“All history was Quotes - Internal Information

a palimpsest.”
(B1C4) “Who controls
“You will be Contextual Links Major contributing factors to the famine
annihilated in the CONTEXTUAL LINKS: Stalin’s include the forced collectivization of The second plan (1933–37) continued the objectives of the first.

the past as well past...controls Collectivism (Stalin’s First Five Year agriculture as a part of the Soviet first
five-year plan, forced grain
Collectivization led to terrible famines, especially in the Ukraine, that
caused the deaths of millions. The third (1938–42) emphasized the
the future: who Plan) procurement, combined with rapid
production of armaments. The fourth (1946–53) again stressed heavy
as the future. Critical Interpretations Political propaganda (Nazi Germany, industrialisation, a decreasing
industry and military buildup, angering the Western powers. In China, the

You will have controls the Soviet Russia) agricultural workforce, and several bad
first Five-Year Plan (1953–57) stressed rapid industrial development,
with Soviet assistance; it proved highly successful.

never existed.” present droughts.

(B3C2) controls the

'The instrument (the
telescreen, it was called)
could be dimmed, but there
was no way of shutting it off
completely.'
past.” (B1C3) “The lie became the In Orwell’s ‘1984’, the infamous quote ‘War
is Peace’ is extremely significant as it
“The essential act of war is destruction,
not necessarily of human lives, but of ‘The terrible thing that the Party
truth.” (B1C7) conveys the idea that for the inhabitants of
Airstrip One to be subservient, they must be
the products of human labour” - Book 2,
Chapter 9, pg. 220
had done was to persuade you
that mere impulses, mere feelings
aware that war is constant. Furthermore, as “War becomes literally continuous, it were of no account, while at the
the inhabitants have been desensitized, they also ceases to be dangerous” - Book 2, "If thought corrupts
can live with war being ‘at peace’ with it, Chapter 9, pg. 227. This slogan is same time robbing you of all language, language can also
which distracting them and preventing them paramount in creating a constant power over the material world.’ –
from ‘awakening’. atmosphere of fear that is felt throughout p190 – Displays the dystopian theme corrupt thought." - George
“‘Don’t you see that the whole aim of The party enforce the slogan, “War is Oceania, with a looming idea of of government control and Orwell (Politics and the
Surveillance Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought?
In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally Fear
Peace”, through methods of persuasion like
that of Hate Week rallies that encourage
punishment being invoked if they defy the
Party’s ‘truth’. It ensures that civilians don’t
indoctrination. By suppressing a English Language)
impossible, because there will be no words in civilians to adopt the Party’s ideology, which disobey the Party’s strict totalitarian human’s natural behaviour, you are
which to express it.’” can be notably deemed as their ‘truth’. regime. able to control them entirely.
Syme explains the political goals of Newspeak to
Winston. According to Syme, eliminating
traditional words from the English language and
replacing them with Party-approved concepts will
rob English speakers of the ability to express
concepts that counter the Party’s ideology. The
influence of language on people’s ability to think is
The telescreens are not on all the time so that the citizens of
Oceania can stay informed but rather so that Party members can
one of the book’s most enduring themes.
"A human society stripped
monitor people’s behavior. While it seems unlikely that someone is
paying close attention to every single person’s activity at every of the last shreds of “Some of the new developments are
single moment, the possibility always exists, and so everyone must
act according to the Party’s rules. This way, even if no one is community" - Daniel Bell most ingenious. The reduction in
the number of verbs” - Book 2, "Language becomes a
watching the telescreen from the other side, the presence of the
1949 Chapter 6 - p182 - This connotes the
telescreens ensures that no one will act against the Party.
"The primary function of the Punishment 1984 Themes and reduction of the language, 'Newspeak' method of mind control with
media here is to terrorize its
Media Indoctrination in order to prevent Rebellion,
the ultimate goal being the
Manipulation/Censorship and Fatalism Quotations Autonomy and Freedom. By reducing
the language, it reduces individual
destruction of will and
citizens" - Douglas Kellner thought, preventing there to be thought

'The telescreen received and transmitted

simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made,
“The smallest
above the level of a very low whisper, would be
picked up by it; moreover, so long as he
thing could remained within the field of vision which the
give you metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as
well as heard. There was of course no way of
away.” (B1C5) knowing whether you were being watched at
any given moment.'
'BIG BROTHER IS
WATCHING YOU'
"This big brother society is too
well-constructed to break apart
in the face of one mans
resistance" - James
Schellenberg (1999)
"He was a weak creature
born to be victimised" -
John Atkins
'His rebellion is ultimately false
Winston is
"passive and not
self-aware" -
Brandon Johnson
Winston is simply a product of his
environment. He has been given
the tools to act by this totalitarian
state. - Winston has been
desensitised to the world. He could
not even recognise that O'Brien
was his enemy and the space at
Mr Charrington's was a trap
“He was already dead, he reflected. It seemed to
him that it was only now, when he had begun to
be able to formulate his thoughts, that he had
taken the decisive step.”
Shortly after Winston begins keeping a diary of his
subversive thoughts, he begins to think of himself as
“already dead.” In this and other examples, the
reader can see how thoroughly Winston has
internalized the Party’s ideology. To disobey the
Party is to gain a death sentence, or to commit social
suicide, and Winston believes that he has forfeited
his own life by committing thoughtcrime.
‘For seven years I have watched over you
[…] I shall save you, I shall make you
perfect.’ – Book 3, Chapter 2, pg. 280 – They
first interacted 7 years ago, when O’Brien
spoke to Winston ‘We shall meet in the place
where there is no darkness’, connoting to
Winston’s entrapment in Room 101. -
Foreshadowing
‘I told you, that if we ever met again it would be
here’. - Winston was given a completely false
sense of rebellion.
CRITICAL INTERPRETATION -
[...] because it is likely that the
Party gave him the tools and
motivation to act.' - Kristoffer
Rissanen (2014) - 'Nineteen
Eighty-Four and the Ideology of
Hate'
"Winston's rebellion has
been instilled in him, through
years of conditioning by
the Party." - Kristoffer
Rissanen
THEMES - Indoctrination,
Rebellion
“Thoughtcrime
does not entail
death:
thoughtcrime IS
death.” (B1C2)
Vaporisation is a them that remains prevalent
throughout '1984'. Vaporisation is what occurs
as a result of 'thoughtcrime' or being a 'thought
CONTEXTUAL LINKS: More recently, in
North Korea, if people were caught
criminal' or simply just committing any crimes
that go against the ideologies of this
listening to foreign broadcasts they would
face harsh punishments. North Korea is a
totalitarian state. - Once you are vaporised,
your existence is wiped from reality
'modern' and a real example for a highly completely. People who are vaporised become
centralised totalitarian state. - Complete
autonomy and freedom evidently does not
an 'unperson', this happens to Mr Parsons,
Syme, and Comrade Withers. This is also
Winston and Julia's fate, but they must be
exist in North Korea.
indoctrinated within Room 101, so they are
completely subservient to the Party's
'DOWN WITH BIG ideologies before they are vaporised.
BROTHER'
Another key theme of '1984' is Fatalism. -
Fatalism is the idea that all events are
Chapter 8 - 'When once you have
predetermined and therefore inevitable.
Fatalism in '1984' is illustrated through crime.
succumbed to thoughtcrime, it was Once you commit a crime, your fate has been
certain that by a given date you sealed. This can be as minor and as secretive
would be dead' - Winston conveys the to be intrinsic, a crime that is within your head,
idea of fatalism in its bleakest form. only the thought of rebellion is enough to get
you vaporised, these crimes manage to unveil
themselves and manifest themselves within
reality.
‘You do not exist’ – Book 3, Chapter
2, pg. 296 – the Party has the ability to
“In reality there was no escape.” -
make anyone who was once a citizen of Book 2, Chapter 5
Oceania ‘non-existent’, all details of
their existence will be vaporised, and
life will continue normally without them.
“By sharing a small act of
thoughtcrime he had turned the two
'this produced in them no of them into accomplices.” - Book 2,
tendency whatever to rebel Chapter 6, pg.182
against the discipline of the
Party' - Chapter 2 - The children
lacked the ability to rebel as they
“We are the dead.”
were already completely (B2C10)
subservient.
“He had the sensation of stepping into the
dampness of a grave, and it was not much
Rebellion better because he had always known that
the grave was there and waiting for him” -
Book 2, Chapter 6 p184
“The first step has been a secret,
‘But if the objective was not to involuntary thought, the second had
stay alive but to stay human,
been the opening of the diary. He had
what difference did it moved from thoughts to words, and
ultimately make.’ Book 2,
Chapter 7 – p193 – The quote
now from words to actions” - Book 2,
Chapter 6 - pg. 184 - This quote
meaning that, to be truly alive is illustrating how Winston's fatalism has
to have your humanity, the Party manifested and how it will occur and how
could kill you but if that idea did
not affect them, then stripping
this will lead to his vaporisation. - The last
step was something that would happen
them of their humanity and
indoctrinating them first is what
in the Ministry of Love. He had
accepted that the end was contained in
they would do. - Foreshadows
the torturing of Winston in Room
the beginning'. - The reinforcement of the
theme of fatalism. Room 101 is in the
101 by O'Brien. Ministry of Love, foreshadowing his own
torture through the use of fatalism
“‘We do not destroy the heretic because
he resists us. . . . We convert him, we
capture his inner mind, we reshape
‘When once they get hold of us, there will be
nothing, literally nothing, that either of us can
him.’”
Inside the Ministry of Love, O’Brien
do for the other.’ – p192 – Fatalist mindset at
they’re aware that they will be vaporised. It is just
explains to Winston that the ultimate goal
of the Party’s punishments is to regain
a matter of when.
control over thought-criminals by changing
their psychology and manipulating them
‘Facts, at any rate, could not be kept hidden….
they could be squeezed out of you by torture’.
into giving up their resistance. This speech – p192 - Book 2, Chapter 7
emphasizes how thoroughly the Party
wants to gain control over people’s
thoughts and signals to Winston that
O’Brien won’t be satisfied with false
confessions.
“Pain is not always enough.
There are occasions when a
human being will stand out
against pain, even to the point of
“In this room, I’m going to be a death. But for everyone there is
woman, not a party comrade.” something unendurable.” (B3C5)
(B2C4)
“The proles are
human
beings...we are
not human.”
(B2C7)
Indoctrination within 1984 causes there to be a
lack of autonomy throughout Airstrip One. This
is when in Chapter 7, Winston states that 'If
there is hope, it lies in the proles'. The proles
are the working class of Oceania. The word
prole is a shortened variant of proletarian,
which is a Marxist term for a working-class
citizen. The proles were only allowed to read ,
listen to certain music, and watch certain
movies, they even had access to pornography,
so it is evident they weren't controlled like the
Inner and Outer members of the Party; they still
had their thoughts and feelings intact,
essentially they were free, but needed to
awaken from their dormant state.
“The aim of the High is to remain where
they are. The aim of the middle is to
change places with the high. The aim of
the low, when they have an aim […] is to
abolish distinctions and create a society
in which all men will be equal.” – Book 2,
Chapter 9, pg. 231
“Who wields power is not
important, provided that the
hierarchical structure remains
always the same.” - Book 2, Chapter
9 P240
“Inequality was the price
of civilisation.” - Book 2,
Chapter 9 pg.233
“they are deliberate exercises in
doublethink. For it is only by
reconciling contradictions that power
can be retained indefinitely.” - Book 2,
Chapter 9, pg. 246
forced labour camps made in soviet Russia by Stalin.
‘He was the tormentor, he
was the protector, he was
the inquisitor, he was the
friend’ Book 3, Chapter 2 –
pg280 – Though Winston has
been betrayed and has been
tortured brutally, because
O’Brien has the drug which
eases his pain, he still
befriends him to an extent.
reprisals that mass arrests were no longer necessary.
‘it was perfectly possible that she had
merely been sent to a forced labour
camp’. – Book 2, Chapter 7, pg. 189 –
Winston talks about his mother. - This
quote has links to Hitler’s reign and Nazi
Germany, where there were concentration
camps for those who opposed Hitler and
those who were not Aryan.
CONTEXT: Nazi Germany – Throughout
Hitler's tyrannical reign, he enforced
concentration camps for people . The Nazis
indoctrinated children via schools and
education, teaching them that ordinary
people, more specifically the enemies of the
Nazis and Jewish people were evil. The
Party’s suppression of Emmanuel Goldstein
also reflects the suppression of Jews and
other ethnics in Nazi Germany.
Book 1 Chapter 2 - We are introduced to
Mrs Parsons and her children. Within this
dystopian reality, 'nearly all children were
horrible', as were the Parsons' children.
They had 'toy automatic pistols', a way of
conditioning and indoctrinating children to
use weapons in order to desensitise them.
Their 'ferocity was turned outwards
towards the state'. They were 'Spies', a
part of the Youth League who were
'systematically turned into ungovernable
little savages'. - The children were already
desensitised at their young age; they
'want[ed] to see the hanging!'
"The large mass of common
people does not find in
themselves the need to think
independently" - Bossche
CONTEXT:The Hitler Youth - (4 July
1926 - 10 October 1945)
Was represented by the Parsons'
children. The Hitler Youth consisted of
7.7 million members, and enrolment was
mandatory.
It comprised of the complete
indoctrination of children to follow their
ideologies.
CONTEXTUAL LINKS - The Gulag – A system of
- Operated from the 1920s until shortly after Stalin's
death in 1953.
During the ensuing Great Terror, which included the
notorious show trials of Stalin's former Bolshevik
opponents in 1936-1938 and reached its peak in
1937 and 1938, millions of innocent Soviet citizens
were sent off to labour camps or killed in prison. By
the time the terror subsided in 1939, Stalin had
managed to bring both the party and the public to a
state of complete submission to his rule. Soviet
society was so atomized and the people so fearful of
‘he would shout and storm at her’ –
Book 2, Chapter 7, pg. 187 – This was
what Winston was like as a youth, which
links to ‘the Spies’ and the Parsons’
children who were ‘savages’, despite being
of a different generation.
MODERN DAY CHINA -
Approximately 3 million Uyghurs and
other Muslims, including ethnic
Kazakhs and Uzbeks, have been
detained since April 2017, according
to experts and government officials.
The re-education camps are places of
brainwashing, torture and punishment
that hark back to the darkest hours of
the Mao-era, when anyone suspected
of not being loyal enough to the state
or the Chinese Communist Party
could end up in China's notorious
labour camps.
“The Party was
trying to kill the sex
instinct, or, if it
could not be killed,
then to distort it and
dirty it.”
"Children are essentially
used to break up the
family unit" - Kika
"Winston and Julia come
through as rudimentary
human beings because
they are slowly learning
what it means to be
human" - Irving Howe
was an organization for young people aged 14
spreading Communist teachings and preparing
government was a threat to his leadership
"There are many parallels
between Big Brother and Stalin" -
Lynch
The Chinese regime has once again
normalized and glorified slavery in
the modern age, claims Rushan
Abbas, Founder and Executive
Director of Campaign for Uyghurs.
“…more than three million Uyghurs
are detained in concentration camps
because of their ethnic identity.
criminals, preventing anyone from imagination" - Jem Berkes
thinking about rebellion and their own
CRITICAL INTERPRETATION -
freedom.
"The Party isolates every
individual, destroying all social
bonds" - Kristoffer Rissanen
CRITICAL INTERPRETATION: 'it is
clear that the decline of a language must
ultimately have political and economic
causes' - Orwell, (1946 Politics and the
English Language) - “this is a guess
In '1984', the Junior Anti-Sex League is a Party organisation
which is dedicated to working for and replacing sex with artificial which I have not sufficient knowledge
insemination. - The Junior Anti-Sex League promotes celibacy to verify – that the German, Russian
for both females and males.
and Italian languages have all
This was a way of indoctrinating children into believing that sex
and sexual relationships were wrong. - A direct result of this
prevents freedom and autonomy, which is good for the Party as
deteriorated in the last ten or fifteen
it prevents rebellion. years, as a result of dictatorship.'
“Sexual intercourse
was to be looked on as
a slightly disgusting “The new tune which was to be the
“The Youth League who surrounded minor operation, like theme-song of Hate Week (the hate
the courts from morning to night, having an enema. This song it was called) had already been
chanting at intervals ‘Death to the again was never put composed and was being endlessly
traitors!'” - Book 2, Chapter 5 into plain words, but in plugged on the telescreen.” - Book 2,
an indirect way it was
rubbed into every
Chapter 5
Party member from
childhood onwards.” The Auschwitz sign that says “arbeit macht freit”
CONTEXT: Military parades linking to the meaning ‘work makes you free’ has connotations to
Thinking back to his Nuremburg Rallies. the Party’s slogan of “freedom is slavery” (HITLER)
wife, Katharine, Winston
reflects on the social
Goebbels was in charge of arranging and - Mention the height of propaganda now in the
CONTEXT: The Komsomols - (29 October programming that displaying propaganda around Nazi Pandemic through the use of scaremongering
1918 - 28 September 1991). The Komsomols teaches Party members Germany e.g Posters. Patriotic music used tactics through the NHS adverts in order to keep
that sex is disgusting
by Soviets and Nazi Party in order to incite people home etc - even the slogan “Stay home,
to 28 that was primarily a political organ for and only to be used for
support for their regimes Save Lives…” could link to the Party slogan.
procreation. Examples
(Modern Day)
he gives are arranged
future members of the Communist Party. the
encouragement of these children occurred
marriages between Party
members and the
through persuasion. If they joined the group
then they were automatically admitted into
existence of
organizations like the
university, therefore there was tremendous
amounts of pressure.
Junior Anti-Sex League.
Later, Julia will explain to
Winston that the Party
uses people’s
suppressed sexual
energy to fuel its
marches and rallies and
to keep people in line.
CONTEXT: In 1984, the idea of torture In the former Soviet Union millions
and punishment methods create direct of men, women and children fell
inferences to Stalin and the savage
victims to the cruel actions and
murder/ assassination of his party
policies of the totalitarian regime.
members. – Upon Stalin’s rise to power,
some members of the former Bolshevik The Great Famine of 1932–1933
party began to question his authority. By
the mid-1930s, Stalin believed anyone
in Ukraine (Holodomor), took from
with ties to the Bolsheviks or Lenin’s 7 million to 10 million innocent
lives and became a national
and needed to go. – The Great Purge.
tragedy for the Ukrainian people.

“The thing that is in

“We are enemies of the Room 101 is the
Party. We disbelieve in worst thing in the
the principles of world.” (B3C5)
Ingsoc. We are
thought-criminals. We
are also adulterers.”
(B2C8)