Lecture notes
AS Eng Lit AQA 1984 Chapter 1 Revision PDF
For AS Eng Lit students studying Orwell's 1984. Revision pdf consists of: - key quotes with in-depth analysis - analysis of chapter 1 - context - symbols - themes
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Quotes - Book 1, Chapter 11. “It was a cold bright day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen” - Narration
Orwell begins his novel with a clear declaration that the world has changed. The story
appears to take place in the readers' world—it is the familiar month of April—but
clocks don't ever strike 13 times. Readers can assume that this world uses some
version of military time and that it is likely 1:00 p.m.
2. “Big Brother is watching you” - Narrator
This is the most-often-quoted phrase from 1984, and it is a motif that runs through the
entire novel. These words appear on posters all over Oceania, and they mean that
government surveillance is everywhere. This phrase has become commonplace in the
English-speaking world. People use it to mean that their government has become
overly intrusive (e.g., when the National Security Agency collects data by tracking
private emails, texts, and phone calls).
3. “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength” - Narrator
These statements are slogans of Ingsoc, which is the name of the Party's political
ideology, and they adorn buildings throughout London. Everything in this world is
paradoxical, and the citizens of Oceania must hold two contradictory ideas in mind
simultaneously. The process is called doublethink. For example, the phrase
preemptive war is an example of doublethink, because starting a war cannot prevent
war.
Analysis of Book 1, Chapter 1
The novel opens with descriptions of Winston Smith's home and workplace that reveal the
kind of society London has become in 1984. The people are under the control of the Party,
with absolutely no privacy or room for individuality. Winston's decision to write in a diary is,
on its own, a dangerous act, revealed by the fact that he has to do it out of sight of the
telescreen. The words that he writes are even more dangerous, and his diary entries show the
reader where he stands regarding the Party right away: Winston is a rebel.
The descriptions of the Ministries, the Party slogans, and Winston's workplace introduce the
idea that in this society people are expected to be able to swallow the lies the Party feeds
them. They are also encouraged to fear enemies, real or imagined, because fear generates
hatred and hatred keeps people under the Party's control. By linking the Two Minutes Hate
with fear, Orwell is cautioning the reader about the effect of generating fear. Whatever the
original focus of the fear—real, such as the threat of an attack, or false, such as fear of a
religion or race—once it manifests, fear becomes a permanent state and leads to hatred.
, Context
Europe and the Soviet Union before 1949
1984 was published in 1949, not long after Joseph Stalin's Great Purge of the 1930s, the
Spanish Civil War (1936–39), and World War II (1939–45).
Stalin was the leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1929 until his death
in 1953. Under Stalin's brand of communism, the state seized all private property and made it
communal. However, this seizure didn't give ownership of production to the working class, as
Karl Marx's brand of socialism required. Stalin became a dictator, creating a totalitarian
government that eliminated all opposition to his rule. He conducted a series of trials
throughout the late 1930s, using secret police and torture tactics to get false confessions from
his enemies. Similar to the idea of vaporisation in Orwell's novel, where people vanished and
public records of their existence were destroyed, the Great Purge made millions of people
disappear, whether they were sent to prison camps or executed.
Stalin also played a role in the Spanish Civil War, funding the socialist Republican
government in its battle against fascist Nationalists, who fought for militaristic, elite rule over
the country. However, Stalin's paranoia and need for total power led him to accuse many of
his allies on the Republican side of treason, supporting the Nationalists. The resulting
infighting on the Republican side created an even more horrific period of bloodshed and fear
of retribution during the war. Orwell, who fought as a socialist in the Spanish Civil War and
yet was targeted by Stalin's supporters, had firsthand experience with allies turning into
enemies.
World War II was another example of the destructive power of a totalitarian regime. People
whom Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party considered undesirables (including millions of Jews, gay
people, and Roma) were put in concentration camps and killed. The expansionist Axis
powers (primarily Germany, Italy, and Japan) fought against the Allies (primarily England,
the United States, and Russia). Although the Allies ultimately won, destruction and suffering
in Europe were extensive. History has forgotten the names of many of these victims of the
Holocaust. They became and were actually called nonpersons. In many cases their histories
were erased—a concept that Orwell used almost verbatim in 1984, calling people vaporised
by the Party unpersons. The leaders of the Nazi Party, similar to the the Inner Party, used
operatives loyal to their cause, similar to members of the Outer Party, to destroy evidence and
identities. The erasure of entire groups of people creates a present that is not responsible for
the actions of the past. The late 1940s and 1950s saw international attention paid to
uncovering facts the Nazis tried to hide, but Orwell's story is a reminder to readers of the
dangers of a regime that refuses to take responsibility for its actions.
Orwell as a Supporter of Socialism
Orwell's determination to create better living conditions for the working poor, who are the
proles in the novel, led him to support socialism in the 1930s. He was deeply disappointed
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