The following are some questions to consider as you read our class text. Show me your work, and I'll show you my good side: answer one, several, or all of the following questions in comments below--the more responses I get, the less like Big Brother and the more like Little Brother I'll become ;)
1) Describe, in short paragraph form, what the term "Newspeak" is, who speaks it, who advocates it, how it works and its general effect on the populace of London, Airstrip One.
2) Describe, in short paragraph form, who the 'proles' are, what is meant by the party slogan "proles and animals are free", and discuss what is meant by Winston's journal entry: "Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious".
3) Describe, in short paragraph form using examples from the text, the present nature of Winston's relationship with Katherine, and Winston's opinion thereof.
4) Describe, in short paragraph form, who Commander Ogilvy was, explain how this character is an example of "doublethink", and define "doublethink" using several other examples from the text.
5) Describe, in short paragraph form, Winston's attitude towards O'Brien, using key moments in the text where O'Brien is mentioned explicitly (up to Part 1, Ch. 8).
6) Describe, in short paragraph form, the general structure of The Party: its functions, its organization, its enforcers, its propaganda, etc.
7) Comment, in short paragraph form, on the veracity of Orwell's prediction.
8) Comment, in short paragraph form, on the psychological impact of the events "Two Minutes Hate" and "Hate Week".
9) Research George Orwell (Eric Blair) and discuss, in short paragraph form, elements of his personal life and experiences that apparently influenced the subject matter found in 1984, drawing key examples from the text.
10) Describe, in short paragraph form, Winston's profession. Answer the following questions: What does Winston do? How does he feel about his job? With whom does Winston work? How does his role impact society at large? Does Winston's profession have a corollary in our world?
Egberto Zanon
ReplyDelete1) Newspeak is the new language that the party impose to the population. It's a rip-off of the language reducing the complexity and thus limiting the ability to express feelings.
2) The "proles" are the proletarians. They are the working mass for the party and They are kept in ignorance so They can't question about their rights and keep up performing the hard work.
5) He and O'Brien made eye contact, "Momentarily he caught O'Brien's eye ...But there was a fraction of a second when their eyes met.. He knew that O'Brien was thinking the same thing as himself... ", realizing that O'Brien also found this practice and the Party's propaganda unpleasant. he suddenly questioned their individual freedom. Impressed by what he thought to be a support for his anti-Party feelings
Source: wikipedia.com
ReplyDelete"Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950),better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist. His work is marked by keen intelligence and wit, a profound awareness of social injustice, an intense opposition to totalitarianism, a passion for clarity in language, and a belief in democratic socialism."
I believe that the fact that his wife worked for the censorship during second world war and also his educational background his political views
contributed to the development of the book.
Egberto Zanon
Here is the link to anyone who wants the audio book from George Orwell 1984.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.archive.org/details/George-Orwell-1984-Audio-book
Go where it says "Whole Item" and download this one "George-Orwell-1984-Audio-book_64kb_mp3.zip" the second item from the download list.
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
Heheh, nice slogans there Arthur...WHERE ARE MY ANSWERS!
ReplyDeleteOh boy, I'm working on it! :s
ReplyDeleteJoseph this book is driving me crazy man!
ReplyDeleteSo little math here:
English language equal Oldspeak
Oldspeak different from Newspeak
Newspeak equal lack of logical thinking
this just can't be good
Winston works in the Records Department. His main duty is to correct the articles in the old issues of the"Times" to make it seem that the Party decisions, Big Brother`s speeches and etc. are always right. Winston also removes the name of the people who have been vaporized. Thus, seems like they never excisted at all. Winston makes up stories, comes up with statistics. All the information is falsified. The old issues of the newspaper are destroyed.
ReplyDeleteHe likes his job though. He enjoys it. He thinks it`s easy and he can`t lose himself in it. Winston thinks that he is not the only one doing this kind of work. He thinks there are several people working on the same task. Big Brother makes a final choice. Winston is confident about himself. He works with people he doesn`t talk to, for instance, Tillotson. He doesn`t know what Tillotson works on.
Winston makes the history by re-writing those newspapers. He changes the history. He falsifies facts, creates numbers. That`s what people are going to believe in. That`s what next generations are going to refer to. That`s an easy job. However, very important. Newspapers are a great source of information. Especially, quality newspapers like the "Times". People are going to rely on the information they read in the newspaper. Winston tries to find the truth, the real facts about the history. However, he does not realize that he destroys the history doing his favourite job.
We can definitely draw a connection with our world nowadays. We cannot trust press most of the time. I have been a victim of presenting the same event differently in Russia and America. In America the press made people think that Russia started the war with Georgia. In Russia it was vice versa.
What if most of the information we get from Media is falsified? What if all the facts are just made up by some Winstons? Who knows....
Winston works in Records Department. His main duty is to correct articles in the “Times” to picture the Party`s decisions in a better way, to change Big Brother`s speeches , to remove the names of the people who have been vaporized. Thus, it seems that they never existed at all. Winston likes his job. In fact, he enjoys it. It`s easy and he won`t lose himself in it. He gets excited about making up some facts and stories. He easily comes up with statistics. He thinks that he is not the only one working in this field. He thinks that there are several people doing the same thing. Big Brother chooses the work he likes the best. Winston works with people he doesn`t even talk to, for instance, Tillotson.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Winston`s work sound ridiculous, it has its huge impact on the society. Winston makes history himself. He fabricates history. Newspapers, especially quality ones (like the “Times”) are considered to be a trusted resource of information. People are going to rely on the information falsified by Winston. Future generations are going to refer to these articles. Winston tries to find the truth, to dig into history. However, he does not realize that he destroys history himself.
His job makes me think of Mass Media nowadays. Can we trust it? Do you trust it? What if all the information we get is fabricated by some Winstons?? Hm….I have one exampled. I witnessed how differently the war with Georgia was pictured by Media in Russia and here in US. Here they made people believe that it was Russia who initiated the war. In Russia the information was given in an absolutely opposite way. So…..can we trust Media?
Tatiana says...
ReplyDeleteWinston works in Records Department. His main duty is to correct articles in the “Times” to picture the Party`s decisions in a better way, to change Big Brother`s speeches , to remove the names of the people who have been vaporized. Thus, it seems that they never existed at all. Winston likes his job. In fact, he enjoys it. It`s easy and he won`t lose himself in it. He gets excited about making up some facts and stories. He easily comes up with statistics. He thinks that he is not the only one working in this field. He thinks that there are several people doing the same thing. Big Brother chooses the work he likes the best. Winston works with people he doesn`t even talk to, for instance, Tillotson.
Although Winston`s work sound ridiculous, it has its huge impact on the society. Winston makes history himself. He fabricates history. Newspapers, especially quality ones (like the “Times”) are considered to be a trusted resource of information. People are going to rely on the information falsified by Winston. Future generations are going to refer to these articles. Winston tries to find the truth, to dig into history. However, he does not realize that he destroys history himself.
His job makes me think of Mass Media nowadays. Can we trust it? Do you trust it? What if all the information we get is fabricated by some Winstons?? Hm….I have one exampled. I witnessed how differently the war with Georgia was pictured by Media in Russia and here in US. Here they made people believe that it was Russia who initiated the war. In Russia the information was given in an absolutely opposite way. So…..can we trust Media?
Tatiana...
ReplyDeleteWinston works in Records Department. His main duty is to correct articles in the “Times” to picture the Party`s decisions in a better way, to change Big Brother`s speeches , to remove the names of the people who have been vaporized. Thus, it seems that they never existed at all. Winston likes his job. In fact, he enjoys it. It`s easy and he won`t lose himself in it. He gets excited about making up some facts and stories. He easily comes up with statistics. He thinks that he is not the only one working in this field. He thinks that there are several people doing the same thing. Big Brother chooses the work he likes the best. Winston works with people he doesn`t even talk to, for instance, Tillotson.
Although Winston`s work sound ridiculous, it has its huge impact on the society. Winston makes history himself. He fabricates history. Newspapers, especially quality ones (like the “Times”) are considered to be a trusted resource of information. People are going to rely on the information falsified by Winston. Future generations are going to refer to these articles. Winston tries to find the truth, to dig into history. However, he does not realize that he destroys history himself.
His job makes me think of Mass Media nowadays. Can we trust it? Do you trust it? What if all the information we get is fabricated by some Winstons?? Hm….I have one exampled. I witnessed how differently the war with Georgia was pictured by Media in Russia and here in US. Here they made people believe that it was Russia who initiated the war. In Russia the information was given in an absolutely opposite way. So…..can we trust Media?
Aliya
ReplyDelete1. The term "Newspeak" calls a language is used by totalitarian society to reveal the ideology of INGSOC. And also the words in this language mean something opposite meaning: war is peace,freedom is slavery,ignorance is strength.
2. The "proles" means proletariat that is the lower working class of Oceania population. And by saying the "proles and animals are free", author emphasizes equality between animals and proles. Winston's quote means that until the proles understand that they are being used they will not fight.
3.
1- Newspeak is a new language promoted by the State. Newspeak is closely based on English but has short vocabulary and grammar. The purpose of the Newspeak is to avoid any words or possible constructs which describe the ideas of freedom and rebellion.
ReplyDelete2- The proles are basically the workers. The proles are totally controlled by the Party. The Party keep them occupied enough to prevent them from becoming politically smart, so that way they can’t make a revolution against the Party.
3- I would say they're “technically” married, but they haven't seen each other for awhile. Winston describes her vulgar and stupid. They were legally married, but since the Party disallows divorce, even though he use to has sex with Julia, they are still together as a wife and husband. The truth is Katharine and Winston separated many years ago, and Winston not really thinks about her. He nicknamed her "the human soundtrack" because of her empty mind and she does everything the party says that’s right. Katharine is always cold when it came to sex, but they must keep trying to have children so she could fulfill her "duty to the Party".
4- Commander Ogilvy was a fictional party member. This character shows how easy is to control the communication and how easy it is to erase a person from history. He is an unperson, someone who does not exist, someone who never existed and the party will do everything in its power to make sure that he is never remembered. The meaning of “doublethink” is consciously to induce unconsciousness. Even to understand the word 'doublethink' involved the use of doublethink. That’s really funny isn’t it? The book also defines as a power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously. What the commander.