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GEORGE ORWELL’S NINETEEN EIGHTY FOUR. PART 1 CHAPTER 1. PLOT SYNOPSIS. Winston Smith, Party member Oceania introduced as protagonist Dystopic / post-apocalyptic world Individuality denied Constant surveillance acts as controlling force (Big Brother, Telescreens)
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GEORGE ORWELL’S NINETEEN EIGHTY FOUR PART 1 CHAPTER 1
PLOT SYNOPSIS • Winston Smith, Party member Oceania introduced as protagonist • Dystopic / post-apocalyptic world • Individuality denied • Constant surveillance acts as controlling force (Big Brother, Telescreens) • ‘Pillars’ of society are Ministries (Truth, Peace, Love, Plenty)
Winston engages in rebellious / criminal act of opening diary – attempt to store meaning in increasingly meaningless world • Julia and O’Brien also introduced • Julia is anti-sex league member – personification of everything Winston despises • O’Brien is Inner Party member – represents hope that there is alternative to ‘political orthodoxy’
Substitute for emotional expression is Two Minutes Hate directed at enemy of the Party – Goldstein • Party Slogans are provided (War is Peace...) • Winston’s character develops with passionate expression in diary (Down with BB) • Winston knows he will be apprehended by thought police, charged with thoughtcrime and vaporised
CHARACTERISATION – WINSTON SMITH • 39 • Has varicose ulcer on right ankle • Fair hair, naturally optimistic expression • Physically broken down • Psychologically conflicted • Party rebel • Works at Records Department in Ministry of ‘Truth’ rewriting history / falsifying records
READER POSITIONING – WINSTON SMITH • Reader positioned to feel sympathy for Winston who is presented as an ‘everyman’ struggling to attain some degree of authenticity in hostile / unreal world
CHARACTERISATION – JULIA • Works for Fiction Department • Presented to reader through Winston’s eyes as orthodox party female ardently anti-sex and completely indoctrinated by Party Propaganda • Of interest in novel’s opening because Winston is attracted to her and repelled by her in equal measure
READER POSITIONING – JULIA • Reader is positioned to associate Julia with danger – works as foreshadowing to further development of plot
CHARACTERISATION – O’BRIEN • Inner Party member. Holder of important position • Perceived through Winston’s eyes as possessing some latent unorthodoxy
READER POSITIONING –O’BRIEN • Reader positioned to believe O’Brien could represent source of hope for Winston • Foreshadows that reader will be manipulated as Winston is – increases reader sympathy, allegiance with Winston
THEMES • Dehumanisation / Repression of Individuality / Isolation • Power of the State / Political Control • The nature of language and truth
SYMBOLS • Big Brother • Two Minutes Hate
QUOTES • It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen • BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU • WAR IS PEACE FREEDOM IS SLAVERY IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH • A day never passed when spies and saboteurs acting under his directions were not unmasked by the Thought Police
QUOTES • The Brotherhood, its name was supposed to be • The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in • At this moment the entire group of people broke into a deep slow rhythmical chant of B-B!...B-B!
QUOTES • DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER • The Thought Police would get him just the same • You were abolished, annihilated: vaporized was the usual word • Theyll shoot me i dont care theyll shoot me in the back of the nect i dont care down with big brother they always shoot you in the back of the neck...
LANGUAGE FEATURES AND DEVICES • Foreshadowing • Satirical description of totalitarianism • Third person narration favours Winston’s point of view • Language is jargonistic. Use of capitalisation for emphasis • Paradox and irony (War is Peace...) • Flashback device to fill in earlier detail of Two Minutes Hate (used throughout to represent memory / dreams)