Critics on 1984 and THT

Question 1

Contemporary critic, commenting on the humanity or lack of in the society of 1984

Answer 1

“A human society stripped of the last shreds of community” (Daniel Bell, 1949)

Question 2

Idea of Big Brother and his relevance to contemporary world leaders

Answer 2

“Big Brother lurks behind Churchill and any leader whom propaganda utilises or invents” (EM Forster)

Question 3

The immediacy of 1984’s concerns

Answer 3

“Its horror is crushingly immediate” (New York Times 1949)

Question 4

Orwell on totalitarianism

Answer 4

“Every line of serious work I have written since 1936 has been written directly or indirectly against totalitarianism” (Orwell)

Question 5

Parallels between Big Brother and Stalin

Answer 5

“There are many parallels between Big Brother and Stalin” (Lynch)

Question 6

Language and its controlling capabilities

Answer 6

“Language becomes a method of mind control” (Jem Berkes)

Question 7

Orwell / Toby Young banner Free Speech Union

Answer 7

“If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”

Question 8

Attwood and how the failure of language entails war

Answer 8

“War is what happens when language fails” (Atwood)

Question 9

Warning the reader of the threat THT exposes

Answer 9

“To admonish the reader” (Kouhestani)

Question 10

The importance of the novel in the “present day” and women are dictated by certain societal expectations

Answer 10

“The novel is vital in the present day where women are dictated by biological determinism and misogyny” (Newman)

Question 11

The relatability of the novel and the voice of women.

Answer 11

“It is the voice of a woman we might know” (Johnson)

Question 12

Relevance in terms of theocracy and diminishing civil liberties.

Answer 12

“The book is ever more relevant in a world of jostling theocracies and diminishing civil liberties” (Guardian review, 2003)