CONTEXT Flashcards
Big Brother’s use of Goldstein as a political rival supported by enemies of the regime
Stalin’s removal of Trotsky as a political rival - ordinary people would be terrified of backing the wrong person
Ingsoc “vaporised” anybody who appeared to oppose the party
During Stalin’s purges, there was an average of 1000 executions a day
Airstrip One is in a state of urban decay in order to create dependence on the party
The Nazi Party gained significant support during the economic depression of the late 1920s
“it was unwise to be seen” in the prole areas - “the patrols might stop you”
German Nuremberg Laws forbade the mixing of German and Jewish people
= control over social lives, giving the feeling of superiority
Room 101
Orwell’s BBC office
The excessive use of propaganda by the party
Orwell wrote propaganda for the BBC, stated “all propaganda is lies”
The omnipresence of telescreens
Orwell wanted to warn against political authority in an age of advanced technology
People vaporised “always at night”
Stalin’s midnight purges
Newspapers are “rectified” in the Ministry of Truth
Russian books were rewritten to paint Stalin as the hero of the Industrial Revolution
Any unwanted information sent down a “memory-hole” into a furnace
Nazi book burnings
Euphemisms of “Ministry of Love”, “Thought Police”, “vaporised’
Mass genocide of Jews called the ‘Final Solution’
Winston confesses to “real and imaginary” crimes after physical torture
Franz Fanon wrote about effect of torture in Algeria
- “fundamental inability to distinguish between true and false”
Graphic war films are treated as entertainment
In ‘Shooting an Elephant’, as Orwell aimed to shoot the elephant there was the “happy sigh of people who see the theatre curtain go up at last”
Sex is a “duty to the party”, Anti-Sex League conditions it to just be for procreation
Stalin criminalised prostitution and homosexuality as they promoted sexual independence from the state
Ingsoc youth organisation = “Spies” promoted reporting of any unusual behaviour, even from parents
The Hitler Youth - children were encouraged to report on their family
