Chapters Six and Seven

1. Chapters Six and Seven 1984 by George Orwell

2. Bell Work • Quiz: • What is Winston’s fear as he sleeps? • What is the purpose of marriage in 1984? • Winston diary now consists of notes about… • Is Winston’s wife similar or different from him when it comes to their way of thinking? Make one prediction about what could come from their personalities.

3. Read - No One Died in Tiananmen Square • Relate the article to incidents in Winston’s life of having to destroy information to change the past. • How does the Party control history? Why? • What are some advantages and disadvantages of the government being able to ‘control’ the past?

4. In June, 1989 an event that would shock the world and change history forever took place, or did it? • This event was captured on video, documented in photographs and witnessed by millions, but to this day, the one, ten, hundreds, or millions of people who died at Tiananmen Square are denied by the Chinese government. • While this may seem impossible in this age of media invasion of information, it was foretold in George Orwell’s cautionary tale of government control, 1984. The events of Tiananmen Square and 1984 are oddly similar which is discussed in William Lutz’s article “No One Died at Tiananmen Square.” Both use government as an abuser of power and manipulation of the mind over reality. • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeFzeNAHEhU

5. In Orwell’s vision of the future, the totalitarian government of Oceania is in complete control of its people, just as the • Communist party in China controls all aspects of life. O’Brien explains to Winston, “We are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness; only power, pure power (Orwell 275). • Similarly, Communist China is not interested in the welfare of its people, but in the complete submission and compliance of its citizens. • As demonstrated at the Tiananmen Square protest, the Chinese government sent in troops to kill all those who opposed party leaders. Those who did not agree with party leaders were eventually “talked to” and “apologize[d] for bringing great harm to the Party and the country” (Lutz). • In both governments, those in control used power in an abusive way to force compliance and love for those in power.

6. Write - Choose an Article from the Newspaper • You are employed by the Records Department of the Ministry of Truth. • Choose an article or an ad. • Rewrite or change the advertisement. • Tips for 1938 female. What if this was empowering? • Government Shutdown, Zimmerman and Martin, 9/11, Columbine, Elections, etc. • Which information did you change? Why? What will the outcomes be? • Example: You are given a newspaper clipping highlighting a cross-country meet six years ago where the winner was an ASU student. Last month that student committed a thoughtcrime and has ‘disappeared.’ Big Brother is currently endorsing NAU’s cross-country team and is trying to recruit new members. Rewrite the article so it has the ASU runner not existing and the meet being an easy win for the NAU runner.

7. Chapter Six • Winston writes in his diary about desires. • He starts off by discussing his encounter with a prostitute in 1981, moves on to his fifteen month marriage to Katharine (whereabouts unknown for the last ten years), and finishes off with the Party’s denouncement of physical attraction for pleasure. • Winston hates on the unthinking, brainwashed followers of the Party, such as Katharine, as he continues to reminisce about being with her, which she saw only as a "duty to the Party" to make baby comrades. • Winston just wants someone to love. Oh, and to break away from the chastity that is so deeply ingrained in Party loyalty. The act, naturally and lewdly performed, is rebellion against the Party. • Desire is thoughtcrime.

8. Desire and ControlBrave New 1984: We Live in the Orwell|HuxleyHybrid • What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. • Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egotism. • Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. • Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture. • As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions.” • In 1984, Orwell added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. • In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. • In short, Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that our desire will ruin us.” – Neil Postman – Amusing Ourselves to Death

9. Is desire or control worse? • Present with a group an image, an argument, and a skit that argue and effectively portray why one of these motifs is worse. Be sure to highlight information from multiple sources and from the novel 1984. • Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that our desire will ruin us. • Is control (fear) or desire worse?

10. Quiz for Chapter Seven • According to Winston, where does the only hope lie? • A. The Party • B. Julia • C. The Hope Ministry • D. The Proles • What is the Party’s attitude towards the proles? • A. Appreciative • B. Phony • C. Negative • D. Positive • Is there any attempt to convert the proles to Party ideology? • A. Yes • B. No • What is the significance of the picture showing the three men at the social function in New York?

11. Chapter Seven • Winston writes in his diary that if there is hope in overthrowing Party rule, then it lies in the proles, the disregarded masses comprising 85% of the population of Oceania. They need to become conscious of their own strength. • The proles are largely untouched by the Party; they’re not smart enough for the Party to bother brainwashing. Thus these prole people don’t get what’s going on enough to revolt. • Winston looks through a children’s history book and copies the passage about capitalists into his diary. The Party claims in said passage that it has increased the standard of living from past times. But Sherlock Winston suspects this is a lie. Ultimately, there’s just no way to tell. • Winston thinks (quite eloquently): when the past is erased, and the erasure is forgotten, the lie becomes truth.

12. Chapter Seven • Winston now recalls an occasion when he had proof that the Party was changing history. At one time, in 1973, Winston had held in his hands evidentiary proof that certain people who the Party deemed never existed had actually existed. • Unfortunately, Winston destroyed the proof. • Winston realizes the futility of physical evidence, and wonders whether the mind itself is controllable. He refuses to believe that it is, though, and realizes that the physical world exists so long as there is a mind to perceive it. Thus, he writes, freedom is the freedom to think. • Then he thinks, I should give this diary to O’Brien, that guy I have an intellectual crush on.

13. After Reading Discussion • Who is Emmanuel Goldstein and how is he presented to the people of Oceania? What is the probably significance of using the obviously Jewish name? • If you were a citizen in 1933 Germany, how would you feel about your government? What options did you feel you had for expressing opposition to this government or to the participate in it? • How do these options differ from the option you have today in the United States?

14. Key Facts and Allusions • Adolf Hitler was on the verge of creating an Orwellian-style cable TV system to broadcast Nazi propaganda around Germany. Screens would have been set up in public places, including in laundries so housewives could tune in, according to a documentary based on papers and tapes found in his bunker. When the Allies overran Germany, engineers were on the point of a technological breakthrough to allow TV pictures to be transmitted to screen and sound to radio receivers. • Prototype programs included Family Chronicles: An evening with Hans and Gellis, and reality TV show depicting the wholesome Aryan life of a young German couple for the rest of the population to model themselves on. • Another plan was to show footage of executions of traitors to the Nazis. The plans first came to light in 1945, when boxes with tapes were found in the ruins of Berlin by Soviet soldiers, the Russian documentary says. • According to the program, the engineer Walter Bruch was asked to make ‘Peoples Television” a reality.

15. Analyze the propaganda. Choose the worst. Rank the order. • Propaganda is most well known in the form of war posters. But at its core, it is a mode of communication aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position, and that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Propaganda is often used to manipulate human emotions by displaying facts selectively and can be used to effectively convey messages.

16. This poster was produced before conscription was introduced in 1916 and aimed to encourage men to join the armed forces through emotional blackmail.

17. A poster showing which foods should be consumed during the First World War.

18. This poster was created during the First World War to encourage the people of America to stick together during the war effort.

19. Women proved themselves to be highly skilled in all areas and played an essential role in the war effort.

20. This poster was released during the Second World War and played on women’s fragile and emotional state.

21. Of course no list of this sort would be complete without this very famous Barack Obama Hope poster from the 2008 presidential campaign. Whether you support the man or not , you have to admit the power of this image. The future president really does look like heroic…at least on this poster.

22. Ted Talk Comparison • Why We Do What We Do - Tony Robbins • How Great Leaders Inspire Action - Simon Sinek