Big Brother Is Watching You

| 1984 | Themes | Individual vs. Society-Julia and Winston (p.27,pp.312-322)Rebellion-Winston and Julia break the rules, Winston because he questions the party’s principlesTotalitarianism/Knowledge Is power “Big brother is watching you”, omnipotent, omnipresent (P.3) also signified by the fact that Winston needs to hide his thoughts because he is more intelligent than the norm Knowledge is dangerous, especially independent thought, Intelligence leads to rebellion, can be seen through Winston’s perception of O’Brien”Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.” freewill (p.81) The Degradation of Language- Language controls expression and thought, B.B. controls them, therefore B.B. controls all expression and thought. TruthIn the beginning Winston debates what is truth, because his job is to alter history. Whoever controls the present controls the past and vise versa. In the end, he accepts the truth of his enemy, of society, without truth, democracy is not possible.-->why language manipulation and rhetoric can be unethicalIgnorance is bliss-those who do not question B.B. seem happy, & the proles, taken to the extent that true happiness and victory will only come long after the nothingness of death, even when the dumb Parsons is turned in by his daughter, he is happy. The Triumph of drudgery.Nihilism-Life is meaningless, individuals and their actions are insignificantHedonism Julia breaks the rules simply because they prevent her from doing what she wants, not because she questions their principles or purposemakes reader realize that reason for rebelling is importantLoyalty & Betrayal- common theme also destroyed is loyalty and love between husband and wife, as shown by Katherine. Julia betrays Winston, Winston betrays Julia. Commentary on people’s inherent selfishness. Anti-Utopia, Dystopia-O’Brien “the exact opposite of the stupid hedonistic utopias that the old reformers imagined” Patriotism-Mindless following of B.B., especially in the youth p.26 | Stylistic Devices | Allegory-The entire story is an allegory for Marxism and Stalin, B.B= Stalin, Goldstein=TrotskyPortmanteau terms introduced: Newspeak, doublethink: 1984 p. 7Allusion: name Winston=Winston Churchill, Smith=most common English name, represents the common people, child informers Hitler Youth, Goldstein looks Jewish-allusion to historical persecution of Jews, Ingsoc=English socialismClassic hero- Winston: tortured past, feels different, magical talisman of diaryAntihero- Weak, fails in the end, loves enemy and betrays all that he believes inCassandra-Julia does not believe Winston fatalism that they will both be caught and killed by the PartyIrony-e.g. the ministry of truth produces fiction and alters history, shows how all power can manipulate the truth and replace common everyday themes with their antonyms “war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength” p.6, Imagery- Everywhere in the book to convey emotion. Most famous line, gritty dust, vile wind, p.3, or first page of storyScapegoat, false dilemma, sensationalism- Tools used by B.B. to make B.B. look better in comparison, against Goldstein, the incarnation of evil (p.14)Absurdity/Exaggeration- Parsons, children, to make a point, also to juxtapose WinstonLimited third person-Expresses paranoia and alienation of a person in this society, can be seen from his paranoia with Syme p.54Glittering Generalities-Plenty, love, truth, peace, repeated throughout book with their antonyms as wellTime period-Period is still futuristic, but close enough to be relevant to the reader | Filter | Marxist, socialist due to communist references, e.g. “comrade”, “proles”=proletariat Feminist-Julia portrays a feminist antihero, by rebelling a theme of feminism for independence, but rebelling for sexualization, the opposite of feminism | *Cultural | Two minutes hate moment of silence (p.14) commenting on how “natural” cultural traditions can be twisted, controlling tradition, masses of peopleVaporization-Winston=Winston Churchill, Smith=most common English name, represents the common people, England during WWIIWas written during the cold war, so the topic was very relevant at the time Socialism…. |