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1984 notes
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The notes outline the themes, motifs, important quotes in the book 1984.
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Context-● Orwell’s observations and experiences in Nazi-Germany, Spain and the Soviet Union inspired
him to write a novel based on his “nightmare vision” on the future, creating a Utopian world. He
wanted warn society for the dangers of a modern totalitarian government. Orwell thought he could
achieve this by portraying a dystopian world in which fearful themes are represented, which
include psychological manipulation and physical control by a totalitarian government. We see the
imaginative world through the perception of the rebellion protagonist, Winston Smith- Orwell’s
choice of limited omniscient viewpoint.
● Orwell wrote and published the book in the time it was difficult to do so, for instance with Animal
farm it was hard to find publisher. Orwell plainly reveals some of his own frustrations about the
challenges of being a writer in a highly political time, war time and post-war Europe, through
Winston's experience. Orwell had gone to Spain to fight Francoist fascism, but found himself
face-to-face with another form of totalitarianism. The pro-Stalin communist forces in Spain turned
on the POUM, branding them Trotskyist traitors. Back home no one wanted to know about his
experiences. Even non-communist left-wingers, including the publishers. Franco a fascist tried to
steal the democratic government elected by the people, so the people fought and were even
armed leading to a messy situation. However, Franco won and Spain remained a fascist country
for a while. The war became a testing ground for weapons before the world war 2. Orwell like
other international people taking part in the war fought in Catalonia, Barcelona against fascism. In
this manner Orwell lived through his work.
● In Oceania, radio broadcasts consisted of announcements about victories. Orwell worked as a
correspondent in BBC, which made him realise that media is a propaganda machine, hiding the
truth and inflating half-truths to disillusion the masses. He wrote propaganda for broadcast in
india. His wife, Eileen, also worked for the Ministry Of Information in the censorship department.
Winston also works at a media agency that makes him realise the truth like Orwell did.
● Popular science fiction, for instance, is a curious mixture of invented gadgetry and archetypal
narrative motifs very obviously derived from folk tale, fairy tale and Scripture, recycling the myths
of Creation, Fall, Flood and a Divine Saviour, for a secular but still superstitious age. Orwell
himself echoes the story of Adam and Eve in his treatment of the love affair between Winston and
Julia, secretly monitored and finally punished by Big Brother, but with an effect that is the reverse
of reassuring, and so subtly that the reader may not be conscious of the allusion. In that respect
as in others his technique is indistinguishable from that of the traditional realist novel, though his
purpose was different: not to reflect contemporary social reality, but to paint a daunting picture of
a possible future.
● One other setting allowing Winston freedom is both real and fictitious. He can dream himself free
in a spot he calls the Golden Country. English to the core, Orwell idealises the country as many
English writers so. The country is a gentle place with pleasant temperatures –not the scorching
heat of the city or the stinging cold gusts of wind that Winston experiences in London. His dreams
of the Golden Country with a woman taking off her clothes in a liberating gesture reveal Winston’s
desires and he recognises these images when Julia organises a trip to the country where they
can make love for the first time. Having Julia and being able to withdraw from oppression in the
rented room, Winston becomes bold enough to think that Big Brother might be overthrown some
day –not by him or other outer party members, but by the proles symbolised by a blend of the
woman singing below their window and the thrush that sang in the woods.
● Orwell drew on many recognizable features of life in “austerity” post-war Britain, as well as on
reports of life in Eastern Europe, to create the depressing atmosphere of London/ urban decay. It
could be the beginning of an ordinary novel about an ordinary day in the contemporary world. It’s
the anomalous word “thirteen” that tells us with wonderful economy that a very different
experience is in store. Clocks, time, and the calculations that go with them, are part of the rule of
, reason by which we order our lives in the ordinary, familiar world. So “thirteen” is like the moment
in a nightmare when something tells you you are dreaming and you wake up. But in this case the
nightmare is only beginning, and the hero, at least, never wakes up.
● Winston Smith was obviously named for Winston Churchill, leader of the nation in World War
II, and the mansion block he lives in would have been built shortly after the end of that war. The
reference to “Hate Week”, and the huge coloured poster with the caption, “BIG BROTHER IS
WATCHING YOU” are the only unfamiliar details in what could otherwise be a description of a
run-down block of council flats in 1948. The features of Big Brother resemble Stalin’s, but they
also recall a famous recruiting poster of World War I, depicting a heavily moustached military man
(Lord Kitchener) pointing a finger, with the caption, “Your Country Needs You”.
Theme of changing history-
“He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.” Party slogan
in 1984. One of the issues raised in 1984 is the idea that history is mutable or changeable, that truth is
what the Party deems it to be, and that the truths found in history are the bases of the principles of the
future. Some Fascist German leaders of the time boasted that if you tell a lie loud enough and often
enough, people will accept it as truth. The Stalinists perfected this modus operandi by rewriting people
and events in and out of history or distorting historical facts to suit the Party's purposes. Winston aware of
this fact, goes in search of the truth in the prole regions. One moment, Oceania is and always has been at
war with one enemy, the next moment it is and has always been at war with another, and the people of
Oceania accept the information as true. It is an exaggeration of a phenomenon that Orwell observed in
his own time and reported with true clarity in 1984: People most readily believe that which they can
believe most conveniently. Orwell was concerned that the concept of truth was fading out of the world.
During Orwell's time as a resistance fighter in Spain, he experienced this rewriting of history first-hand: He
noticed that newspaper stories were often inaccurate: There were often reports of battles where no
fighting had occurred or no report at all of battles where hundreds of men had died. Orwell conceded that
much of history was lies, and he was frustrated by the fact that he believed that history could be
accurately written.Even in our own time, candidates for all levels of government, including those for
President, "remember" things differently, and politics nationwide attempt to put their "spin" on events that
affect us all. It is as if an event can be stricken from history if the population does not remember it. And
again, at all levels, non-specific or ambiguous language is used to shade or change the actual events to
favor the candidates' or leaders' position or ideology. Winston himself was engaged in altering the past at
the Ministry of Truth and he knew very well how the process worked. But there had been one incident
which stood out in his memory, convincing him that lies could not become truth. He held evidence b/w his
thumb and forefinger before it went down the memory hole: the photograph of three men.
“We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness”-This phrase, which recurs in the book,
turns out to be in the end the brilliantly lit passage and torture chambers of the Ministry of Love. Light,
for Orwell, symbolizes (I think) a horrible logical clarity which leads to death and destruction.
Darkness, as in the womb and perhaps beside a woman in the night, stands for the vital processes of
sex and physical strength.
Theme of music-
● Mr.charrington sings the start and end of the poem about london churches- “oranges and lemons,
say the bells of St.Clements..Here comes a candle to light you to bed and here comes a chopper
to chop off your head.” creates an imager and illusion of actually hearing the bells of lost london
that still existed in a forgotten form. It was connected to past and wanted to learn more. When he
first seeks knowledge from Mr.Charrington, foreshadows a event of inevitability of death upon
seeking knowledge that was forbidden by the party. Chopping of his head. o’Brien completes
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