1984 – George Orwell
Storyline
Characters
Key Themes
Key Quotes
Critics
Context
Interpretations
Storyline
Published 1949 (written 1948)
Characters
Winston Social Roles
Julia Outer party
O’Brien Inner Party
Big Brother Proles
The Watchers
Key Themes
Power + control
Identity + individuality
Technology
Love + sex
Key Quotes
Power + control
“Full of power and mysterious calm” – about Big Brother
“In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable
that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it.”
“2+2=5”
Identity + individuality
“Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimetres inside your skull”
“In spite of his formidable appearance he had a certain charm of manner.” – about O’Brien, foreshadowing
Technology
“He thought of the telescreen with its never-sleeping ear”
Love + sex
“If they could make me stop loving you - that would be the real betrayal”
“Sexual intercourse was to be looked on as a slightly disgusting minor operation, like having an enema.”
“I love you” – Julia
Juxtaposition
“It was a bright cold day in April.”
“The clocks were striking thirteen.”
Rebellion
“Until they become conscious, they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled, they cannot become
conscious.”
- Winston about the proles
Critics
Jem Berkes – “language becomes a mind control tool.”
Beatrix Campbell – believed that Orwell “only holds women to the filter of his own desire, or distaste.”
Jennifer O’Dee – “Orwell characterises women under a misogynistic lens.”
Jeffrey Meyers – “1984 expresses our archetypal fears of isolation and disintegration, bestiality, cruelty and
dehumanisation”
Storyline
Characters
Key Themes
Key Quotes
Critics
Context
Interpretations
Storyline
Published 1949 (written 1948)
Characters
Winston Social Roles
Julia Outer party
O’Brien Inner Party
Big Brother Proles
The Watchers
Key Themes
Power + control
Identity + individuality
Technology
Love + sex
Key Quotes
Power + control
“Full of power and mysterious calm” – about Big Brother
“In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable
that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it.”
“2+2=5”
Identity + individuality
“Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimetres inside your skull”
“In spite of his formidable appearance he had a certain charm of manner.” – about O’Brien, foreshadowing
Technology
“He thought of the telescreen with its never-sleeping ear”
Love + sex
“If they could make me stop loving you - that would be the real betrayal”
“Sexual intercourse was to be looked on as a slightly disgusting minor operation, like having an enema.”
“I love you” – Julia
Juxtaposition
“It was a bright cold day in April.”
“The clocks were striking thirteen.”
Rebellion
“Until they become conscious, they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled, they cannot become
conscious.”
- Winston about the proles
Critics
Jem Berkes – “language becomes a mind control tool.”
Beatrix Campbell – believed that Orwell “only holds women to the filter of his own desire, or distaste.”
Jennifer O’Dee – “Orwell characterises women under a misogynistic lens.”
Jeffrey Meyers – “1984 expresses our archetypal fears of isolation and disintegration, bestiality, cruelty and
dehumanisation”
