1984 AO3

Question 1

Name and father

Answer 1

• Eric Blair, Bengal, 1903

- Father fought in WW1 1917-18

Question 2

Sent to St. Cyprian’s private boarding school

Answer 2

• 1911-16: his experiences of draconian punishment and emotional manipulation inspired Room 101

Question 3

Work

Answer 3

• No uni
• 1922: Indian Imperial Police in Burma
• Leaves as it went against socialist conscience

Question 4

Road to Wigan Pier 1937

Answer 4

• Polemic against intellectual elite
• Syme vaporised for being too clever
• Cruel presentation of working class

Question 5

Spanish civil War

Answer 5

• Orwell served with Anarchist militia until may 1937, shot in throat by fascist sniper
• 1984: sets precedent for criticism of both extreme left and right
• Spanish Communists turned on former allies, branding them Fascist collaborators and executing them
• 1984: Parson’s children turn against him
• Learns to distrust all political extremes

Question 6

Homage to Catalonia 1938

Answer 6

• Originally not published
• Suppressed by British left-leaning publishers
• 1984: literature prevented and censored

Question 7

Wrote for the Indian section of the BBC’s Eastern Service

Wife Eileen’s in Government Censorship Department

Answer 7

• Gave insights into bureaucracy and creation of propaganda
• 1984: Shaped conception of Ministry of Truth
• 1984: What governments are willing to lie about in times of conflict
• 1984: “All history was a palimpsest.”

Question 8

Orwell disturbed by USSR being painted in positive light by British media after they became Allies

Answer 8

• 1984: Oceania’s swift changes of ally and the cynical propaganda that accompanies it
• Eurasia/ Eastasia

Question 9

Inside the Whale 1940

Answer 9

• Communism and Catholicism are alike

- Similar people to disaffected intellectuals who want something to believe in

Question 10

Animal Farm 1945

Answer 10

Best seller in USA due to Red Scare

Question 11

Death

Answer 11

• Terminally ill

- Dies 21 Jan 1950

Question 12

1984 1948

Answer 12

• Interpreted as attack on 1945 labour government
• Post WW2 world with 3 empires in eternal conflict
• State should redistribute wealth
• “Show-up of the perversion of a centralised economy.”

Question 13

Satire in 1984

Answer 13

• Soviet Communism developed to new extremes
• Big Brother is man made god/ immortal rule
• INGSOC glories in contradiction
• Makes readers aware of abuses of power and language in own world, we see absurdity of totalitarian pretentions
• Religion mocked: “2+2=5” A miracle, must have complete faith
• “Emmanuel goldstein” Means Messiah
• Papal Roman Catholicism is a target

Question 14

A03 points

Answer 14

• Consistently developed and detailed understanding of significance and influence of contexts in which literary texts are written/recieved
• So what?
• How did people react to it
• How did people feel about it
• Influence on later works

Question 15

Politics and the English Language

Answer 15

• “The slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.”
• • Proles have best vocab due to less restriction
• Weakness of language allows people to prey on vulnerable
• People will not be able to articulate thoughts of rebellion
• “Political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness.”
• Vaporised/unperson
• Ignorance is strength
• Epimagratic language
• “German, Russian and Italian languages have all deteriorated… result of dictatorship.”
• I, IV
• All extremes in totalitarian states are careful to control language
• Pornosec
• big Brother

Question 16

The Prevention of Literature

Answer 16

• Defending freedom of press
• Intellectual liberty under attack from totalitarian apologists and bureaucracy
• Totalitarian belief history to be created not learned
• in order to keep high position, totalitarian state must be thought of as infallible.