Copious English

1984:

Part 1

Big poster that seems to always be watching that says “BIG BROTHER IS WHATCHING YOU”

Seems to be lack of colour in everything except the big bro posters

Thought police mentioned, they monitor the population, profile offenders who have unspoken
beliefs that oppose the party.

Telescreen that reads sh in the pig iron factory, receives and transmits, used to watch people among
other devices, introduces us to the totalitarian dystopia.

Dystopian feel emphasized by ministry of truth building towering vast and white over the grimy
landscape of rotting 19th century houses

– ‘their windows patched with cardboard and their roofs with corrugated iron’. – Describes the
grimy landscape

-It was an enormous pyramidal structure of glittering white concrete, soaring up, terrace after
terrace, 300 metres into the air – Describes features of the ministry of truth building, heavily
contrasting the grimy landscape

The idea behind Newspeak is that, as language must become less expressive, the mind is more easily
controlled. Through his creation and explanation of Newspeak, Orwell warns the reader that a
government that creates the language and mandates how it is used can control the minds of its
citizens. Newspeak is the fictional language of Oceania.

When unmonitored by the telescreen in his house, Winston Smith starts writing in an old book as his
diary, the first entry stating ‘April 4th,1984’ he goes on to write about a movie of a fat guy getting
gunned to death in water and a ship being bombed.

Pg14

Two minutes hate- ceremony dedicated to the hate of Emmanuel Goldstein

Emmanuel Goldstein was a high ranked member of the party, almost ranked as highly as big brother
himself until he acted against the party and was condemned to death but escaped and disappeared

He fought for freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of thought.

‘The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but, on
the contrary, that it was impossible to avoid joining in.’ – this quote shows how the party seizes
control of people’s emotions, people are unable to avoid participating in the 2 minute hate due to a
herd mentality that overcomes them, it forces people into submission by undermining
consciousness.

‘an act of self-hypnosis, a deliberate drowning of consciousness by means of rhythmic noise.’ -

Relates to the first point, consciousness is drowned out via herd mentality, loud noises, rhythmic
chants
George Orwell explores the idea of removing consciousness through conformity, when everyone is
performing the same actions during the 2 minute hate, Winston Smith is unable to stop himself from
acting in the likeness of the horde as demonstrated in the above quotes

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