1984

The Setting

Winston lives in Oceania, specially Air Strip One, which is the new name for England. As you can see from the map, Air Strip One is right next to hostile territory, which is why it is so easily bombed.

Time - well, 1984, however, the date is not important. It is a warning of our future. Orwell wanted to title it 1948 since it was being published in 1947, but his publishers thought a more futuristic date was needed. It could easily be titled 2020 or 2040. The revolution must have happened somewhere in the late 50s. Winston's childhood may have been free from Ingsoc, but he cannot remember anything from that far back.

Jump to sections in the book:

Read This Book!

Big Brother has deemed it O.K. for party members to read this book. Don't have one of those old fashioned paper kind? Never fear! You can read it here as a synthetic book (or synthbook in Newspeak): READ ME

Or you can click each chapter as linked on the left.

There is a comic book version being done by Frederick Guimont. Check out his page here:

I've had problems getting the site to work, so I provided links to the chapters completed in the chapter section. Try the official site first.

Newspeak

The language of Oceania. This is English, but with words removed. In fact words get removed every time they update the dictionary. The idea is that eventually there will be whole generations that have no words for ideas like freedom, so there would be no way in which to even think about that concept. Here is how it is explained in the book:

Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every concept that can ever be needed will be expressed by exactly one word, with its meaning rigidly defined and all in subsidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten.

Here is a basic primer:
Take a word (GOOD). To make the opposite, put un in front of it (UNGOOD). To say any word that means very good (great, fantastic, wonderful, etc.) just used the word plus or doubleplus (PLUSGOOD). Do the same to make it more negative (DOUBLEPLUSUNGOOD).

The Appendix goes into more detail on Newspeak.

Doublethink

This is the act of believing something to be true even though you know it is false. For example, in the book, people hear one news report. The next day, they will hear a contradictory news report. They believe the new one, even though they know it cannot match up with the old report. Here is how the book addresses it:

His mind slid away into the labyrinthine world of doublethink. To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy, to forget whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again: and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself. That was the ultimate subtlety: consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed. Even to understand the word 'doublethink' involved the use of doublethink.

Extra Credit Opportunity - Make a meme for 1984 that captures the feel of the meme and the essence of the book. Worth 2 quiz grades. An extra ten points if the meme is so good that I put it on this page. I made this one on Image Flip.

Big Brother Is Watching You Project

You will find or create a BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU poster. At the right time I will give you the dates for the assignment. You will bring the poster to me for approval and get a 60 for the grade. Then you will go out and post the poster on campus somewhere to get the remaining 40 points. You will take a photo of you with the poster and send it to me. If you would like a 110 grade, then you will seek out one of the many cameras that we have here on campus and post your poster where it can be seen by the camera. Your photo will need to show me the camera and poster so I'll know to count it.

The Junior Anti-Sex League

Propaganda Project

Thought Police

Warning! Three of your classmates secretly hold this badge and will report you if you say or even think about anything that does not promote Oceania or Big Brother. Failure to conform will mean that you may become an unperson and lose your five points bonus on the test for good citizenship.

Apple vs. Big Brother

During Superbowl XVIII in 1984, Apple used this commercial to introduce their new computer, the Apple Macintosh. It was directed by Ridley Scott.

Extra Credit Opportunity - What is grammatically wrong with this commercial? Worth 1 Daily grade.

In 2007, the commercial was re-released as an ad for Obama when he was running against Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Primary. Apparently it was not endorsed by his administration and the guy who created it resigned his position.

I Need This Shirt

A double plus good student would get it for their favorite teacher.

Why Not Watch Big Brother for a Change?

This 1956 version is, well, old. However, it does loosely follow the book.

This is a documentary about the book and George Orwell. If you are trying to understand what the book is about, watch this. It is about 45 minutes long.

This is an animated summary of the book with analysis provided by Sparknotes. You may wish to watch this before the test.

Captain Britain vs. The Thought Police

In Mighty World of Marvel, a British Marvel comic, vol.2 issue 13, "A Funeral on Otherworld", Captain Britain faces off against a 1984 world. This issue was released in none other than the year 1984, of course.

Extra Credit Opportunity: This is Earth-744. Research this or other Marvel alternate realities in the extra credit assignment Marvel Multiverse.

Manray Is Watching You

In Spongebob Squarepants, "Back to the Past" features an 1984-ish dystopia where Manray takes ove Bikini Bottom.

Oranges and Lemons

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Thanks to www.gerenser.com/1984 for this list of questions. I modified a few of them to meet the needs of my class. Use these to check your understanding.