1984 George Orwell
Jan 19, 2016
1984George Orwell
Life under INGSOC (English Socialism) in 1984…
The Inner Party (“The Party”)• Make policy, affect decisions, and govern• Upper class of Oceania
Government consists of:• Ministry of Truth – past and present are revised
Winston Smith works here and changes facts to meet Party’s needs
• Ministry of Peace – creates continuous war• Ministry of Plenty – creates false food/economic
shortages• Ministry of Love – generates hatred for enemies
of Oceania
Life under INGSOC (English Socialism) in 1984…
The Outer Party• Work the state’s administrative jobs• Educated workers who are responsible for
direct implementation of the Party’s policies• Have absolutely no voice in policies’
formation• Artificial middle class• Expected to be patriotic, blindly accepting
every order from remote superiors• Condemned to live in rundown
neighborhoods• NO SEX ALLOWED! Except for procreation…
Life under INGSOC (English Socialism) in 1984…
The Proles• Lower class of workers, performing the bulk
of manual labor• Live in poorest conditions, but are more
fortunate than Outer Party members• Not under surveillance
Sedated with alcohol, gambling, sport, sexual promiscuity, and prolefeed (fabricated books, pornography)
• Uneducated, therefore harmless
The Slogans: A World of Doublethink
War is Peace: war creates unity, which creates a sense of peace
Freedom is Slavery: if you are free, you are destined to fail
Ignorance is Strength: just let the Party think for you
Doublethink: • holding two contradictory ideas at the same time and
understanding them both as true• a way for the party to keep logic at bay and to control the minds
of the people
New Language for a New Society:Newspeak
Any word can be any part of speech Eliminates any extra words that have the same or
similar meaning
A vocab: words used for everyday life; reserved for simple thoughts, concrete objects, or physical actions
B vocab: words created for political purposes with the proper mental attitude; all are compound; made up without a plan
C vocab: supplementary; scientific and technical terms
The Oceaniac Hierarchy
The Three Superstates
The Threat of Big Brother