Common Mod - 1984 Flashcards
(34 cards)
Paragraph 1 Topic Sentence:
Orwell’s 1984 (ignites new ideas about human experiences - link to question) by demonstrating how corrupt political regimes use political oppression to restrict individual freedom in order to maintain power..
Paragraph 2 Topic Sentence:
Orwell then argues that this oppression results in a brutalised society lacking compassion, empathy and intimate relations leading to the (eradication of meaningful human experiences - link to question).
Paragraph 3 Topic Sentence:
Finally, George Orwell shows how social injustice creates an inherent desire for people to rebel (in order to restore the human experience - link to question) but warns that totalitarian regimes will exploit human vulnerabilities to eliminate all possibility of sedition.
Paragraph 1 Context:
This reflected Soviet Russia’s Great Purges where pervasive surveillance tactics such as Stalin’s NKVD sparked fear and compliance to state control.
Paragraph 2 Context:
Orwell reflects on the widespread chaos of Joseph Goebbels’ destructive anti-Semitic propaganda in Nazi Germany in his representation of Oceania’s dehumanised masses.
Paragraph 3 Context:
During WWII, the White Rose was a resistance organisation led by Hans and Sophie Scholl in Nazi Germany whose members were executed by the Gestapo within a year of its establishment, demonstrating the fundamental desire for human rebellion in the face of social injustice despite the inevitable consequences.
Paragraph 1, 1st Quote:
“It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time,”
Paragraph 1, 2nd Quote:
“we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.”
Paragraph 1, 3rd Quote:
“Comrade Ogilvy, who had never existed…would exist just as authentically, and upon the same evidence, as Charlemagne or Julius Caesar,”
Paragraph 1, 4th Quote:
“In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five…The heresy of heresies was common sense…they would kill you for thinking otherwise”
Paragraph 1, 5th Quote:
“Power entirely for its own sake … only power, pure power”
Paragraph 2, 1st Quote:
“War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength,”
Paragraph 2, 2nd Quote:
“The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in.”
Paragraph 2, 4th Quote:
“If they could make me stop loving you—that would be the real betrayal. They can’t do that…They can make you say anything … but they can’t make you believe it,”
Paragraph 2, 5th Quote:
“Do it to Julia! Not me! Julia! I don’t care what you do to her. Tear her face off, strip her to the bones,”
Paragraph 3, 1st Quote:
“they’ll shoot me I don’t care they’ll shoot me… down with big brother”
Paragraph 3, 2nd Quote:
“their embrace had been a battle, the climax a victory. It was a blow struck against the Party,”
Paragraph 3, 3rd Quote:
“Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot be conscious,”
Paragraph 3, 4th Quote:
“He had won the victory over himself. He loved big brother,”
“It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time,”
This oppression is paralleled in the telescreens in 1984 where Winston’s resigned tone: “It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time,” symbolises the omnipresent surveillance within Oceania that destroys privacy and freedom.
“we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.”
Furthermore, Orwell’s satirical representation of Newspeak ignites the idea that an oppressive government restricts self-expression as illuminated in Symes’ revelation to Winston: “we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.”
Comrade Ogilvy, who had never existed…would exist just as authentically, and upon the same evidence, as Charlemagne or Julius Caesar,”
This fear and government control of language allows for distortion of the truth by the Party as highlighted by Winston’s metatextual construction of the fabricated ‘Comrade Ogilvy’ in the Ministry of Truth where: “Comrade Ogilvy, who had never existed…would exist just as authentically, and upon the same evidence, as Charlemagne or Julius Caesar,” symbolising the masses of false and misleading information produced by totalitarian governments to ensure compliance to the state.
“In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five…The heresy of heresies was common sense…they would kill you for thinking otherwise”,
The degrading effects of this insidious surveillance and totalitarian regime on the Oceanic population and their identity are illustrated through Winston’s paradoxical statement “In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five…The heresy of heresies was common sense…they would kill you for thinking otherwise”, suggesting that the Party has manipulated individuals to the extent that they will accept even the most absurd political dogma.
“Power entirely for its own sake … only power, pure power”
Ultimately, O’Brien’s description of the Party as: “Power entirely for its own sake … only power, pure power” enforces through repetition how the Party’s oppressive tactics which destroy individual experiences were undertaken to ensure dominance over Oceania.
