Title: 1984
1. Significance of the title: The novel takes place in what George Orwell thought the year 1984 would be like.
2. Genre: ‘1984’ is a dystopian novel.
3. Date of original publication: ‘1984’ was originally published in 1949.
4. Author: George Orwell is the Author of ‘1984’.
5. Setting: ‘1984’ is set in 1984 England.
6. Importance of this setting: Even though the year 1984 is nearly 30 years in the past, Orwell wrote his novel in the early 30’s so ‘1984’ is a prediction of what Orwell thought the near future would be like.
7. Point of view: ‘1984’ is written in a limited omniscient point of view.
8. Plot: Winston Smith is an intellectual in a society where only conformity is acceptable. He is idealogical and he is one of the few people how the society is actually being controlled, through the uses of Big Brother, doublespeak, and the Thought Police. One day he meets Julia, she is the poster child for a modern day youth accept when she is sleeping around to get back at the Inner
Party in her own personal way. Her and Winston form a forbidden romantic relationship but just when they realize they are against the Party in different ways (Winston on an idealogical level and Julia in a personal revenge way) they meet O’Brien, who seems to be apart of the mysterious
Brotherhood, the rebels who are against Big Brother and follow the equally mysterious
Goldstein. However it turns out that O’Brien is actually a member of the Inner Party posting as
Brotherhood member. O’Brien reveals all the reasons why society is the way it is to Winston and
Julia just before having the Thought Police capture and torture them. But this isn’t any regular torture, O’Brien breaks down Winston mentally and physically so he can be built from the ground up as a perfect citizen. Someone who loves Big Brother, hates Goldstein, shies away from art, religion, and science, has no thought of his own, and above all, would do anything for the party.
9. Style:
(a) Characterize the author’s diction- George Orwell writes with a very formal and learned diction. (b) Does this author depend more often on abstract or concrete language?- The novel utilizes mostly concrete language.
(c) Provide an example of one of the following syntactical choices and explain how this choice is effective in context: parallelism, rhetorical question, repetition, parenthetical expression, or deliberate fragment.- Orwell’s use of repetition is first seen on page 16 in his novel. The words “War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength.” are repeated several times. This is the slogan of the party of Oceania and it is also the readers first look at how “doublethink” is utilized in the modern society.
10. Characters:
Winston Smith- Winston is a 40 year old intellectual who wants a better life and is one of the few people who can actually see past Big Brother’s system. He is skinny and has a varicose ulcer on his leg.
Julia- Julia is a young girl who gives off the aura of a perfect proper youth, she is a member