1984 Context Flashcards
Post-war austerity in 1984
• Airstrip One resembles a mix of post-war London and a communist state
• poor quality Victory products and rationing of chocolate
• frequent bombings also appear, an echo of the Blitz
prior to writing the novel, what did Orwell volunteer for?
• fought against the fascist government in the Spanish Civil War
During fighting in the Spanish Civil War, what did Orwell realise?
though he was first supportive of the Russian Revolution, Orwell changed his opinions after realising that behind the veneer of justice and equality was:
• widespread famines
• forced labour
• internal power struggles
• political repression
He felt the resistance wanted to replace the Fascist Gov with an authoritative regime of its own
What are much of the party’s brutality and betrayals drawn from in history?
the Great Purges of 1936-1938 in the Soviet Union (‘Vaporisation’)
who is Goldstein modelled on
exiled Soviet Bolshevik leader, Leon Trotsky.
• Stalin cast Trotsky out of the party and denounced him a traitor to the cause
What was Trotskys manifesto that is similar to Goldstein book, and its contents
‘The Revolution Betrayed’
the tone of writing and topics are similar
• a wide ranging critique of the USSR, and advocates for a new political revolution to overthrow the Stalinist Dictatorship and replace with a Socialist Democracy
What was the idea of thought crime similar to
The USSRs attempts to quieten and discredit political dissidents (people who oppose official policy) by commuting them to psychiatric hospitals and “treating” them with psychoactive drugs
2+2=5
a real slogan from the Soviet Union as a promise to complete the industrialising five year plan in four years. this was never actualised but Stalin announced they had and started a new plan
• orwell satirises the slogan here to demonstrate the authoritative tendency to suspending reality
what was Orwell politically
firmly against communism and considered himself Democratic Socialist (left-wing political philosophy supporting democracy and a form of socially owned economy)
what is a political satire
a piece of fiction in which the inconsistencies and dangers of political issues or figures are exposed, criticised or ridiculed
link to Brave New World (1932)
• children indoctrinated from birth
• Huxley wrote to Orwell praising 1984, but explaining why his own novel was more realistic of a prediction
• Brave New World focuses on control through pleasure, criticising the dangers of prioritising happiness and comfort over individual freedom and genuine human connection
How does Huxley describe the philosophy of the ruling minority in 1984 (letter to Orwell)
“a sadism which has been carried to its logical conclusion by going beyond sex and denying it”
Link to We, Yevgeny Zamyatin (1924)
• widely considered inspiration for 1984
• both feature suppression of individual thoughts, all-seeing leaders, secret police and dystopian architecture
• both end with protagonists succumbing to states control (D-503)
for two years 1941-1943, what was Orwell a staff member for?
BBC staff member (9889) writing propaganda for broadcast to India.
• Winston in 1984= 6079
book with link to control of language
Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn
an epistolary novel, written in letter format
Darkness at Noon -Koestler (1940)
• satire on soviet Russia
• members numbered
• Rubashov thinks that the party has “gout and varicose veins in every limb”
Koestlers ‘Darkness at Noon’ quote link to 1984
protagonist Rubashov:
“we admitted no private sphere, not even inside a man’s skull”
1984:
“nothing was your own except the few cubic centimetres inside your skull”
Significance of winston’s last name “Smith”
The voice of big brother is called an “iron voice”
• “Smith” literally means “one who works with iron”, iron represents inflexible rule and the party members.
• he is destined to become part of Ingsoc
