, which is romantic in nature … serves as a
commentary on the concept of love in general. The idea of love for one's fellow man, the love
for one's art, and the love for one's self, all of which (are) considered to be under attack in the
totalitarian regime in Russia. (this is) meant … to be commentary on the individuality of love, and
how that is in contest with the oppressive government …. The use of a female character as the
instigator … (the main character’s) discovery of his individuality is a vessel that is supposed to
represent the importance of love, in all its manifestations, to individuality.
Bleak Endings:
… This is meant as direct commentary on where …(the composer) thought that totalitarian
cultures were headed if they did nothing to resist the governments in place. … commenting on
not only the dangers of allowing someone else to dictate what will make you happy and
controlling your life, but it is also commentary on the dehumanization … taking place. …warning
to the Futurists and all others that followed these totalitarian governments as to where they
may be heading if they surrender their individuality over to the government.
The Expansion of These Tropes
These tropes … as social commentary, became the defining characteristics of popular dystopia.
Several of the most prevalent examples of these tropes being taken and used in later popular
dystopias are 1984 by George Orwell … In fact, George Orwell has stated that he was greatly
influenced by Zamyatin, and actually wrote a review of We in 1946. In this review Orwell wrote:
The first thing anyone would notice about We is the fact – never pointed out, I believe – that
Aldous Huxley's Brave New World must be partly derived from it. Both books (his own and
Huxley’s) deal with the rebellion of the primitive human spirit against a rationalized,
mechanized, painless world, and both stories are supposed to take place about six hundred
years hence. The atmosphere of the two books is similar, and it is roughly speaking the same
kind of society that is being described though Huxley's book shows less political awareness and
is more influenced by recent biological and psychological theories. (2)
Here Orwell is pointing out some of the ways that Huxley's work was influenced by Zamyatin,
after admitting that his own work was. Huxley and Orwell are only two examples of a genre that
remained largely defined by these motifs for decades. Upon a close reading and examination of
1984, the influence of Zamyatin that Orwell admitted to is very apparent.
Setting
In 1984, Orwell shares his vision of a future in which an omnipotent
totalitarian government controls its populace through economic
austerity. The towering ziggurat of the Ministry of Truth is symbolic of
the Party’s supremacy and collective power as it stands ‘vast and
white above the grimy landscape’ comprising ‘decaying and dingy
cities where underfed people shuffled to and fro in leaky shoes, in
patched-up nineteenth-century houses that smelt always of cabbage
and bad lavatories.’
The dystopian setting of Air Strip One (formerly known as Britain) in
1984 illustrates Orwell’s pessimism about the future should
oligarchical collectivism be given the opportunity to perfect itself.
Orwell’s descriptions of the bleak world Air Strip One are a reflection
of the beleaguered, pockmarked city of London post World War Two,
where reconstruction was slow and rations were imposed until 1954 (9
years after the end of the war),‘…the world looked cold. Down the
street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into
spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there
seemed to be no colour in anything…’ (Chapter 1).
The ironically named ‘Victory Mansions’, the dilapidated apartment
building in which our similarly decrepit protagonist resides, is
captured in vivid olfactory and visual imagery, ‘The hallway smelt of
boiled cabbage and old rag mats’ in Chapter 1 and ‘Victory Mansions
were old flats, built in 1930 or thereabouts, and were falling to pieces.
The plaster flaked constantly… the pipes burst in every frost, the roof
leaked whenever there was snow, the heating system was usually
running at half steam…’ in Chapter 2.
Theme
Theme
Annotation Practice
Representation of the human experience through language in 1984
Use the space provided to annotate the sample, finding language features that show human experience.
(1) Imagery – use of a
simile leading to a vivid
metaphor
(2) Irony – semblance of
normalcy
(3) Olfactory imagery
“The Parsons’ flat was bigger than Winston’s, and
dingy in a different way. Everything had a
battered, trampled-on look, as though the place
had just been visited by some large violent
animal. Games impedimenta – hockey sticks,
boxing gloves, a burst football, a pair of sweaty
shorts turned inside out – lay all over the floor,
and on the table there was a litter of dirty dishes
and dog-eared exercise- books. On the walls were
scarlet banners of the Youth League and the
Spies, and a full-sized poster of Big Brother.
There was the usual boiled-cabbage smell,
common to the whole building, but it was shot
through by a sharper reek of sweat, which – one
knew this at the first sniff, though it was hard to
say how – was the sweat of some person not
present at the moment.” (25)
“They were standing in the shade of hazel bushes.
The sunlight, filtering through innumerable
leaves, was still hot on their faces. Winston
looked out into the field beyond, and underwent
a curious, slow shock of recognition. He knew it
by sight. An old, close-bitten pasture, with a
footpath wandering across it and a molehill here
and there. In the ragged hedge on the opposite
side the boughs of the elm tree swayed just
perceptibly in the breeze, and their leaves stirred
faintly in dense masses like women’s hair. Surely
somewhere nearby, but out of sight, there must
be a stream with green pools where green dace
were swimming?”
(141–2)
Annotation Practice
Representation of the human experience through language in 1984
Use the space provided to annotate the sample, finding language features that show human experience.
“Winston had taken up his spoon and was
dabbling in the pale-coloured gravy that dribbled
across the table, drawing a long streak of it out
into a pattern. He mediated resentfully on the
physical texture of life. Had it always been like
this? Had food always tasted like this? He looked
round the canteen. A low-ceilinged, crowded
room, its walls grimy from the contact of
innumerable bodies; battered metal tables and
chairs, placed so close together that you sat with
elbows touching; bent spoons, dented trays,
coarse white mugs; all surfaces greasy, grime in
every crack; and a sourish, composite smell of
bad gin and bad coffee and metallic stew and
dirty clothes. Always in your stomach and in your
skin there was a sort of protest, a feeling that you
had been cheated of something that you had a
right to.” (68)
Examples of techniques to look for:
∙ Olfactory and visceral imagery
∙ Tricolon
∙ Types of repetition, such as hyperbaton
∙ Irony
∙ Hyperbole
∙ Understatement or meiosis
∙ Syntax – declarative sentences
Chapter 1
TEA table
Analyse how Orwell uses language to depict collective experience of the Two Minutes Hate and the
human qualities and emotions that are represented through the Part members’ behaviour. When
analysing the language, consider how Orwell’s depiction of collective behaviour is overwhelmingly
negative. This is a recurring theme throughout the text.
The collective experience of The Two Minutes Hate.
Technique
Example
Analysis (Explanation/Effect)
The human qualities and emotions of Party members during the collective
experience of the ‘Two Minutes Hate’
Technique
Example
Analysis (Explanation/Effect)
Winston
Map Winston’s experiences, remembered or present.
Choose TWO from each part of the novel.
Key experience and
ideas generated by
these
Winston’s perspective
of this experience
Key quotes and
techniques employed
in these
Analysis – connection
to the rubric
Qualities & emotions,
behaviour and
attitudes
Anomaly, paradox and
inconsistency
Map Winston’s experiences, remembered or present.
Choose TWO from each part of the novel.
Key experience and
ideas generated by
these
Winston’s perspective
of this experience
Key quotes and
techniques employed
in these
Analysis – connection
to the rubric
Qualities & emotions,
behaviour and
attitudes
Anomaly, paradox and
inconsistency
Muse - Uprising
The song ‘Uprising’ was inspired by the protests that occurred during
the G20 summit in 2008. Lead singer Matt Bellamy stated “There was
a whole economic crisis and the MP scandal which took place last
year where everyone felt like they were being ripped off by the
powers that be.”
1. Why does the composer urge young people to rise up?
2. What concerns do they have for the quality of the human
experience?
3. Why did Winston rebel?
4. Why did Julia rebel?
5. How does Muse use language and sound to represent the
experiences of humanity?
6. How do they use language and music to urge people to rise up?
Essay Practice
“When our spirit, free will and emotions are controlled and even eradicated, then our
humanity will be imperilled.”
How does the ending of Nineteen Eighty-Four convey that Winston is truly the last
man?” In your response, refer to Orwell’s representation of his key experiences that
led to this utter control.
You have 1 lesson to plan and should complete your essay for
homework.
Planning:
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O’Brien
O’Brien is a fascinating study of how Orwell represents the impact on the individual and collective
human experience of overt power and control. He certainly represents the ‘anomalies, paradoxes
and inconsistencies in human behaviour and motivations’. He never explains satisfactorily why the
Party needs to have total submission. His own individual experiences are not as important as the
impact of his actions on Winston’s, Julia’s and others’ experiences.
Complete this table to trace O’Brien’s behaviour and to determine what motivates him to be so
ambivalent to the suffering of individuals.
Record notes on extension reading
O’Brien’s dialogue whilst torturing Winston reveals Orwell’s vision of
totalitarianism with frightening clarity, ‘Progress in our world will be progress
towards more pain. The old civilisations claimed that they were founded on love or
justice. Ours is founded upon hatred. In our world there will be no emotions except
fear, rage, triumph and self-abasement…‘If you want a picture of the future,
imagine a boot stamping on a human face – for ever.’
Visual Representation
Part of your assessment this term will be to create a visual representation. In this
lesson you need to create a visual representation of O’Brien and how his actions
shape the experiences of others. This could be a poster, mind-map, power point,
etc. The representation must include key quotes.
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Julia
The Representation of Subversion Through Julia
Orwell’s representation of Julia’s experiences, which are focalised through
Winston, render Julia a two-dimensional character until the novel’s end.
Thus, unlike Winston who is developed as a nuanced character and whose
deep conscious thoughts are presented, Julia is not as easily pitied.
Orwell is a misogynist – do you agree?
Orwell is on record as preferring ‘feminine passivity’. We will have a
class debate on whether Orwell represented authentically the female
experience in the novel.
You have 15 minutes to re- examine Julia, Mrs Parsons, Katherine,
Winston’s mother and the Prole woman to develop your arguments.
Explore Julia’s characterisation through these focus areas:
Her experiences as a member of the Anti-Sex League. (An
individual within the collective!)
Her relationship with Winston and whether this changed her
cynical perspective of life and her experiences as a woman.
Her experiences after she is caught.
The final meeting with Winston.
Debate Speech
Representation of the collective human
experience through the Party members and
Proles
The proles: conformists with no passion or purpose but the
means to stage a rebellion
Winston seems to envy these citizens and we realise that they are the most liberal
people of Oceania. While members of the Inner Party of Comrades have duties
and are constrained by their obligations, the proles seem to loiter about and sing
merrily. Orwell’s third person limited narration
does skew the perspective of the proles – after all, the jaded Winston effectively
operates as our eyes and ears. For this reason, we cannot be certain of his
perception of the proles’ happiness. Most notably, the proles are the victims of
the war and the first to be targeted by bombs as well as
exploited by the government. Their obliviousness to this exploitation is
disheartening and readers may be bemused by these ‘background’ characters.
After all, the only prole who we get to know – Mr Charrington – turns out to be an
undercover Thought Police agent posing as a prole. And hence Orwell establishes
the notion that the proles are more than what they seem.
The Party:
The story reflects the blind acceptance of the Party and the unnatural
expectations, such as the two minutes of hate session or children betraying their
parents to the Party. It reflects how easily the individual experience can become
insignificant and how this in turn renders the individual hopeless.
Activity
Working in groups of 3, complete a mind-map representing one of these topics:
surveillance, paranoia and anxiety
collective hate and ‘othering’; conformity
loss of the family unit and a sense of community
propagation of fear
apathy
mind control
You will be expected to develop a theme statement about the collective experience
based on this topic. You will also identify examples from the text that relate to what
Orwell wants us to take away from the novel.
Additional guidelines:
Add at least three key quotes that illustrate the human experience.
Ensure that you refer to the Parsons and Simes.
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Activity
The four focus areas that focus on the human
experiences of the party members and the Proles are
as follows:
1. Two minutes of hate session in Chapter 1 part 1
2. Mrs Parsons and her children in Chapter 2 part 1
3. The old man in the bar in Chapter 8 part 1
4. The Proles arguing over the lottery
In table groups you have 10 minutes to do the following for each
topic:
1. Create a mind map the event and its significance.
2. Link the event to the key ideas and what it represents about the
human experience in this dystopian world. Students could refer to
some of the following ideas:
- Surveillance
- Paranoia and anxiety
- Collective hate and ‘othering’
- Conformity
- Loss of the family unit and a sense of community
- Propagation of fear
- Apathy
- Mind control
3. Add at least three key quotes that illustrate the human
experience. Ensure that you refer to the Parsons and Simes.
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Langage
As a class you will consider why this technique is effective in achieving Orwell’s
purpose. Some examples have been provided.
More importantly you should consider how techniques can be linked to the bigger
picture offered by the module. The module title is Texts and human experiences: it
goes beyond the idea of experiences to the way these are represented and how
that representation in turn affects future experiences.
Some sample answers have been given to guide you in completing the table.
Limited third person: The
main character is the
predominant focus of the
narrative and almost all
details shared are relative to
this character and his
perspective of the world,
person,
etc.
Here is the passage we worked on previously.
Here are two different responses to the passage to show the possibilities for
writing about a passage.
Response 1
Orwell employs Winston’s gaze to generate a sense of disgust towards the
Parson family, whose loyalty to the party is highly ironic, established in the
detailed description of the scattered items dirtying the flat. Creating the
semblance of normalcy, the ‘burst football, sweaty shorts… and dog eared
exercise-books’ represent a human experience that is familiar to readers.
Nonetheless, Orwell’s use of irony highlights these items are part of a farce
because human experiences no longer include football or school work. In fact,
these objects are mere allusions to what this family once enjoyed – reminders
of what the collective experience used to entail. Under Big Brother, Orwell
quickly reveals, the Parson’s children are more interested in spying on their
parents, as evidenced in Part 3 of the novel when Mr Parson’s is imprisoned.
Hence, the striking metaphor, suggesting a ‘violent animal’ had visited the
Parson’s home, is a clear criticism of totalitarian regimes, warning responders
that these parties and their policies will infiltrate on an individual’s personal
space and destroy the individual experience.
Response 2
The passage begins with a comparative adjective ‘bigger’ suggesting
something positive or superior but then aligning it with Winston’s own flat in
being dingy. The opening comparison alludes to the fact that the experience
of totalitarianism may differ for different people but offers the same sense
of privation. The emphasis is on objects familiar to any family (‘games,
hockey sticks, boxing gloves… exercise books’) but this is foregrounded with
a loss of agency through the adjectives ‘battered’ and ‘trampled on’. The
idea of the family as under threat is further developed through the bestial
simile (‘as though the place had been visited by some large violent animal’).
While the ‘games impedimenta’ lay strewn and deserted, the banners of the
Youth League and Spies have a place of honour, showing that the
allegiances to family and the games of childhood have been replaced by
political alliances. The degradation of humanity is captured by the olfactory
imagery emphasising human sweat, the political being linked to this loss of
humanity as the military music beat is projected with toilet paper and a
comb. The home and its disarray represent the impact of the political on the
domestic, revealing that in totalitarianism, all sense of privacy and all the
human connections we value are under threat.
Questions
which paragraph do you prefer and why?
compare the discussion in each paragraph with the way they write;
look at how quotations are added and used, and
consider how the passages deviate or reinforce the STEEEL
pattern.
It is important at this stage of your learning that you understand that
this is a pattern that may be helpful in the early stages of writing but
that good writing does not have to follow this formula.
Your Turn
Your Turn
Your Turn
Related Texts
Tracing the themes in the book
Some of Winston’s concerns (centred on human experiences)
include:
• Memory
• Truth
• Control
• Belief
• Individuality
• Government
• Aesthetics
• Humanity
• Language
• Fear
• Love
• Ceremony and ritual
• Working in groups take one idea from the list above and trace it through the
text.
• You need to find what Winston says about these ideas and how he feels and
then work out what the text says.
• Collect five quotations or references on the idea.
• Look at the list and consider what attitude to the theme emerges and
connects these references.
• Express this as a general statement.
• Then rewrite this as a second general statement (the same idea may lead to a
few interpretations – it’s important to be versatile)
Sample Essay
“The representation of human experiences makes us more aware of
the intricate nature of humanity.” In your response, discuss this
statement with detailed reference to George Orwell’s ‘Nineteen
Eighty-Four’.
Extension Reading
Arthur Eckstein, ‘Orwell Masculinity and Feminist Criticism’
Kristoffer Rissanen’s. ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four and the Ideology of Hate’ https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/37142/1/gupea_2077_37142_ 1.pdf
Michael Yeo’s, ‘Propaganda and Surveillance in George Orwell’s Nineteen
Eighty-Four: Two Sides of the Same Coin’
http://www.gmj.uottawa.ca/1002/v3i2_yeo.pdf
Jennifer M. Tuzzeo’s essay ‘Changing our Minds: Dystopian Psychological
Conditioning in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Brave New World, and Walden Two’
https://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=http
s://www.google.com.au/&httpsredir=1&article=1087&context=eng_the ses