1984 Quotes

Finish the quote:

“Perhaps one did not want…

to be loved so much as to be understood”

Finish the quote:

“our duty to…

the Party”

Finish the quote:

“he had contemplated…

smashing her skull in”

Finish the quote:

“When you make love you’re using up energy; and afterwards…

you feel happy and don’t give a damn for anything. They can’t bear you to feel like that”

Finish the quote:

“The family had become in effect an…

extension of the Thought Police”

Finish the quote:

“Do it to…

Julia, not me!”

Finish critic Rissanen’s statement about relationships and love:

“The Party isolates…

every individual, destroying all social bonds”

Finish critic Pimlott’s statement about relationships and love:

“We are left wondering how this public-schoolboy’s…

fantasy could possibly have survived the mind-rotting propaganda of the Party”

Finish critic Bell’s statement about relationships and love:

“A human society stripped of the…

last shreds of community”

Finish critic Howe’s statement about relationships and love:

“Winston and Julia come through as rudimentary human beings because…

they are slowly learning what it means to be human”

Finish the quote:

“It was reasonably certain that it would be punished by…

death, or at least twenty-five years in a forced labour camp”

Finish the quote:

“Nothing was your own except…

the few cubic centimetres inside your skull”

Finish the quote:

“She had not a thought in her head…

that was not a slogan”

Finish the quote:

“Power is in…

tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing”

Finish the quote:

“There will be no loyalty, except…

loyalty towards the Party”

Finish the quote:

“2+2=

5”

Finish critic Brown’s statement about control:

“Through Winston Smith, Orwell shows how the…

ability to think freely in a society that attempts absolute control is empowering”

Finish critic Atkin’s statement about control:

“He [Winston] was a…

weak creature born to be victimised”

Finish Orwell’s statement about control:

“The greatest mistake is to imagine that…

the human being is an autonomous individual”

What context could be used to support this?

The Great Purge and the NKVD.

What can be said about the Great Purge (1936–1938)?

A brutal political campaign led by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to eliminate dissent within the Communist Party and consolidate his power. It involved widespread purges of perceived enemies, including political rivals, military leaders, and ordinary citizens. The purges were marked by show trials, forced confessions, imprisonment in gulags, and executions. An estimated 600,000 to 1.2 million people were killed, and millions were imprisoned or exiled. The Great Purge significantly reshaped Soviet society, leaving a lasting impact on the USSR’s political and social structure. 

What is the NKVD?

Stalin's secret police were key enforcers of Joseph Stalin's authoritarian rule in the Soviet Union. They carried out widespread surveillance, arrests, torture, and executions to eliminate perceived enemies of the state. Responsible for political purges, forced labor camps (Gulags), and instilling fear, the secret police were central to maintaining Stalin's power and suppressing dissent. 

Finish the quote:

“Who controls the past controls the…

future. Who controls the present controls the past”

Finish the quote:

“The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten,…

the lie became the truth”

Finish the quote:

“All history was a…

palimpsest, scraped clean and re-inscribed as exactly as was necessary”

Finish the quote:

“The Party member, like the proletarian, tolerates present-day conditions because he has no standards of comparison. He must be…

cut off from the past, just as he must be cut off from foreign countries, because it is necessary for him to believe that he is better off than his ancestors and that the average level of material comfort is constantly rising”

Finish critic Davies’ statement about history:

“warning about…

history”

What context can be used to support this?

The Tehran Conference and the Iron Curtain speech.

What is the Tehran Conference?

A 1943 conference where Allied leaders Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, and Franklin D. Roosevelt met to plan post-war strategy. 

Orwell was disturbed by how the conference exemplified the division of the world into spheres of influence controlled by major powers. This foreshadowed the geopolitical tensions of the Cold War and influenced 1984’s depiction of a world divided into three superstates—Oceania, Eurasia, and East-Asia—locked in perpetual war to maintain power and control. 

The way the leaders prioritized strategic interests over principles also fed into Orwell’s critique of realpolitik and the cynical pursuit of power for its own sake, a central theme in 1984. 

What can be said about the Iron Curtain speech?

This refers to the political, ideological, and physical division between the Soviet-controlled Eastern Bloc and the Western democracies following World War II. Coined by Winston Churchill in a famous speech in 1946, the term symbolizes the growing tensions of the Cold War as Europe became split into two distinct spheres of influence: the communist East and the capitalist West. This division was deeply influential in shaping the geopolitical environment that inspired Orwell’s 1984, particularly the ideas of isolation, perpetual conflict, and state control. 

Finish the quote:

“You had to live in the assumption that…

every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every moment scrutinised”

Finish the quote:

“The telescreen…

received and transmitted simultaneously”

Finish the quote:

“The picture had…

fallen to the floor uncovering the telescreen behind it”

Finish the quote:

“Ear trumpets for…

listening through key-holes”

Finish the quote:

“Day and night the telescreens bruised your ears with statistics proving that people today had more…

food, more clothes, better houses, better recreations—that they lived longer, worked shorter hours, were bigger, healthier, stronger, happier, more intelligent, better educated, than the people of fifty years ago”

Finish critic O’Duffy’s statement about technology:

“some aspects of Oceania are now a part of everyday life. Phone conversations can be listened to and recorded by the government, CCTV is…

rife and the advance of technology might be restricting our language. Is ‘text speak’ just a more subtle form of Newspeak?”

Finish critic McCallum’s statement about technology:

“We feel his anxiety when he…

avoids the telescreen in his flat”

What context could be used to support this?

Smartphones and smart devices.

How can modern technology link to this?

The first 'smartphone' was created in 1994, yet smart devices have come on massively since then. Focusing on home devices, Amazon, Google and various other tech companies have created 'virtual assistant services' such as Alexa, Echo and Google Home. These devices, much like spy devices used in World War Two, listen to conversations had within their proximity, ready to respond when they hear their verbal que (e.g. "Alexa").  

Finish the quote:

“Big Brother is…

watching you”

Finish the quote:

“the Ministry of Love,…

which maintained law and order”

Finish the quote:

“It was always at night - the arrests invariably happened at night. The sudden…

jerk out of sleep, the rough hand shaking your shoulder, the lights glaring in your eyes, the ring of hard faces around the bed”

Finish the quote:

“Room…

101”

Finish the quote:

“We convert him, we capture his inner mind, we reshape him. We…

burn all evil and illusion out of him; we bring him over to our side”

Finish critic Podhoretz’s statement about totalitarianism:

“Orwell’s ruling passion was the…

fear and hatred of totalitarianism”

Finish critic Lynch’s statement about totalitarianism:

“Stalin and Big Brother share…

many similarities”

Finish critic Huxley’s statement about totalitarianism:

“The ruling oligarchy will find less…

arduous and wasteful ways of governing”

What context can be used to support this?

World War Two had just finished, Leon Trotsky was assassinated and cults of personality.

What can be said about World War Two just finishing?

• In Europe: Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945, after Hitler’s suicide and the fall of Berlin. VE Day was celebrated on May 8. 

• In the Pacific: Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945, after the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The formal surrender occurred on September 2. 

Aftermath: 

• Over 70 million deaths, widespread destruction, and cities like Berlin and Hiroshima in ruins. 

• The U.S. and Soviet Union emerged as superpowers, leading to the Cold War. 

• The United Nations was formed in October 1945 to promote peace. 

• Economic rebuilding began, including the Marshall Plan for Europe. 

Social Impact: 

• Decolonization accelerated as European empires weakened. 

• Women’s expanded workforce roles laid groundwork for future equality movements. 

• Art and literature reflected on the war’s trauma and moral lessons. 

What can be said about Trotsky’s assassination?

Leon Trotsky, a key figure in the Russian Revolution and a rival to Joseph Stalin, was assassinated on August 21, 1940, in Mexico City. After being exiled from the Soviet Union in 1929 due to his opposition to Stalin’s policies, Trotsky continued to criticize Stalin’s regime from abroad. Stalin saw him as a major threat and sent agents to eliminate him. 

Trotsky was attacked in his home by Ramón Mercader, a Soviet agent, who struck him in the head with an ice axe. Trotsky died the following day from his wounds. His assassination was part of Stalin’s broader effort to eliminate rivals and consolidate his totalitarian rule. 

What can be said about cults of personality?

A cult of personality refers to a situation where a public figure, often a political leader, is excessively glorified and idolized through propaganda, media, and state-sponsored efforts to create a larger-than-life image. Examples between 1946-1949 are Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union, Mao Zedong in China, and Kim Il-sung in North Korea. These leaders were portrayed as embodying the ideals of their nations, often blurring the line between the leader and the state itself. 

Such cults can distort reality, concentrate power, and undermine democratic institutions by fostering blind loyalty and discouraging critical thinking among citizens. The phenomenon is not limited to politics—it can also appear in other domains, such as celebrity culture or corporate leadership.  

Finish the quote:

“It’s a beautiful thing…

the destruction of words”

Finish the quote:

“it was usual to…

dictate everything”

Finish the quote:

“Thoughtcrime IS…

death”

Finish the quote:

“This process of continuous alteration was applied to not only newspapers, but to…

every kind of literature or documentation which might conceivably hold any political or ideological significance”

Finish critic Berkes’ statement about language:

“Language becomes a method of mind control with the ultimate goal being…

the destruction of will and imagination”

Finish Orwell’s statement about language:

“If thought corrupts language,…

language can also corrupt thought”

What context can be used to support this?

The USSR stopped recognising languages of 13 of its adversaries, and the Nazi book burnings.

What did the USSR do?

their policy of suppressing the languages and cultural identities of its adversaries was part of a broader effort to consolidate power, enforce Russian dominance, and suppress potential resistance. During Stalin's rule, especially in the late 1930s and continuing through the 1940s, the Soviet government systematically targeted minority groups. 

What were the Nazi book burnings?

They were public events in 1933 where works by Jewish authors, political opponents, and others deemed "un-German" were destroyed. Organised by Nazi student groups and officials, these burnings aimed to suppress dissent and enforce ideological conformity. They symbolised the regime's broader assault on intellectual freedom and were a prelude to its oppressive policies. 

Finish the quote:

“Even with nothing written in it,…

it was a compromising possession”

Finish the quote:

“Until they become conscious they will never…

rebel, and until they have rebelled they cannot become conscious”

Finish the quote:

“In a lucid moment Winston found that he was…

shouting with the others and kicking his heel violently against the rung of his chair”

Finish the quote:

“the girl had slipped something into his hand. There was no question that…

she had done it intentionally”

Finish the quote:

“You’re only a rebel from…

the waist downwards”

Finish the quote:

“Freedom is the freedom to say that…

two plus two makes four. If that is granted, all else follows”

Finish critic Rissanen’s statement about resistance, dissent and rebellion:

“Winston’s rebellion has been…

instilled in him, through years of conditioning by the Party”

Finish critic Schellenberg’s statement about resistance, dissent and rebellion:

“The Big Brother society is too…

well-constructed to break apart in the face of one man’s resistance”

Finish critic Beddoe’s statement about resistance, dissent and rebellion:

“She [Julia] is totally incapable of understanding…

the motives which drive Winston to revolt”

Finish the quote:

“As usual, the face of Emmanuel Goldstein,…

the Enemy of the People, had flashed onto the screen”

Finish the quote:

“Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to…

narrow the range of thought?”

Finish the quote:

“War is…

peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength”

Finish the quote:

“The preparations for Hate Week were in full swing…Processions, meetings, military parades, lectures, waxworks, displays, film shows, telescreen programmes all had to be organised:…

stands had to be erected, effigies built, slogans coined, songs written, rumours circulated, photographs faked”

Finish the quote:

“Only by word of word,…

mouth of mouth, could they pass on the secret”

Finish critic Kellner’s statement about propaganda and censorship:

“The primary function of the media here is to…

terrorise its citizens”

Finish critic Bossche’s statement about propaganda and censorship:

“The large mass of common people does not find in themselves…

the need to think independently” (censored to the point they have no interest in new information)

What context can be used to support this?

Orwell as a reporter for the BBC.

What was Orwell’s work for the BBC?

He worked for the BBC between 1941 and 1943 as a 'Talks Producer' on what had previously been the 'Eastern Service'. His role was to write and programme propaganda for broadcast in the Indian subcontinent during the war at a 'crucial time'. Due to his known communist views, he gave the service a 'degree of political credibility in the region'. Also, Orwell's real name was Eric Blair.