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Ch. 1-2. The World of 1984. Winston Smith. 39 years old, small, fair and frail Rugged face, coarse soap, dull razors Works at Ministry of Truth ( MiniTrue ) Wears blue coveralls (the national uniform). Big Brother. Depicted as a rugged man on posters 45 years old black, heavy mustache
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Ch. 1-2 The World of 1984
Winston Smith • 39 years old, small, fair and frail • Rugged face, coarse soap, dull razors • Works at Ministry of Truth (MiniTrue) • Wears blue coveralls (the national uniform)
Big Brother • Depicted as a rugged man on posters • 45 years old black, heavy mustache • Ubiquitous (everywhere)
O’Brien • Seems to be understand Winston’s slight political unorthodoxies • Member of the Inner party (Black coveralls)
Emmanuel Goldstein • Speaks out against The Party • Leader of The Brotherhood • Dissidents to The Party • Lean, Jewish face, goatee and glasses • Advocates freedom of speech, press, assembly and thought
The dark-haired girl with the red sash • Winston hates her strict devotion to the Party • Exemplary behavior during the Two Minutes Hate exercises • Winston wonders if she is Thought Police
The Thought Police • Secret Police organization that roots out party dissidents and thought criminals • Think Gestapo and KGB
Thoughtcrime Def: any idea or belief that goes against the Party or resists the PartyAccording to Winston, thoughtcrime = death
Mr. and Mrs. Parsons • Winston’s neighbors • Mr. P is a co-worker, slavishly devoted to the Party • Both live in fear of their children
The Parson Children • Both are members of the Spies • Are taught to inform on any political enemies, including family • Think Hitler Youth
Victory Mansions • Winston’s apartment building • Ironically named • Dirty • Dilapidated
London • Portrayed as a bombed out war zone from decades of continuous warfare • Think pictures of London during WWII air raids
Airstrip One • The third most populous province of Oceania • The capital is London • So this must be the new name of England in 1984
Oceania • The new name for a country that joins North America and England in the year 1984 • A more solid tie than the alliance that existed between America and Britain during WWII
Eurasia • The nation that is currently at war with Oceania • The land mass that currently makes up Russia and continental Europe
Eastasia • The nation that is presently at peace with Oceania but a past record of hostility exists.
Ministry of Truth (Minitrue) • Concerns with news, education, entertainment and the arts • All ministries are the 4 tallest buildings • 30 story, pyramidal structures • The three slogans of the party are posted on the side
Ministry of Love (Miniluv) • Concerns about maintaining law and order
Ministry of Peace (Minipax) • Concerns about war
Ministry of Plenty (Miniplenty) • Concerns about the economy
Ingsoc • The shortened form of English Socialism • Compare this to Nazi, which was a shortened version of National Socialist German Workers Party in Germany)
The Three Party Slogans • War is Peace • Freedom is Slavery • Ignorance is Strength
The Two Minutes Hate • Routine cessation of all daily duties to focus national hate against Emmanuel Goldstein and his ideas • Demonization • Cult of Personality: adulation of a political leader
Newspeak • The official language of Oceania • It replaces standard English and is used to promote the ideas of Ingsoc • Vocabulary words that could express ideas contrary to Ingsoc were eliminated from the language so they would not even possess the power to express their disloyalty. • How can you fight for freedom if you don’t know what it is?
Junior Anti-Sex League • A league joined by young women to promote abstinence FOR the Party
Youth League • Available to all people 35 and younger • Focuses on community activities that advance the government (rallies, collecting and rationing campaigns)
The Spies • Trained children who are informants for the Thought Police
Telescreens • Two way TVs that can be dimmed but never turned off • You never know if Big Brother is monitoring from his end of the TV • Transmits propaganda from Oceania about rationing, news from the war front, and Party ideals
Police Patrol helicopters • Skim the streets at rooftop level, looking into windows
Keeping a diary Punishable by death or 25 years in a forced labor camp
Literature and Film Dystopian Society
What is a dystopia? • The antithesis of a utopian society usually characterized by an authoritarian or totalitarian form of government, or some other kind of oppressive social control
Common traits of a dystopian society • Appears to be a Utopian society, free of poverty, disease, conflict, unhappiness, but is actually the exact opposite. The real problem and the way the problem is suppressed forms the central conflict of the story • Social class is strictly defined and enforced
Common traits, continued • Nation state ruled by an upper class with few democratic ideals • State propaganda used to convince people into thinking that life under regime is good and just • Strict conformity • State figurehead worshipped • Fear or disgust of world outside the state
Common traits, continued • Domination of state religion and view of organized religion as primitive and nonsensical • Justice system lacks due process laws and often employs psychological or physical torture • Lack key essentials of life for many citizens
Common traits, continued • Constant government surveillance • Militarized police force • Natural world banished from daily life • Fictional rivalries between groups • Selectively-told back story of a war, revolution, uprising, spike in overpopulation, natural disaster, or some other climatic event which resulted in dramatic changes to society
Common traits, continued • A protagonist who questions the society, often feeling intuitively that something is terribly wrong • Often features technology more advanced than that of contemporary society • It serves as a warning to us that if our world continues in the direction it is going, the world portrayed in the dystopia could happen to us
Popular novels • Animal Farm – George Orwell • Brave New World – Aldous Huxley • A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess • Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury • The Giver – Lois Lowry • Planet of the Apes – Pierre Boulle
Popular movies • Gattaca • I, Robot • The Island • The Matrix • Minority Report • Equilibrium • V for Vendetta