Zoe Berg

AP Lit-6
1984 Signature Work Portfolio

1. Free Response

In the novel 1984, George Orwell tells of a future plagued by an oppressive and controlling “Big
Brother” political party whose use of cruelty serves as their means of controlling the citizens,
torturing political dissenters to brainwash them, and to turn its own citizens against each other
through the elimination of all emotional ties and beliefs. The Party believes that “who controls
the past controls the future, who controls the present controls the past” revealing that war and
genocide is simply the way of life in the year 1984, leaving the victim helpless against the
injustices unless, the readers of the novel can do something to prevent such a future from ever
happening. Commented [1]: Excellent understanding of prompt
and how the novel answers it.
2. Biographical Criticism
1984 was written by George Orwell, whose life and sentiments greatly shaped his vision
for the book. The first example of this comes from one of the first jobs he had, which was as a
Assistant district superintendent for Indian Imperial police in Burma in 1922. During this time, he
became increasingly unhappy with how the British ruled the Burmese against their will. This
dislike for the treatment of the subjects of a powerful ruler is notable throughout the entire book,
as Big Brother mistreats the people of Oceania. This unhappiness of the people to the party in
power ends up being the backbone to the entire book. Later in his life, in 1936, Orwell went to
Spain to fight Franco’s nationalists. He later had to flee from soviet communists, which fueled
his anti-stalinist sentiments. This hatred for Stalin and communism is most apparent through his
book, Animal Farm, but also impacts 1984 as well. In 1984, “Collectively, the Party owns
everything in Oceania, because it controls everything and disposes of the products as it thinks
fit.” (p206) thus, they adopted a process of communism that Orwell then proceeded to attack
through the character of Winston. Orwell also wrote propaganda for BBC between 1941 and
1943, a characteristic that seeps into the pages of 1984 in the first few pages where it describes
the setting as having “seemed to be no color in anything except the posters that were plastered
everywhere.” (p2) Showing how his experiences as a propagandist helped him set up the
brainwashed society of Oceania. After leaving BBC, he became the literary editor for the
Tribune, writing patriotic sentiment in 1943. This happens to be very similar to the job that the
main character Winston has at the Ministry of Truth where he “reconstructed the past” (p43) and
supplied the people of Oceania with all kinds of informational content. Just like Winston,
Orwell’s writing involved changing the way that people perceived the news to support a
particular political party. Lastly, he wrote 1984 while suffering from tuberculosis, which he died
from in 1950. This little detail is also apparent in the character Winston, who often suffered from
coughing fits from his mandated exercises, the same coughing that Orwell was probably
simultaneously dealing with.

Works Cited
“History - Historic Figures: George Orwell (1903 - 1950).” BBC, BBC,
www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/orwell_george.shtml.
Woodcock, George. “George Orwell.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica,
Inc., 21 June 2018, www.britannica.com/biography/George-Orwell. Commented [2]: Good that you have another source
since encyclopedias are for general reference and not
scholarly research. Good information about the author,
and excellent information and sources about the
historical context.
3. Historical Criticism
Although the book 1984 was set in the future, many of the events that occurred around
1949, when the book was written, influence the content of the book. On August 6th and August
9th 1945, the US dropped the atomic bombs on Japan. This atomic technology is still prevalent
in the book, and even used more frequently. In a “history” book developed by the rebel group of
Oceania, it cites the use of atomic bombs, saying, “Although the Party, according to its habit,
claims the invention for itself, atomic bombs first appeared as early as the Nineteen-forties, and
were first used on a large scale about ten years later.” (p194) Later, in 1948, Truman developed
his loyalty program to catch communist spies, where Truman carried out investigations and
screenings to look for communist spies inside the US government. The same spy and
investigation tactics are notable in 1984. In the book, “thoughtcrime” or committing crimes of
thought against the Party, can cause raids where “Arrests invariably happened at night.” (p19)
Also, “it was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children.” (p24) as
children were common spies, and were not afraid to turn in their own parents. Lastly, 1949 was
the birth of Mao Zedong People’s Republic of China, the very location that is believed to be the
land where the book 1984 has come true. The deadly tactics of Mao’s oppressive government,
such as the fear of overeducated people, attacking the political opponents, and the believe that
the government is doing what is “good” through their use of force are all used in the book, as
they do the exact same things.

Works Cited
Alchin, Linda. “Cold War Timeline.” Tutankhamun Timeline, Mar. 2018,
www.datesandevents.org/events-timelines/03-cold-war-timeline.htm.
“Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum.” Truman Library: "The Decision for
Peace", Excerpt from Report of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey , Ca.
June 1946. Elsey Papers, Harry S. Truman Administration. Japan, Surrender of,
August, 1945., www.trumanlibrary.org/dbq/loyaltyprogram.php.
 4. Formalist Criticism

The book 1984 follows a chronological order, beginning with one point in Winston’s life and ending with
another. In it, Orwell uses various structural techniques such as antimetables, parallel structure, and Commented [3]: Wow, I had to look this one up. :-)
Presentation overall: 100/100
repetition of metaphors and common ideas in order to highlight the oppressive society that they live in,
and their lack of freedom and free thought. The use of antimetables is common because it reinforces the
idea of “doublethink”, a concept which means thinking one thing and believing another that may be better
for society or government ideals. This device is used repetitively, with the most common being the slogan
of Oceania: “war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength.” as the Party, not only could
persecute you for your thoughts, but also influenced them in whatever way they wanted. Next, Orwell
uses parallel structure to emphasise repetition of certain acts and highlight the fact that there is nothing
that is not standardized in Oceania. This can be seen on page 255, with the repetition of “we _ him” when
O’Brien was explaining how they deal with political opponents. By repeating the same thing with different
verbs it makes it seem like a long necessary process, and also makes it feel like it has been done many
times before, like a standard procedure. Lastly, Orwell uses repetition of various devices, especially
metaphors, throughout the book. This has a similar effect to the parallel structure, but also helps
emphasize the way that the Party wants its citizens to see the world, brainwashing them along the way.
An example of this is the continued use of a metaphor to compare the people who go against the Party to
dirty laundry saying, “you are a stain that must be wiped out…. Everyone was washed clean.” This
particular metaphors repetition helps make the concepts that O’Brien is saying sound more believable
and convincing, and also helps to justify his actions.

1984 by George Orwell is loaded with a great deal of stylistic elements. These elements can be hard to
notice at first, as the book seems very to-the-point and dreary, but they nevertheless help to enhance the
tone of the book and draw the reader into the scenes. The first example of style is the subtle use of irony
when O’Brien is explaining what happened to 3 political opponents, saying, “And love of Big Brother. It
was touching to see how they loved him.” (p255) This is ironic, as the Party is trying to eliminate emotions
and the feeling of love between people, but at the same time are creating love for Big Brother. By
including this irony, Orwell is able to highlight a flaw in the government, while also revealing their ultimate
goal. Another common stylistic technique in 1984 was the use of historical allusions and references.
Since the book was supposed to be a glimpse into the future, the use of history was essential to adding
realism and making it feel like every prediction really could come true. An example is when he said:
“Even the victim of the Russian purges could carry rebellion locked up in his skull as he walked down the
passage waiting for the bullet.” A reference that directly linked the situation of the book with another from
the past. Lastly, the world of 1984 was built up through the use of imagery, both to describe the scenery
and the experiences of daily life. An example of imagery going beyond describing where it was located is,
“They were only the shells of men.” This creates a mental image in the reader’s head of what the
brainwashed people were like, and how they had been hollowed out through extreme torture. By doing
this, Orwell is able to convey a much stronger message, thus warning the readers of the future to come in
a much more effective way.
5. Archetypal Criticism
 “Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in
order to safeguard a revolution; one makes a revolution in order to establish
the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of
torture is torture. The object of power is power.” p263