'1984' OBH's Flashcards
First quote of book
“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen”
- Instant setting of tone in dystopian world, off-putting
INGSOC
English socialism –> egalitarian, all should be equal.
Shared property and wealth.
Working together for common good.
Party slogan
“WAR IS PEACE. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.”
- Corrupting logic
Winston questioning Julia’s identity
“she might be an agent of the Thought Police”
- Comparison to The Handmaid’s Tale –> not able to trust anyone, the eyes vs the thought police & not being able to fully trust
Emmanuel Goldstein
AO3 - Representation of Stalin’s enemy, Trotsky - Represented by Snowball in Orwell’s Animal Farm
Past being updated/altered
“Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was being brought up to date”
History being altered all the time
“All history was a palimpsest”
- A manuscript which is constantly being written over
- Comparison to THT: You can see what once was but it has been written over by a new regime, imposed onto what was USA
–> “a palimpset of unheard sound”
Statistics
“Statistics were just as much a fantasy in their original version as in their rectified version”
Winston’s pleasure in his job
“Winston’s greatest pleasure in life was in his works”
- Contributes to horror of dystopian society
Lies in records
“the chosen lie would pass into the permanent records and become truth.”
Comrade Ogilvy
“Comrade Ogilvy, unimagined an hour ago”
- Replacing Comrade Stakhanov
Words
“It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words”
Orthodox thinking
“Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.”
- Not allowing any expression whatsoever
- Conventional normal
Parson’s child forcing an arrest
“My kid made sure he was some kind of enemy agent”
Propaganda - Hate week, gratitude to Big Brother
“New, happy life”
Sex instinct
“The Party was trying to kill the sex instinct, or, if it could not be killed, then to distort it and dirty it”
Sex as rebellion
“The sexual act, successfully performed, was rebellion. Desire was thoughtcrime”
Proles, hope
“If there was hope, wrote Winston, it lies in the Proles”