1984 Book One Review Revised

INSOC

"English Socialism," the political philosophy adopted when the Socialist Party began to rule. Establishes that all knowledge and information sis kept within the party's tenets.

Dark-haired girl (Julia)

A dark-haired, 26-year-old , who works in the Fiction Department at the Ministry of Truth. She is an active member of the Junior Anti-Sex League. She also seems to be spying on Winston.

O'Brien

A member of the Inner Party who appears charismatic; Winston believes he might be part of the Brotherhood

Golden Country

A pasture in the countryside that Winston dreams and thinks of or about.

Syme

A politically orthodox linguist and colleague of Winston's whose job is to edit the Eleventh Edition of the Newspeak dictionary. Syme's intelligence leads to his arrest and vaporization, as Winston suspects it will. O'Brien'smention of Syme after his disappearance encourages Winston to believe O'Brien is a secret ally.

Emmanuel Goldstein

An exiled former Party leader, who is vilified by the party as the Enemy of the People. He is the subject of the broadcast viewed at the Two Minutes Hate, author of The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism, and the supposed leader of the Brotherhood.

Jones, Aaronson And Rutherford

Formerly prominent Party leaders accused of traitorous activities. Winston observes them when they are released after torture and are drinking gin at the Chestnut Tree Café. He also briefly possesses photographic evidence of their innocence.

When was the book written?

June, 1949

General setting of novel

London in the year of 1984

Physical Jerks

Mandatory exercise program at 7:18 everyday, people are monitored and propagandized every morning while doing it through telescreens by the party.

Newspeak

Newspeak, a form of English designed by the Party to lack words that are considered unnecessary or dangerous, and which thereby prevents revolutionary thoughts.

Names of three countries

Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia

Mrs. Parsons (Parsons' Wife)

Parsons' wife, who asks Winston to repair her sink and nearly discovers the diary.

Winston

Protagonist of novel, 39 year old, privately rebels against the Party's totalitarian rule, very intellectual, a quiet, frail Outer Party member who lives alone in a one-room flat in a squalid apartment complex called Victory Mansions, works in the Records Department of the Ministry of Truth rewriting news articles to conform with the Party's current version of history.

Big Brother (what does Big Brother represent?)

Represents the party leader. An invention of the Party whose face appears on coins and posters throughout Oceania. Ostensibly a Party leader, he is a figurehead devised to focus the loyalty of Party members

Ministry of Truth, Ministry of Plenty, Ministry of Peace, Ministry of Love

The Ministry of Peace concerns itself with war, the Ministry of Truth with lies, the Ministry of Love with torture and the Ministry of Plenty with starvation.

Mr. Charrington

The elderly owner of the junk shop where Winston buys the diary, then the paperweight, and eventually rents a private bedroom for his trysts with Julia. Charrington induces Winston to trust him with his apparent reverence for the past, discreet behavior, and mild-mannered exterior.

Comrade Ogilvy

The fictional hero Winston invents to replace Comrade Withers.

Why did Orwell feel compelled to write the book?

To satire totalitarian rule and totalitarian ideas in general, and also warned that the nightmarish conditions he depicted could take place anywhere.

Party Slogans (Chapter 3)

WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH, catch phrases or sentences used by the party to keep the brainwashed citizens thinking the way the party does.

Parsons

Winston's neighbor at Victory Mansions, a sweaty, pudgy, orthodox man, and Winston despises him for his unquestioning acceptance of Party doctrine.

Katharine Smith

Winston's wife. Orthodox and unimaginative, she considers it their duty to the Party to bear children and leaves him when their efforts to conceive end in failure. Winston once considered murdering Katharine during a nature walk, but decides not to act on the opportunity.

Brotherhood

a fabled underground counterrevolutionary organization that works to brig down the party.

Two Minutes Hate

a routine political rally or a daily period in which Party members of the society of Oceania must watch a film depicting the Party's enemies (notably Emmanuel Goldstein and his followers) and express their hatred for them for exactly two minutes.

Symbolism of the glass paperweight

a symbol of Winston's failure to connect to and understand the past

Party's view on marriage

accepted marraige but only if a child was made, if not, the party advises you to separate.

Telescreens

devices which operate as both televisions and security cameras

Ownlife

individualism and eccentricity, or a desire to do something for your own benefit and not for the benefit of Big Brother. Not a good thing in this book.

Outer Party

makes up 13% of Oceania, one of two parts of the party that controls Oceania

Inner Party

regulates Ingsoc and the Thought Police, and keeps all Outer Party members under close supervision through technologies like telescreen, while the proles live in relatively depressed, but unmonitored conditions.

Proles

shortening of the word proletarian, a term for the working class, proles were thought of as mindless and stupid so they were left unsupervised by the party, even when they protested.

Unperson

somone who has been vaporized

Doublethink

the ability to hold two completely contradictory thoughts simultaneously while believing both of them to be true

Thoughtcrime

to think thoughts not regulated by or opposing that of the party, one can be vaporized by thought police by doing this.

Facecrime

word in newspeak, means to wear an improper expression on your face