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Descriptions of 1984

Descriptions of 1984

• 'a book that changed the direction of the world' Buddicom

• 'among the most terrifying books I have ever read' 'Orwell allows his reader no hope... here is a study in pessimism' Warburg (Orwell's publisher)

Orwell

• British journalist and author; wrote 2 famous novels of the 20th century

• man of strong opinions who addressed many political controversies

Childhood

• born Eric Arthur Blair on June 25 1903 in Bengal where his father was stationed

• mother brought him and sister to England - he rarely saw his father

Schooling

• went to a private boarding school on a partial scholarship

• noticed the difference between how they treated rich and poor students

• Orwell was not popular but highly intelligent

• he won a scholarship to Eton, but made little academic effort

After school

• did not go to university and joined the Indian Imperial Police in 1992

• while in England on sick leave in 1922, he resigned from the service due to his disillusionment with imperialism and desire to try writing.

Writing

• felt guilt about his privileged position in society and posed as a tramp in both France and England

• then moved on to a series of temp jobs such as teaching and bookselling

• adopted pen name of George Orwell to avoid embarrassing his parents

• in 1936 he wrote The Road To Wigan Pier - controversial due to the presentation of working-class people and its abusive criticisms of progressive individuals.

Spain

• went to support the republican side in the Spanish Civil War with his wife, Eileen O'Shaughnessy

• served with an anarchist militia on the Aragon front until May 1937 when he was shot in the throat by a Fascist sniper

• however, Spanish Communists were also turning on former allies, dishonestly branding them Fascist collaborators.

• they escaped across the border - however, because British magazines supported the Communists' version of events, they refused to publish Orwell's eyewitness accounts.

• Orwell's normal publisher refused to even consider his book on the SCW which he eventually got published through someone else.

World War 2

• opposed British involvement in a further European war but changed his mind when WW2 started - he thought it would revolutionise the country.

• rejected by the army as medically unfit but joined the BBC as a radio writer and producer for the Indian section of the BBC's Eastern Service.

• his experience here gave him insight into bureaucracy and the creation of propaganda

• in 1943 he quit the BBC and worked as a literary editor on the left-wing Labour party newspaper, Tribune.

• Mein Kampf - 'all propaganda is a true art which has remained practically unknown to the bourgeois parties' - O's fears when writing 1984 was that the power of propaganda would become known

Opinion on British media

• was disturbed by the positive view of the Russian state expressed by the British media after the USSR had been invaded by Germany and switched sides to the Allies.

• this is reflected in 1984 in Oceania's swift change of ally and the cynical propaganda which accompanies this.

• wrote Animal Farm in 1943-44 to highlight how the Russian regime has betrayed its revolutionary aims.

• most publishers refused to publish it, so by the time it appeared in 1945 Russia was an enemy again and it was an international bestseller.

Political beliefs

• socialist who was too sincere a rebel against authority to support the Communists' idea of an intellectual elite taking power on the workers' behalf.

• wished to see ordinary people in control

• believed that only through the state taking wealth and power from the ruling class and redistributing it could society become more equal

• supported Labour government of 1945 and thought they did not go far enough

Totalitarianism

• after being shot in the throat, he realised that Soviet Communism and Fascism were in many ways similar and became disillusioned with all forms of totalitarianism.

• 'the two regimes, having started from opposite ends, are rapidly evolving towards the same system, a form of oligarchical collectivism'

• mistrusted all governments, especially wartime ones.

1984

• acts as an attack against all forms of totalitarianism

• descriptions of an impoverished London are reminiscent of the late 1940s

• readers would have realised that 'Victory Mansions' and 'Victory Gin' implied state housing and the nationalisation of distilleries, with the poor quality of the 'Victory' brand suggesting that state ownership is a bad thing.

• contraction of 'English Socialism' to 'Ingsoc' similar to 'National Socialist Party' being shortened to 'Nazi'

• three-year plan like the Soviet five-year ones

Intention of 1984

'not intended as an attack on Socialism or on the British Labour Party... but as a show-up of the perversions to which a centralised economy is liable'

• 'totalitarianism, if not fought against, could triumph anywhere'

We - Yevgeny Zamyatin (1920)

• Orwell praised its 'intuitive grasp of the irrational side of totalitarianism - human sacrifice, cruelty as an end in itself, the worship of a Leader who is credited with divine attributes'

• people have numbers instead of names and wear identical uniforms.

• constant surveillance by 'Guardians' - telescreens

• strictly controlled sex lives - 1984, sex only for procreation

• main character keeps a diary which encourages his sense of individuality, falls in love and enters a conspiracy of rebels, but after a brainwashing operation, he betrays his lover and watches her being put to death (direct parallels with 1984)

Brave New World - Aldeous Huxley (1932)

• Orwell had been taught by Huxley at Eton

• Huxley satirises trends in the modern world that erode the idea of human beings as individuals

• society is divided into rigid classes, ruled by elite intellectuals who deprive even themselves of knowledge and freedom, and who abolish genuine art, scientific research and history (Ministry of Truth - 1984)

• television as social control - telescreens

• language deliberately altered to redirect thinking - Newspeak

• Solidarity Service - Two Minutes Hate

• described by Orwell as a 'brilliant caricature of the present' rather than a prediction of the future

Telescreens

• inspired by Bentham's Panopticon - circular prison in which prisoners were able to be observed at any time, with the idea that this would motivate them to behave in the desired manner even when not being observed

Surveillance

• Nazi surveillance eg. putting microphones in telephones to record phone calls - however much of the surveillance from the Gestapo was just threats as they did not have the personnel to constantly look out for people

• Stalin used the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) to pose the threat of surveillance - people would report others for mundane things to mitigate the threat of them being arrested and sent to camps

WW1

• readers would have recognised that 'Victory Gin' was a nod to the post-WW1 era in England when people were given 'victory' supplies - despite their victory the future appeared bleak

Soviet Union

• luxuries given to members of the Inner Party such as real wine, servants and bigger homes

• these are like those given to people who complied with regimes in Stalin's Soviet Union

Winston

• first name comes from Winston Churchill and last name is a common name - readers see Winston as an ordinary man who makes a valiant effort in extraordinary circumstances

The Thought Police

• the Thought Police is based on the Soviet secret service police (KGB), which arrested people for random "anti-soviet" remarks or 'unpatriotic ' thoughts.

Nazi family intervention

mother’s cross, hitler youth, ceausescu using children as spies