1984

=**Title of Work:**=

1984
=Author:=

George Orwell
=Nationality/Ethnic Background= -Originally born with the name "Eric Blair" in 1903 in Motihari, Bengal, in the (then) British colony of India.

=Pertinent Biographical Information= -Orwell was an English author and journalist, describing his upbringing as "lower-upper-middle class." -His mother, Ida brought him to England at the age of one. However, Orwell's father did not make the transition, and was absent for much of his childhood -Orwell an artistic child, and from an early age, having his heart set on becoming a famous writer, was schooled through English preparatory schools until he attended Eton college where he graduated as a King's Scholar in 1921 (In his mid twenties, he became very sick and was cared for at a hospital run for the poor--His money was stolen here, forcing him to take low paying jobs just to scrape by). -Joined Indian Imperial Police in Burma, hated it, and returned to England in 1928 having grown to despise imperialism (published various works during this time regarding his hatred of imperialism). -Adopted the pen name "George Orwell" while writing for the New Adelphi in 1933; "George" coming from the patron saint of England, and "Orwell" originating from the River Orwell in Suffolk, a beloved site for Blair). -His poor upbringing likely influenced his writing and his views on socialism, democracy, and communism.

=Literary Historical Period/Movement and Pertinent Background= -//1984// was published in 1949, at the beginning of the Cold War, during the Red Scare; a period where society possessed a deep fear of communism. During this time, exaggerated stories of the communist rule were present among society. -Orwell's novel is a prime example of how the Communism regime had the possibility of (ruling and corrupting the world. -In //1984//, here are numerous examples of totalitarianism and complete control in the society of Oceana, similar to the regime of the Soviet Union during the time period, allowing for direct comparisons to be made between the two. For example: The totalitarian rule of Big Brother mirrors the dictatorship of the Soviet Joseph Stalin.

=Genre and Sub-genres:=

-Science-fiction
=Major Characters, Their Relationships, Their Conflicts=
 * Winston Smith:** The titular character of the novel, Winston is essentially a loner with few friends, if any, whose company he does not truly enjoy. Winston, along with the other characters, live in a society controlled by a totalitarian-like power, referred to as "The Party". Winston struggles throughout the novel with his desire to rebel against the party, because he is one of the few characters with this desire of independence. In his attempts to rebel against the Party--realizing the lies that the Party feeds to society--Winston keeps an archaic diary/journal of his free thoughts, and maintains a romantic affair with another main character by the name of Julia. As the plot progresses, so does Winston's cultivation and development of his relationship with Julia. To further this, he rents a room above Mr. Charrington's shop, where the two can spend time together in secrecy. Julia, being less inclined towards rebellion than Winston, tells how she is fine with her life, despite being aware of the Party's lies, control, and deception fed by Big Brother. Winston is encouraged by this illegality of his relationship with Julia, and even though he realized the implications of his actions (the possibility of getting caught), he continues his fight anyway, until he is ultimately back-stabbed by his apparent friend O'Brien.


 * Julia:** Content with only small amounts of rebellion, Julia believes that she is fighting against the government and Big Brother by sleeping with upper-party members, which is completely unjustified and erroneous, though is somewhat of a common practice. Julia is a clever character who devises elaborate plans in order to avoid capture by the domineering Party. Similar to Winston, she believes that their relationship is another act of rebellion against the government, and makes them more free and independent. However, it is their final affair that eventually leads to her capture.


 * O'Brien:** A secret, undercover member of the upper party, he tricks Winston into believing that he is a member of the rebellious Brotherhood. O'Brien promises Winston entry into the group, if he complies and delves into O'Brien's secret plot. So, he feeds Winston a false history of how the Brotherhood has infiltrated the Party in an attempt to destroy the Party and convince Winston of his feigned friendship. However, he later abuses Winston and admits the truth of his schemes; that inviting Winston into the Brotherhood was a trap conceived by the Party to lure him in and capture him for all of his treachery and rebellion. O'Brien is described as being trustworthy and a good confidante--which is the reason that Winston risked capture by attempting to ally with him--but this is ultimately false, because O'Brien double-crosses Winston and leads to the latter's capture.

=Brief Plot Summary= -Winston Smith, a lowly member of the Party government, writes and rebels against the government in his journal. The Party government is ruled by a never seen man named Big Brother, who is always watching and controlling citizens with the use of advanced technology, constant propaganda, and outright lies. The Party is constantly at war with either Eurasia or Eastasia, the two other world superpowers.The Party is a totalitarian government, but to an extreme that has never been seen in history. Winston seems to be the only citizen that understands the corruption and wrongness of the government.

-Winston admires a young lady named Julia, who he eventually beings an affair with, meeting in several private and isolated locations. Deciding they need a private place to meet, Winston rents a shop above Mr. Charrington's antique shop because it doesn't have a telescreen that they may be observed through. -Winston dreams of a full scale rebellion against the Party government, and wishes to join a secret rebel organization called the Brotherhood. -Julia, on the other hand, prefers her small scale "rebellion," creating secret ways of escaping the Party's observation, and sleeping with upper party members. .

-Winston then receives an invitation to the home of O'Brien, a richer member of the secretive and powerful Inner Party. O'Brien confirms to Winston that there is a rebellious group called the Brotherhood, and he is a member of it. O'Brien invites the two of them to join the group, and after they do, gives Winston a book written by Emmanuel Goldstein, the leader or icon that the Brotherhood bases their fight upon.

-Later, when Winston is reading the book to Julia (who doesn't care about it nearly as much as Winston does), Thought Police burst in, arresting the pair. Mr. Charrington reveals that he has been a member of the Thought Police all along. Winston and Julia are separated, and Winston is moved to a place called the Ministry of Love.

-There, O'Brien tortures Winston, trying to force him to accept the Party's ways, brainwashing him and making him forget his previous rebellious thoughts.

-With extreme measures (strapping a cage of rats to Winston's face which triggers Winston's greatest fear and causes Winston to reflect back to the nightmares he has been having), O'Brien eventually succeeds, and gets Winston to give up Julia and their relationship in the process.

-After giving her up, Winston is released, successfully brainwashed into another outer Party member. The book ends with Winston being content to accept the rule of Big Brother.

=Motifs (Recurring Images, Ideas, Figures of Speech, Symbols, Colors) & Their Thematic Significance:=

The red-armed prole woman (symbol)- contributes to theme of finding ways to believe in the future and hold on to hope for situations to improve.
=Other Significant Thematic Elements (Significant Character's Names, Significant Quotations, Significant Actions/Events)= __Mr. Charrington:__ At first seems to be an ally and unsuspecting aid to Winston and Julia's rebellion, renting them the room above his antique shop. Later, however, it turns out that he was a member of the Thought Police all along, and hid a telescreen up in the room so that he and the Party may observe them. This connects to the theme of appearance vs. reality.

__Proles__, far lower Party members, also seem to be important to Winston. He believes they are society's future hope, that maybe they'll "wake up" one day and rebel against the Party. Winston puts all his hope in these people for their future.

__"Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present, controls the past."__ This Party slogan explains the logic for their government - they must control all information about the past (and to do that, they destroyed everything from the past so that they could recreate it), because whatever happened in the past, they want to use the citizens to either recreate it or prevent it from happening again. They can decide what happens in the future by claiming they want to avoid what happened before, or try to work towards it again. This all relates to the extent to which people will go to to control others and maintain power.

=Major Themes:=

-Their is a limit to how much power a person/group should have, yet people have a driving desire to gain power and control other people's lives.
-People like to try to manipulate other people's minds to gain control over that person's emotions and control them. -Information and history are powerful elements to control the future. One can seemingly change the past by changing the literature that tells the tales of the past. -Technology, if used for negative reasons, can become extremely shady and dangerous as it can be used to spy on and control people.