Common Module Flashcards
1
Q
Paradox Examples
A
- “It was a bright cold day in April”
- Ministries and their function
- Use of ‘victory’ (Victory Mansions are crumbling and falling apart, Victory Gin is difficult to drink, and Victory cigarettes are not well made as the tobacco always falls out)
- Party slogan that “War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength”
- “Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them”
- “2 + 2 = 5”
- “Until they become conscious, they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious”
- Winston seeks hope in the proles but does not empathise with them or feel compassion towards them
- “I wrote it” as O’Brien created the text he uses to foster hatred and exert control
- “Winston Smith” is a political allusion to Churchill but Smith is a common last name
2
Q
Inconsistency Examples
A
- Winston rebels but knows he will get caught
- Winston is aware of his inevitable torture and death but is frightened at the thought of being caught
- He works at Ministry of Truth and alters history but keeps a diary to remember the past
- He symbolises hope but is ultimately hopeless
- Winston understands brainwashing purpose of Two Minutes Hate but succumbs to it as he believes “The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in”
- He loves Julia but betrays her
- Winston claims “Down with Big Brother” but ends up loving him
3
Q
Anomaly Examples
A
- Party ensures no individual thought is present but Winston keeps a diary and says “Down with Big Brother”
- There is no true freedom in Oceania but he believes “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two makes four”
- There is meant to be love and loyalty only to Big Brother but Winston has relationship with Julia
- There is a blind acceptance of ‘the past’ but Winston values his memories
4
Q
Characterisation of Winston
A
- “Winston Smith” is a political allusion to Churchill but Smith is a common last name, meaning he fights totalitarianism but is nondescript and part of the collective
- Paradoxical character as he is fatalistic and paranoid, but also idealistic and hopeful
- Represents hope but is hopeless
- His treatment as a criminal mimics that of Stalin’s victims
5
Q
Characterisation of Julia
A
- Acts as a vehicle through which Winston lives his transgressive sexual impulses
- Realistic
- Minor rebellions
6
Q
Characterisation of Big Brother
A
- Metonym for Party
- Omnipresent
- Figure of authority and totalitarianism
- Allusion to Stalin
- “black mustachioed face”
7
Q
Characterisation of Goldstein
A
- Allusion to Leon Trotsky as he is a high-ranking party member that turned into an enemy of the state when power was passed to his rival
- Used as an example to keep population under control
8
Q
Context
A
- Representation of the fears of Orwell’s post-war society including economic decline, fear and opposition to totalitarianism and communism, propaganda as a form of manipulation, modern technologies and their abilities, and constant fear, paranoia and uncertainty
- Orwell fought in Spanish Civil War against fascism
- Informed by totalitarian regimes of Stalin and Hitler
- He worked in Ministry of Information to write propaganda and worked as a journalist that was paid by government to falsify information
9
Q
Purpose
A
- Didactic to warn of totalitarianism so it can be recognised and prevented
- Warning about tendencies in supposed liberal democracies
- Critique of propaganda and altering history to manipulate masses
- Reiteration of inherent human values and motivations
10
Q
Form
A
- Anti-mimetic satire and political allegory of totalitarian regimes such as Stalin and Hitler
- Juvenalian satire as it is an exaggeration to expose flaws in institutions, has bitter and ironic tone, pessimistic, and shows moral indignation
- Dystopian novel featuring a Draconian society
- Tripartite narrative structure split into atmosphere/characterisation, rebellion, and conformity
- Overall linear structure but has some flashbacks
- Metafiction and frame narration as it includes ‘The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism’ to provide contextual understanding of Oceania, Winston’s diary for characterisation and the appendix to give greater understanding of Newspeak
- Third-person limited omniscient perspective limits reader comprehension of holistic narrative
- Inverted hero’s journey as Winston ultimately succumbs to the entity he was fighting
11
Q
Freedom, Individualism and Rebellion
“Freedom is …”
A
“Freedom is the freedom to say two plus two equals four”
- Repetition
- Metaphor of mathematical fact
- Individual human experience
12
Q
Freedom, Individualism and Rebellion
“To die …”
A
“To die hating them, that was freedom”
- Vehement tone
- Subverted ideas of freedom
- Individual human experience
13
Q
Freedom, Individualism and Rebellion
“I have not …”
A
“I have not betrayed Julia”
- Vehement tone
- Individual human experience
14
Q
Freedom, Individualism and Rebellion
“There was a word …”
A
“There was a word for it in Newspeak: ownlife, it was called, meaning individualism and eccentricity”
- Jargon
- Subverted ideas of individualism
- Individual human experience
15
Q
Freedom, Individualism and Rebellion
“The sexual act …”
A
“The sexual act, successfully performed, was rebellion. Desire was thoughtcrime”
- Jargon
- Subverted ideas of relationships
- Individual human experience
16
Q
Freedom, Individualism and Rebellion
“The animal instinct …”
A
“The animal instinct, the simple undifferentiated desire: that was the force that would tear the Party to pieces”
- Unnatural metaphor of “animal”
- Subverted ideas of relationships
- Individual human experience
17
Q
Power and Control through Language, Reality Manipulation and Psychological Control
“Who controls …”
A
“Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present, controls the past”
- Antimetabole
- Collective human experience
