1984 Unit Plan

Sam Fairbloom – Blyth 2016

Course: Grade 10 English

Course Code: ENG2D

Rationale
If you are familiar in anyway with the guilty pleasure reality show Big Brother, then you

definitely are prepared to read about George Orwell’s dystopian classic, 1984. In the TV show Big

Brother contestants are monitored around the clock while living together in one house – a house

they cannot leave. It is definitely not the same as 1984, but it provides you with the idea of “Big

Brother”: the eyes that are always watching. Considering the fact that the novel was written in 1949

and is still referenced in popular culture; this demonstrates how influential Orwell’s novel

continue to be.

The story takes place in 1984, which was 35 years into the future when Orwell published the

novel. The protagonist, Winston Smith is an average guy who works for the Ministry of Truth

editing old newspaper articles to revise details of the past. The world he lives in is in constant war

and government surveillance (Big Brother) is the norm; there are telescreens in all the homes and

around the city watching every move.

We are about to embark on a journey with Winston. We will follow him as he fights the

totalitarian force of the Party and Big Brother. To explore the novel in depth, we will draw

comparisons between Orwell’s 1984 and our reality. How have concerns about privacy and

freedom that were expressed in the novel developed in our society? What role does the

government play in private and public lives? The novel raises questions associated to organized

society in any time and place, and asks the reader to think about the corrupting influence of power

throughout time. The novel provides the modern day reader with a cautionary tale about the

presence of technology, power and the shifting nature of the truth.

Essential Questions for Study:

1. What is free thought? Is free thought different from free speech?
 2. What are equal rights? Do we all have to be the same in order to be equal?
3. How can we ensure equal rights while protecting the individual?
4. What role does an individual have in society? How much of a difference can one
1. person make?
5. What do we think an “ideal” society would be? What kind of future society are
2. we creating through our actions, policies and ideologies of today?
6. How is propaganda used in society throughout history? In current events?

Overall Expectations
Oral 1. Listening to Understand: listen in order to understand and respond appropriately in a
Communication variety of situations for a variety of purposes;

2. Speaking to Communicate: use speaking skills and strategies appropriately to

communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes;

3. Reflecting on Skills and Strategies: reflect on and identify their strengths as listeners and
speakers, areas for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful in oral
communication situations.

Reading and 1. Reading for Meaning: read and demonstrate an understanding of a variety of literary,
Literature informational, and graphic texts, using a range of strategies to construct meaning;

2. Understanding Form and Style: recognize a variety of text forms, text features, and
stylistic elements and demonstrate understanding of how they help communicate meaning;

3. Reading With Fluency: use knowledge of words and cueing systems to read fluently;

4. Reflecting on Skills and Strategies: reflect on and identify their strengths as readers,
areas for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful before, during, and after
reading.

Writing 1. Developing and Organizing Content: generate, gather, and organize ideas and
Comprehension information to write for an intended purpose and audience;

2. Using Knowledge of Form and Style: draft and revise their writing, using a variety of
literary, informational, and graphic forms and stylistic elements appropriate for the purpose
and audience;

3. Applying Knowledge of Conventions: use editing, proofreading, and publishing skills

and strategies, and knowledge of language conventions, to correct errors, refine expression,
and present their work effectively;

4. Reflecting on Skills and Strategies: reflect on and identify their strengths as writers,
areas for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful at different stages in the
writing process.

Media Studies 3. Creating Media Texts: create a variety of media texts for different purposes and
 audiences, using appropriate forms, conventions, and techniques.

Assessment Tasks
 Discussions  Essay
 Reflections  Creative Writing Activities
 Observations  Analysis Presentation
 Chapter Questions  Final Exam
 Book Test(s)
Resources
o Enotes; Penguin; SparkNotes; Shmoop
o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hBeMuRkHT0
o http://www.newspeakdictionary.com/ns-dict.html
o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4rBDUJTnNU
o http://mashable.com/2010/10/20/parents-teens-facebook-monitoring/#BwWgTw4N_Pqg
o http://teachersnetwork.org/teachnet-lab/fklane/pmaslow/1984/singh.htm
o http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/03/opinion/beale-1984-now/
o http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/12/george-orwell-s-letter-on-why-he-wrote-1984.html
o Rossi, John P. “The Enduring Relevance of George Orwell.” Contemporary Review. September 2003, Vol. 283
Issue 1652, p172, 5p.
o http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson829/Argument-Propaganda.pdf
o http://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/faq.htm
o Customer, By A. "Amazon.com: The Crisis of German Ideology : Intellectual Origins of the Third Reich
(9780865274266): George L. Mosse: Books." Web. 12 Dec. 2010. <http://www.amazon.com/Crisis-German-
Ideology-Intellectual-Origins/dp/0865274266>.
o Von, Maltitz Horst. The Evolution of Hitler's Germany; the Ideology, the Personality, the Moment. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1973. Print.

Tentative Schedule
Tuesday, May 17:  Introduction to 1984. The teacher will walk the student through the unit
package and important Before Reading activities and information.
 Student will complete a reflection about her thoughts, feelings, concerns and
questions for the unit.

Wednesday, May 18:  Propaganda, Hitler & 1984

 Book One Chapters 1 – 3

Thursday, May 19:  Book One Chapters 4 – 6

 Book One Questions

Friday, May 20:  Book Two Chapters 1 – 4

Tuesday, May 24:  Book Two Chapters 5 – 8

 Student will work on Seminar on Book Two Chapters 9 – 10. She will teach the
teacher the material.

Wednesday, May 25:  Book Two Chapters 9 – 10 Student Seminar

 Book One & Two Review Period

Thursday, May 26:  Book One and Two Test

  Diary Assignment: The student will write diary entries for selected characters.

Friday, May 27:  Book Three Chapters 1 – 3

 Discuss and begin planning for the essay.

Monday, May 30:  Book Three Chapters 4 – 6

 Test Review

Tuesday, May 31:  Book Three Test

 Essay Work Period

Wednesday, June 1:  Essay Work Period

Who is George Orwell?

“Orwell feared that the future would be controlled by an all-powerful

totalitarian states in a perpetual state of war. This terror was the genesis of
Nineteen Eighty-Four, a novel that projected the ghastly post-war age of austerity
into the near future” (Rossi, 175).

Born Eric Blair in India in 1903, George Orwell was educated as a scholarship student
at prestigious boarding schools in England. Because of his background—he famously
described his family as “lower-upper-middle class”—he never quite fit in, and felt
oppressed and outraged by the dictatorial control that the schools he attended exercised
over their students’ lives. After graduating from Eton, Orwell decided to forego college in
order to work as a British Imperial Policeman in Burma. He hated his duties in Burma,
where he was required to enforce the strict laws of a political regime he despised. His failing
health, which troubled him throughout his life, caused him to return to England on
convalescent leave. Once back in England, he quit the Imperial Police and dedicated himself
to becoming a writer.
Inspired by Jack London’s 1903 book The People of the Abyss,  which detailed London’s
experience in the slums of London, Orwell bought ragged clothes from a second-hand store
and went to live among the very poor in London. After re-emerging, he published a book
about this experience, entitled Down and Out in Paris and London. He later lived among
destitute coal miners in northern England, an experience that caused him to give up on
capitalism in favour of democratic socialism. In 1936, he traveled to Spain to report on the
Spanish Civil War, where he witnessed firsthand the nightmarish atrocities committed by
fascist political regimes. The rise to power of dictators such as Adolf Hitler in Germany and
Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union inspired Orwell’s mounting hatred of totalitarianism and
political authority. Orwell devoted his energy to writing novels that were politically
charged, first with Animal Farm in 1945, then with1984 in 1949.
1984 is one of Orwell’s best-crafted novels, and it remains one of the most powerful
warnings ever issued against the dangers of a totalitarian society. In Spain, Germany, and
the Soviet Union, Orwell had witnessed the danger of absolute political authority in an age
of advanced technology. He illustrated that peril harshly in 1984.  Like Aldous
Huxley’s Brave New World  (1932), 1984 is one of the most famous novels of the negative
utopian, or dystopian, genre. Unlike a utopian novel, in which the writer aims to portray the
perfect human society, a novel of negative utopia does the exact opposite: it shows the worst
human society imaginable, in an effort to convince readers to avoid any path that might lead
toward such societal degradation. In 1949, at the dawn of the nuclear age and before the
television had become a fixture in the family home; Orwell’s vision of a post-atomic
dictatorship in which every individual would be monitored ceaselessly by means of the
telescreen seemed terrifyingly possible. That Orwell postulated such a society a mere thirty-
five years into the future compounded this fear.
Of course, the world that Orwell envisioned in 1984 did not materialize. Rather than
being overwhelmed by totalitarianism, democracy ultimately won out in the Cold War, as
seen in the fall of the Berlin Wall and the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early
1990s. Yet 1984 remains an important novel, in part for the alarm it sounds against the
abusive nature of authoritarian governments, but even more so for its penetrating analysis
of the psychology of power and the ways that manipulations of language and history can be
used as mechanisms of control.

BRAINSTORMING ACTIVITY: Are people equal?

Create a web of the ideas that come to mind when thinking about this question.
 Do you AGREE or DISAGREE?

AGREE OR DISAGREE? Why?

In an ideal society, everyone is
equal. 

A good citizen is patriotic, loyal and

never questions the government’s
authority.

The government knows what is best

for us. 

Rules exist to help us live our lives

properly.

The police should be allowed to do

whatever they can to protect the
community.

It is impossible to change history.

You cannot change the past.
The government should use
technological advances (i.e. spying
methods, surveillance technology
and communications) in order to
ensure stability, peace and order
throughout the country.

It is impossible to have a stable

society without an upper, middle
and lower class. A society without
these class levels cannot exist.

It is acceptable to use torture to

punish criminals.

Satire
• An ironic, sarcastic, or witty composition that claims to argue for something, but actually argues
against it.
• First laugh, then think.
• Seeks to correct vices and follies, and improve a person or practice.

Satire is a genre that sets out to improve bad behavior through sarcasm and irony. A satirist
humorously depicts a current state of affairs, and hopes that by doing so, he might improve it. It's
all about making fun of vices, foolishness, and shortcomings, so that the subject can improve. Satire
can be found in novels, plays, short stories, and well, almost anywhere, even The Simpsons.

Satire started way back in the classical period. Horatian satire, for example, is derived from the
ancient poet Horace and is known for using gentle, self-deprecating humor to make fun of general
foolishness. Then there's Juvenalian satire, named after the Roman Juvenal, which is a lot harsher,
and a lot less funny. Well it's still funny, but you might cringe while chuckling.

In English literature, satire experienced a bit of a revival during the 18th century, when folks like
Alexander Pope and, even more famously, Jonathan Swift, poked fun of society for all kinds of
weaknesses. One of the most famous satires of all time is Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal,
which suggests that Irish folks raise themselves out of poverty by selling their children as food for
rich folks. He was kidding. We hope. (That, by the way, is an example of Juvenalian satire.)
Satirical Devices

• Hyperbole: something that does happen, but is exaggerated to absurd lengths so that the
ridiculous and its faults can be seen.
• Incongruity: something that seems like it would never happen, but could. To present things that
are out of place or are absurd in their surroundings.
• Irony: conveying the opposite of what is expected (i.e. the order of events, hierarchical order).
• Deadpan: is a form of non-comedic delivery in which humor is presented without a change in
emotion or facial expression, usually speaking in a monotone manner.
• Euphemism: the substitution of an inoffensive term for one that is offensive. For example,
replacing “die” with “pass away”.
• Verbal Humor: play on words using puns, innuendo/double entendres, extended/running gags,
shaggy-dog stories (a long rambling story filled with irrelevant detail and repeated phrases,
which has an absurd anti-climactic punch line. It leads its listeners on in the expectation there
will be an ending to make sense of all they’ve heard. Often there isn’t or there will be a really
weak pun. It’s pointless is the joke!), or a statement of the obvious.

What is “Utopia”?

What is it?

Properties: What do you think of when you think of utopia?

Comparison: What is the difference between a utopian society and democracy?

What are some examples from other novels or movies?

 Totalitarian Society
1984 is a political novel written with the purpose of warning readers in the West of
the dangers of totalitarian government. Having witnessed firsthand the horrific lengths to
which totalitarian governments in Spain and Russia would go in order to sustain and
increase their power, Orwell designed 1984 to sound the alarm in Western nations still
unsure about how to approach the rise of communism. In 1949, the Cold War had not yet
escalated, many American intellectuals supported communism, and the state of diplomacy
between democratic and communist nations was highly ambiguous. In the American press,
the Soviet Union was often portrayed as a great moral experiment. Orwell, however, was
deeply disturbed by the widespread cruelties and oppressions he observed in communist
countries, and seems to have been particularly concerned by the role of technology in
enabling oppressive governments to monitor and control their citizens.

In 1984,  Orwell portrays the perfect totalitarian society, the most extreme realization
imaginable of a modern-day government with absolute power. The title of the novel was
meant to indicate to its readers in 1949 that the story represented a real possibility for the
 near future: if totalitarianism were not opposed, the title suggested, some variation of the
world described in the novel could become a reality in only thirty-five years. Orwell
portrays a state in which government monitors and controls every aspect of human life to
the extent that even having a disloyal thought is against the law. As the novel progresses,
the timidly rebellious Winston Smith sets out to challenge the limits of the Party’s power,
only to discover that its ability to control and enslave its subjects dwarfs even his most
paranoid conceptions of its reach. As the reader comes to understand through Winston’s
eyes, The Party uses a number of techniques to control its citizens, each of which is an
important theme of its own in the novel. 

Democracy:

 Government by the people

 Supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected
agents under a free electoral system

Capitalism:

 Economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production,

distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals
or corporations

Communism:

 A theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common,
actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state
 Controlled by a totalitarian state

Socialism:

 Theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and
control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc. in the community
as a whole
 Collectivist principles

Fascism:

 Government system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing

opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an
aggressive nationalism and often racism.

Dictatorship

 A country, government, or form of government in which absolute power is exercised by a

dictator
 Dystopian Society
Utopia: A place, state, or condition that is ideally perfect in respect of politics, laws, customs, and
conditions.

Dystopia: A futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and illusion of a
perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian
control. Dystopias, through an exaggerated worst-case scenario, make a criticism about a current
trend, societal norm, or political system.

Characteristics of Dystopian Society:

 Propaganda is used to control the citizens of society.

 Information, independent thought, and freedom are restricted.
 A figurehead or concept is worshipped by the citizens of the society.
 Citizens are perceived to be under constant surveillance.
 Citizens have a fear of the outside world.
 Citizens live in a dehumanized state.
 The natural world is banished and distrusted.
 Citizens conform to uniform expectations. Individuality and dissent are bad.
 The society is an illusion of a perfect utopian world.

The Dystopian Protagonist:

 Often feels trapped and is struggling to escape

 Questions the existing social and political systems
 Believes or feels that something is terribly wrong with the society in which he or she lives.
 Helps the audience recognize the negative aspects of the dystopian world through his or her
perspective

What are some examples?

Important Characters

Winston Smith
 Protagonist
 Minor member of the ruling Party
 Works at the Ministry of Truth
 Thin, frail, contemplative, intellectual, and fatalistic 39-year-old
 Hates the totalitarian control and has revolutionary dreams

Julia
 Winston’s love interest
 Works in the Fiction Department at the Ministry of Truth
 Beautiful dark-haired woman
  Optimistic and practical
 Privately rebels against the Party for her own enjoyment

O’Brien
 Mysterious, powerful and sophisticated member of the Inner Party
 Winston believes he is part of the Brotherhood (Anti-Party Rebels)

Big Brother
 Figurative character, i.e. never actually appears in the novel and may not actually exist
 Ruler of Oceania
 Big Brother propaganda: “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU!”

Mr. Charrington
 An old man who runs a second-hand store in the Prole district

Syme
 Works with Winston at the Ministry of Truth
 Specializes in languages and works on the new edition of the Newspeak dictionary

Parsons
 Works at the Ministry of Truth and lives next to Winston
 Children are members of the Junior Spies

Emmanuel Goldstein
 Described by the Party as the most dangerous and treacherous man in Oceania
 Traitor and leader of the Brotherhood
 Never appears in the novel, but is spoken about

The World in (George Orwell’s) 1984

The world is ruled by three totalitarian super-states that divided the world after a global war.

1. Oceania: covers the entire continents of Western Hemisphere, Australasia, Southern Africa
and the British Isles, the main location for the novel, in which they are referred to as
‘Airstrip One’.
 Ideology = Ingsoc (English Socialism)
 Newspeak is the official language
2. Eurasia: covers Europe and – more or less – the entire Soviet Union (Russia and Siberia)
 Neo-Bolshevism
 3. Eastasia: covers Japan, Korea, China and northern India
 Obliteration of the Self (Death worship)

These three states all share very similar ideologies, yet are in an everlasting state of warfare. The
wars take places in the disputed territories, which run from North Africa over the Middle East and
Southern India to Southeast Asia.

The plot mostly takes place in London, the capital city of Airstrip One – the province that was once
called England or Britain. Throughout the city are posters of the Party leader, Big Brother, with the
caption “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” on them. There are omnipresent telescreen
(transceiving television sets) that monitor the private and public lives of the population.

Class hierarchy in Oceania has three levels:

1. Upper-class Inner Party – the elite ruling minority (2% of the population)
2. Middle-class Outer Party (13% of the population)
3. Lower-class Proles (Proletariat) – represent the uneducated working class (85% of the
population)

The government – the Party – controls the population with four ministries:

1. Ministry of Peace deals with war and defence

2. Ministry of Plenty deals with economic affairs (rationing, starvation)
3. Ministry of Love deals with law and order (torture, brainwashing)
4. Ministry of Truth deals with news, entertainment, education and art (propaganda)

Winston Smith is a member of the Outer Party and works in the Records Department of the
Ministry of Truth as an editor. He revises historical records in order to make the past conform to
the ever-changing party line and deleting references to “unpersons” – people who have
disappeared (killed by the state and denied existence in history and memory).
 Isolation and
Relationships

Technology Control

Themes
Focus on
Truth Conformity
These
Topics

History and
Power
Memory

Freedom
 Language

War
Doublethink

Motif: A recurring
pattern or a repeated
action, element, or Class
idea in the novel System: The
Sexuality
Party and
The Proles

Song Privacy
 Big Brother
Red Sash
Telescreens

St. Clement's
Paperweight
Church

Symbol: Concrete object

or place that has
significance in a literary
work because it
communicates an idea.

Dreams Diary

Forbidden Newspeak
Food Dictionary

Prole
Woman
Reflection

Read Orwell’s letter: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/12/george-

orwell-s-letter-on-why-he-wrote-1984.html and write about any questions, thought
and/or concerns you have for the novel. What are you excited to learn about? What
are you unsure about? What do you predict is going to happen?