Quotes Flashcards
(101 cards)
1
Q
Winston as an unlikeable anti-hero
A
O’Brien asks if he’d be willing to “throw sulphuric acid in a child’s face” if the Brotherhood asked
Winston immediately says “Yes”
he is just as bad as the Party if he’s willing to commit such evil acts
2
Q
description of O’Brien
A
“large, burly man with a thick neck and brutal face”
3
Q
love and loyalty being destroyed
A
“There will be no loyalty except loyalty to the Party. There will be no love except the love of Big Brother” — O’Brien
4
Q
destruction of all emotion except fear, rage, etc
A
“In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph and self abasement. Everything else we shall destroy” — O’Brien
5
Q
Winston and Julia betraying eachother
A
“Do it to Julia”
“Tear her face off”
“she betrayed you… immediately, unreservedly”
6
Q
destruction of the family
A
“We have cut the links between child and parent and man and woman. No one dares trust a wife or a child any longer” — O’Brien
7
Q
Parsons daughter turning him in for whispering in his sleep
A
“she listened at the keyhole”
8
Q
Goldstein
A
“the Enemy of the People”
9
Q
Winston’s memory
A
“he could not remember, nothing remained of his childhood”
“even the date of the year had become uncertain”
10
Q
the Party’s rewriting of history
A
“every record has been destroyed…. every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted”
11
Q
the Party vaporising people
A
“every record of everything you had ever done was wiped out and your existence was denied”
“you were abolished, vaporised”
12
Q
O’Brien describing Winston as the last man, alone in the world
A
“If you are a man, Winston, you are the last man”
“Do you understand that you are alone?”
13
Q
lack of hope for the future + indoctrination of children into the Junior Spies
A
“nearly all children nowadays were horrible”
“systematically turned into ungovernable little savages”
“they adored the Party”
“‘You’re a traitor!’ yelled the boy”
14
Q
Winston being alone
A
“He was alone… what certainty did he have that a single human creature now living was on his side? And what way of knowing that the dominion of the Party would not endure forever?”
15
Q
Winston’s fatalism
A
“We are the dead”
“he was already dead”
“from the moment of declaring war on the Party it was better to think of yourself as a corpse”
16
Q
Julia rebelling purely for her own enjoyment, possessing no capability or ambition to free herself from her oppression
A
“a rebel from the waist down”
17
Q
Winston’s naivety and judgment being clouded, even when things are obvious
A
“they’ve got you too!”
18
Q
foreshadowing Winston’s defeat
A
“and here comes a chopper to chop off your head”
19
Q
the Party’s control of the present, future and past — absolute control
A
“who controls the past controls the future, who controls the present controls the past”
“The Party controls all records and we control all memories. Then we control the past, do we not?”
20
Q
constant surveillance, even body language can give someone away
A
“even a back can be revealing”
21
Q
inescapable propaganda, constant surveillance, a reminder that WInston is being watched constantly
A
“BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU”
22
Q
Winston writing rebellious thoughts in his diary
A
“DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER”
23
Q
the Party slogans
A
“War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength”
24
Q
control of the mind and reality, no such thing as objective truth
A
“in the end the Party would announce that two and two make five, and you would have to believe it”
25
Julia’s thoughts on rebellion and revolution
“any kind of organised revolt against the Party, which was bound to be a failure, struck her as stupid”
“the clever thing was to break the rules and stay alive all the same”
26
freedom of the mind
“freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four”
so when Winston writes 2+2=5 in the table and the end of the book, it symbolises his defeat and complete lack of freedom
27
Winston’s hope in the proles
“if there was hope, it lay in the proles”
28
last line of the book, Winston’s defeat, lack of hope
“he loved Big Brother”
29
no escape from the Party
“sooner or later they were bound to get you”
30
the power of physical pain and torture, turning people on eachother, destruction of love and loyalty, selfish human nature
“You want it to happen to the other person. You don’t give a damn what they suffer. All you care about is yourself”
31
destruction of language to quell rebellion
“we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it”
32
Winston and Julia’s belief in their love for eachother
“if they could make me stop loving you — that would be the real betrayal”
33
Winston and Julia’s naive belief that the Party cannot control your mind, which proves to be wrong
“they can make you say anything... but they can’t make you believe it, they can’t get inside you”
34
inability to question the Party
“the simple question ‘was life better before the Revolution than it is now?’ would have ceased once and for all to be answerable”
35
significance of the coral paperweight
“what appealed to him about [the coral paperweight] was.... the air it seemed to possess of belonging to an age quite different from the present one”
“the paperweight was the room he was in, and the coral was Julia’s life and his own, fixed in a sort of eternity at the heart of the crystal”
36
rewriting of history — impact on the human mind, how this keep the Party in control, inability to question the Party
“the Party member, like the proletarian, tolerates present day conditions because he has no standards of comparison”
“when memory failed and written records were falsified.... the claim of the Party to have improved the conditions of human life had got to be accepted”
“there did not exist, and never again could exist, any standard against which it could be tested”
37
sex as rebellion
“the sexual act... was rebellion, desire was thoughtcrime”
“it was a blow struck against the Party, it was a political act”
38
Winston’s reaction to Julia having multiple sexual partners
“the more men you’ve had, the more i love you... i hate purity, i hate goodness, i want everyone to be corrupt to the bones”
39
eradication of independent thought
“there will be no thought, as we understand it now”
40
orthodoxy means....
“orthodoxy means not thinking.... orthodoxy is unconsciousness”
41
state sanctioned vices, self medication, numbing of the senses to deal with reality
Victory Gin is “like a dose of medicine”
42
Winston’s changing attitude towards the proles and newfound respect for them
“For the first time in his life he did not despise the proles or think of them merely as an inert force which would one day spring to life and regenerate the world. The proles had stayed human”
43
destruction of real human emotion, malleability of human beings, the Party moulding the masses into empty mindless citizens
“Never again will you be capable of love, or friendship, or joy of living.... You will be hollow. We shall squeeze you empty and then we shall fill you with ourselves”
44
lack of hope for the future
“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever”
45
Winston refusing to give up and fiercely defending his position until he can do so no longer
“You have not controlled mine!”
| talking about the Party’s control of memory and the human mind
46
Julia having sex suggests there are many others besides Winston who rebel against BB by having sex
“always with Party members”
“filled him with a wild hope... perhaps the Party was rotten under the surface”
47
Julia being more intelligent and aware than Winston
“unlike Winston, she had grasped the inner meaning of the Party’s sexual puritanism”
48
Julia only rebelling for herself
“except where it touched upon her own life she had no interest in Party doctrine”
49
the proles staying human
they were “loyal to one another” and had “stayed human”
50
Julia as a powerful character
Winston quickly becomes infatuated with her and depends on her heavily, viewing her as a “necessity”
because of Julia he engages in active sexual rebellion and his mental and physical state improves — before Julia, he only engaged in small acts of rebellion
51
lack of consciousness of the proles
“if only they could somehow become conscious of their own strength”
52
the place where...
“we shall meet in the place where there is no darkness”
53
motives of the Party
“the Party seizes power entirely for itself”
54
war as a necessary tool for the Party to keep people under control and justify the power they exercise
“the consciousness of being at war and therefore in danger, makes the handing over of all power seem the natural, unavoidable condition of survival”
“Winston could not remember a time when his country wasn’t at war”
55
an old tortured man in the Ministry of Love, demonstrating that the type of torture the Party uses is so intense that people are willing to betray anyone to avoid it — the destruction of private loyalty is exactly what the Party wants
“I’ve got a wife and three children.... take the whole lot of them and cut their throats... but not Room 101!”
56
the effect that the threat of violence and physical pain has on Winston
“there were times when the mere sight of a fist drawn back was enough to make him pour forth a confession of real and imaginary crimes”
57
constant and inescapable surveillance
“the telescreen could be dimmed but there was no way of shutting it off completely”
58
the telescreen being invasive and extremely advanced
even “the smallest thing could give you away” like a simple twitch of the face or erratic breathing
the telescreen can even pick up “the beating of your heart”
59
Winston as compliant in his own oppression and a willing participant aiding the Party’s agenda
at the beginning of the novel it’s revealed that he “loves his job”, which is the rewriting of history in the Ministry of Truth to fit the Party’s version of events
“he was not troubled by the fact that every word he mumbled into the speakwrite, every stroke of his ink pencil, was a deliberate lie”
rather than feeling guilty he is rather proud of this “mighty deed” he has committed and participated in
60
Winston’s misogyny and hatred for women
“he disliked nearly all women, especially the young and pretty ones”
61
sexual repression being used to build up people’s energy and frustration so it can be directed into love for BB or hate for Goldstein
“sexual privation induced hysteria which was desirable because it could be transformed into war fever and leader worship” — Julia
62
Winston’s endurance and determination to hold onto his private loyalty and love for Julia
“he had not stopped loving her”
63
lack of individuality and personal identity
“to do anything that suggested a taste for solitude, even to go for a walk by yourself, was always slightly dangerous”
“there was a word for it in Newspeak: ownlife... meaning individualism and eccentricity”
64
Winston and Julia expressing their devotion to ‘the Brotherhood’
“We are enemies of the Party”
65
Winston's pessimism and fatalism contrasting with Julia's optimism
Winston says "we are the dead"
Julia responds by stating that "we are not dead yet"
66
Winston' initial beliefs about O'Brien
"merely a hope - that O'Brien's political orthodoxy was not perfect"
67
description of Winston's apartment
"Victory Mansions"
"the hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rags"
68
the proles being free
"proles and animals are free"
69
Julia's note to Winston
"I love you"
70
Julia's comment about the picture on the wall in Mr Charrington's shop
there are "bugs behind it"
71
how is Goldstein described?
"the Enemy of the People"
"he was an object of hatred"
"hated and despised by everyone"
72
Winston subconsciously joining in with the Two Minutes Hate
"in a lucid moment Winston found that he was shouting with the others and kicking his heel violently against the rung of his chair"
"it was impossible to avoid joining in"
73
the unified crowd during the TMH (link to Freud's crowd theory)
"a hideous ecstacy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill.... seemed to flow through the whole group of people like an electric current"
"turning one even against one's will into a grimacing, screaming lunatic"
"to do what everyone else was doing was an instinctive reaction"
74
the description of how hate and extreme emotion can be manipulated and directed
"the rage... could be switched from one object to another like the flame of a blowlamp"
75
Winston being indoctrinated and brainwashed during the TMH
"his secret loathing of Big Brother changed into adoration... Big Brother seemed to tower up, an invicible, fearless protector"
"the hostile figure melted into the face of Big Brother" - people learn to associate a feeling of calm and relief with him, learning to adore him
76
Winston's hate towards Julia in Chapter 1, desiring to violently rape and murder her
"he would flog her to death... tie her naked to a stake and shoot her full of arrows... ravish her and cut her throat"
77
chanting during the TMH (cult-like worship of a higher power)
"the entire group... broke into a deep, slow, rhythmic chant of 'B-B... B-B.... B-B'"
"a heavy murmurous sound"
"an act of self hypnosis"
"this subhuman chanting... filled him with horror"
78
worship of BB during the TMH
"with a tremulous murmur that sounded like 'My Saviour' she extended her arms towards the screen... she was uttering a prayer"
79
example of Winston lapsing back into the standard Party attitude when talking of the prole woman at the cinema in Chapter 1
"nobody cares what the proles say, typical prole reaction"
80
inescapable propaganda
"the poster with the enormous face gazed from the wall"
81
description of WInston's figure, link to his anti-hero status
"smallish, frail figure"
82
Winston having to repress his true feelings, forced and unnatural life
he had "set his features into the expression of quiet optimism"
83
Victory Gin as an assigned vice, used to keep people happy and subdued, dulls their senses and numbs their pain
gives "the sensation of being hit on the back of the head with a rubber club"
"the world began to look more cheerful"
84
owning the diary as rebellion because it signals a desire to write in it and therefore think freely
"even with nothing written in it, it was a compromising possession"
"whether he wrote DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER or whether he refrained... made no difference.... the Thought Police would get him just the same"
85
punishments for defying the Party
"punished by death or by at least twenty-five years in a forced labour camp"
"abolished, annihilated, vaporised"
86
free thought and creativity being eradicated, seen when WInston uses the pen on a rare occassion, shows the power of literature and writing
"the pen was an archaic instrument"
Winston is "not used to writing by hand"
87
writing as rebellion
"a tremor had gone through his bowels... to mark the paper was the decisive act"
88
the Party disoreintating their citizens and not allowing them even the most basic pieces of information
"he did not know with any certainty that this was 1984"
89
Winston is writing his diary for...
"for the future, for the unborn"
90
desensitisation to violence, made clear from Chapter 1 when WInston is at the cinema
"wonderful shot of a child's arm"
"there was a lot of applause from the Party seats"
91
Julia's scarlet Juniour Anti-Sex League sash
"wound several times round her waist... just tightly enough to bring out the shapliness of her hips"
92
O'Brien's clothing
"black overalls of the Inner Party"
93
significance of body language, specifically eye contact
"she had given him a quick sidelong glance... filled him with black terror"
"momentarily he caught O'Brien's eye"
94
brainwashing during the TMH, the information provided is obviously a lie yet people still believe it
"an attack so perverse that a child should have been able to see through it"
"he was advocating freedom of speech, freedom of press..." - yet the people are taught to hate him
95
underground resistance
"commander of a vast shadowy army"
"underground network of conspirators"
96
sexual frustration as a tool of control, pent up anger can be directed
"he hated her because she was young and pretty and sexless, because he wanted to go to bed with her"
97
O'Brien giving Winston hope from simple eye contact
making eye contact with O'Brien keeps "alive in him the belief, or hope, that others besides himself were the enemies of the Party... perhaps the Brotherhood really existed!"
98
constant switching of enemies
"Oceania was not after all at war with Eurasia... Eurasia was an ally"
99
the Party destroying enemies, silencing of opposition
"we do not merely destroy our enemies, we change them"
100
Syme
“it's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words"
lacks "saving stupidity"
101
Winston's recklessness
"it was impossible to be sure whether O'Brien was a friend or an enemy... nor did it seem to matter greatly"
"he felt deeply drawn to him"
