AN INTRODUCTION TO…

NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR KS4 ENGLISH

LITERATURE
DYSTOPIAN FICTION
By George Orwell
 • Eric Arthur Blair was born in India,
1903
• Family moved to England in 1907
• Worked in the police force in Burma for
several years and lived in Paris for two
years before returning to London.
• Was wounded fighting for the
republicans in Spain
• Served in the home guard during
WW2, working for the BBC.
• Regularly contributed political and
literary commentary in several papers.
• Gained fame from Animal Farm (1945)
GEORGE and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949).

ORWELL • Died in London January 1950.

1903
-
1950
CONTEXT OF 1984
Written in 1948, what is the significance of this date?

Huge divide emerging between Communist USSR and

capitalist West. Beginning of the ‘Cold War’.
SETTING
The novel is set in a future British society, years after a nuclear
war has occurred.
Society is split into two groups- Party members and Proles.
Every aspect of a Party member’s life is controlled by the Party-
individual freedom does not exist.
Party members are constantly watched for signs of disagreement
with the party.
 https://www.history.com/topics/russia/great-purge

STALIN’S GREAT PURGES

Read the extract on the link and
answer the following questions:
1. What happened during the political
purges? Give examples

2. How did the purges spread to ordinary

people? Give examples

3. How are the events described here

reflected in the novel?
 Starter: Read the paragraph below
and define the underlined keywords
INTRODUCTION TO NINETEEN-EIGHTY FOUR
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
LO: Understand the historical context in which Nineteen
Eighty-Four was written and received.
CONTEX
For the contemporary audience,
Oceania and its laws was not as alien as
today’s readers may assume. While its
technology was certainly, at this point,
futuristic fiction much of its politics
was reminiscent of 20th Century
Fascism, Nazism and Communism.
The dystopian government of Oceania
in Orwell's novel can be identified as a
totalitarian regime. Amongst other
things, this form of government strives
to regulate every aspect of society. Big
Brother is the symbolic figurehead of a
government, that controls its populace
through various means of propaganda.
These tactics were employed in Hitler’s
Germany as well as Stalin’s USSR.
LO: Understand the historical context in which Nineteen Eighty-Four was written and received.
CONTEX
In Pairs: Find three short but
effective quotes in Part One of the
novel that support the theme of
erasing history.

Lets take a closer look at how Propaganda was used as a How has Orwell’s vision of propaganda exceeded that
form of control in totalitarian states: of Stalin’s regime? Which do you think is worse?
One form of propaganda utilized by totalitarian governments, most
prolifically under Communism, was visual censorship (the
adaption of images); these images would then appear in history
books, pamphlets and newspapers to inform and educate the
population. During his political purges (murders of political
enemies) Joseph Stalin attempted to erase former allies from Soviet Challenge: What emotional/mental effect does alter
history. He took measures which included altering images and history have on the protagonist and as an extension, t
destroying film. The image above, taken by the Moscow reader?
Canal, was taken when Nikolai Yezhov was water commissar. After
he fell from power, he was arrested, shot, and had his image
removed by the censors.
LO: Understand the historical context in which Nineteen Eighty-Four was written and received.

“Everything melted into

mist.” p.38

In Pairs: Find three short

quotes in Part One of the
novel that support the
“…purges and
theme of erasing history.
vaporizations were a
necessary part of the
mechanics of
government.” p.48

Short/Effective Quotes? Why? – This will be a closed-book examination, however quotes are important to provide evidence/
support arguments/illustrate an idea. This term we will work on learning powerful memorable quotes to add to our responses.
LO: Understand the historical context in which Nineteen Eighty-Four was written and received.
Discuss: How has
Orwell’s vision of
propaganda exceeded that
Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been rewritten, every picture has of Stalin’s regime? Which
been repainted, every statue and street and building has been renamed, every date has been do you think is worse?
altered. And that process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped.
Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right. I know, of course,

CLOSE TEXT ANA

that the past is falsified, but it would never be possible for me to prove it, even when I did the
falsification myself. After the thing is done, no evidence ever remains. The only evidence is
inside my own mind, and I don’t know with any certainty that any other human being shares my
memories. Just in that one instance, in my whole life, I did possess actual concrete evidence after
the event—years after it.’
‘And what good was that?’
‘It was no good, because I threw it away a few minutes later. But if the same thing happened
today, I should keep it.’
‘Well, I wouldn’t!’ said Julia. ‘I’m quite ready to take risks, but only for something worth while,
not for bits of old newspaper. What could you have done with it even if you had kept it?’ ‘Not
much, perhaps. But it was evidence. It might have planted a few doubts here and there, supposing
that I’d dared to show it to anybody. I don’t imagine that we can alter anything in our own
lifetime. But one can imagine little knots of resistance springing up here and there—small
groups of people banding themselves together, and gradually growing, and even leaving a few
records behind, so that the next generations can carry on where we leave off.’

Part 2, Chapter 5 p.162

 LO: Understand the historical context in which Nineteen Eighty-Four was written and received.

CAN YOU REALLY CHANGE CONTE

HISTORY?
Use the A3 sheets of paper to plan your response to the exam
question below:
Winston states: “Do you realize that the past, starting
from yesterday, has been actually abolished?” Do you
agree?
How successful have the Party been in erasing the past?
⮚Fold your paper into 4, each corner represents an
idea/paragraph.
⮚Outline your idea, then in a second colour include key images,
quotes and events from the novel that support it.
⮚In a third colour, include contextual information i.e. historical
influences and/or how the Party have extended or adapted their
techniques.
SLIPPERY SLOPE – A LOGICAL
FALLACY
You said that if we allow A to happen, then Z will eventually happen too,
therefore A should not happen.
The problem with this reasoning is that it avoids engaging with the issue at hand, and
instead shifts attention to extreme hypotheticals. Because no proof is presented to
show that such extreme hypotheticals will in fact occur, this fallacy has the form of
an appeal to emotion fallacy by leveraging fear. In effect the argument at hand is
unfairly tainted by unsubstantiated conjecture.
Example: Colin Closet asserts that if we allow same-sex couples to marry, then the
next thing we know we'll be allowing people to marry their parents, their cars and
even monkeys.
SLIPPERY SLOPE – A LOGICAL
FALLACY
What is a Logical Fallacy, Exactly?
The word "fallacy" comes from the Latin "fallacia" which means "deception, deceit,
trick, artifice," however, a more specific meaning in logic (a logical fallacy) that
dates back to the 1550s means "false syllogism, invalid argumentation."
An Error in Reasoning
One of the earliest academic discussions of logical fallacies comes from the
book Elementary Lessons in Logic : Deductive and Inductive, published by
MacMillian and Co. in 1872 where the modern definition of logical fallacies is used:
"the modes in which, by neglecting the rules of logic, we often fall into erroneous
reasoning." Today, this basic definition is still used, and often abbreviated to just "an
error in reasoning." It is not a factual error.