UTOPIA (definition)

Have you ever seen a

movie or read a book that
was about a utopian
society?

Could a utopian society

ever truly exist? Why or
Why not?

DYSTOPIA (definition)

Have you ever seen a

movie or read a book that
was about a dystopian
society?

Could a dystopian society

ever truly exist? Why or
Why not?

Characters
Winston: Winston Smith is the common man, easy for the reader to identify with, easy to sympathize
with. Thirty-nine-years-old, he is frail and thin, and is employed as a records editor or propaganda officer
in the Records Department at the Ministry of Truth. An Outer Party member, Winston leads a squalid
existence in an apartment at Victory Mansions. A thoughtful and observant intellect, Winston is very
concerned with Party philosophy, and in particular its control of history through the manipulation of
records, a process in which he participates daily. More than anything, Winston seeks the unadulterated
truth and the only way to attain that is by rebelling against the totalitarian rule of the Party.
OBrien: A mysterious, powerful, and sophisticated member of the Inner Party whom Winston believes
is also a member of the Brotherhood, the legendary group of anti-Party rebels.
Julia: Interestingly enough, Winstons ally and lover is also his foil. Superficially, Julia is an
uncomplicated character; but the function she serves isnt quite so simple. Whereas Winston is concerned
with a grand scale uprising, Julia is content rebelling against the Party privately in a self-serving
manner. Whereas Winston takes unnecessary risks, Julia is cautious, pragmatic, and a true survivalist.
Whereas Winston is one dimensional, in the sense that he is not interested in fooling or escaping from the
Party, Julia is duplicitous presenting the demeanor of a zealous Party member, but rebelling in every
way she can away from the telescreens. Although the two share love for each other and hatred for the
Party, Winston feels emotional about overthrowing the Party, while Julia is realistic and apathetic. Most
of Julias traits deviate from, if not downright contradict, Winstons.
Big Brother: Though he never appears in the novel, and though he may not actually exist, Big Brother,
the perceived ruler of Oceania, is an extremely important figure. Everywhere Winston looks he sees
posters of Big Brothers face bearing the message BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU. Big
Brothers image is stamped on coins and broadcast on the unavoidable telescreens; it haunts Winstons
life and fills him with hatred and fascination.
Mr. Charrington: An old man who runs a secondhand store in the prole district. Kindly and
encouraging, Mr. Charrington seems to share Winstons interest in the past. He also seems to support
Winstons rebellion against the Party and his relationship with Julia, since he rents Winston a room
without a telescreen in which to carry out his affair.
Mr. Parsons: A fat, obnoxious, and dull Party member who lives near Winston and works at the Ministry
of Truth. He has a dull wife and a group of suspicious, ill-mannered children who are members of the
Junior Spies.
Syme: An intelligent, outgoing man who works with Winston at the Ministry of Truth. Syme specializes
in language. As the novel opens, he is working on a new edition of the Newspeak dictionary. Winston
believes Syme is too intelligent to stay in the Partys favor.
Emmanuel Goldstein: Another figure who exerts an influence on the novel without ever appearing in it.
According to the Party, Goldstein is the legendary leader of the Brotherhood. He seems to have been a
Party leader who fell out of favor with the regime. In any case, the Party describes him as the most
dangerous and treacherous man in Oceania.

Themes:

Power of Language
Illegal Love
Individuality/Freedom of Thought and Speech
Memory and History
Sensation Equals Freedom
Rebellion
Manipulation/Propaganda
Power
Fear of Technology and Security

Pre-Reading
Theme
Objective: Creating individual visions of a futuristic society
In 1984, which was written in 1949, George Orwell presents his vision of a futuristic society. He
speculates on possibilities about Great Britains future government, social structure, and political
system. In his futuristic vision, he includes ideas on Great Britains relationship with other countries as
well as for the life quality of individual citizens. Technological innovations and changes in family
relationships play a major role in Orwells work.
Take a few moments to consider how you envision life in a futuristic society. Collect several ideas and
details and create an outline or write a few paragraphs describing your thoughts on an imaginative
society of the future.
Consider the following possibilities when writing or drawing an outline of your futuristic vision:

Do you envision a society that is fifty, one hundred, five hundred, one thousand, two thousand, or more
years in the future?
Does your vision include plans for your country, for another country, or for the entire world?
Do you include political, cultural, social, technological, or religious details?
Do you envision changes in fashion, family structure, or lifestyle?

Collect as many ideas as possible and compare your vision of a futuristic society with other students in
class.

1984 Anticipation Guide

Part I Directions: Prior to reading 1984, in the Before column, respond to each statement by putting
a plus sign (+) if you agree with it, a minus sign (-) if you disagree, and a question mark (?) if you are
unsure of your belief.
Part II Directions: After reading the story, in the After column respond again to the statements.
Then, reply by writing a journal response to a statement where your belief changed since reading the
story.

Statements
1. To assure our countrys freedom, the government should be able to spy on its
citizens
2. Patriotism means supporting your government during times of war

3. People who are a serious threat to the government should be able to be held in
prison without being charged
4. The government has a right to know what people are reading so they may
determine who might be a threat
5. Society would be safer if we had security cameras in public places to catch
potential criminals

6. The only way to prepare for peace is to be prepared for war

7. For an idea to exist, we must have words to express it

Before

After

Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut

1. Describe the state of the U.S. society as described in the first paragraph. How has equality been
achieved?

2. Consider the characters of George and Hazel. Why isnt Hazel handicapped?

3. How does George seem to feel about his handicaps?

4. Consider the character of Harrison in terms of both his physical qualities and personality traits. Why is
he considered a threat to society?

5. In your opinion, what is the shedding of Harrisons handicaps symbolic of?

6. What is the significance of the dance that Harrison performs with the ballerina? How does the style in
which the story is written change in this passage?

7. Why do you think the Vonnegut decides to write dance scene in this way?

8. What do you consider to be the message of Harrison Bergeron (there are multiple)? What leads you
to this understanding of the text?

8. How do George and Hazel react to the televised murder of their son?

W. H. Auden - The Unknown Citizen"

He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be
One against whom there was no official complaint,
And all the reports on his conduct agree
That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint
For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.
Except for the War till the day he retired
He worked in a factory and never got fired,
But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.
Yet he wasn't a scab or odd in his views,
For his Union reports that he paid his dues,
(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)
And our Social Psychology workers found
That he was Popular with his mates and liked to drink.
The Press are convinced that he bought a Paper every day
And that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.
Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured
And his Health-card shows he was once in a hospital but left it cured,
Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declare
He was fully sensible to the advantages of the Installment Plan
And had everything necessary to the Modern Man,
A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
Our researchers into Public Opinion are content
That he held the proper opinions for the time of year;
When there was peace he was for peace when there was war he went.
He was married and and added five children to the population,
Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation,
And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education.
Was he free? Was he Happy? The question is absurd:
Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.
Discussion Questions:
1. What do you think about this man? Do you find him honorable and patriotic for living in his country,
following all the rules, and being the ideal governments citizen; or do you find it dishonorable that he
lived simply as an ordinary man?

2. Was this man free? Happy?

3. If you died tomorrow, what would your epitaph say?

4. Would what you want it to say differ from what it would say if you died tomorrow?

SPOILER ALERT:
YOU DONT HAVE TO READ THIS BUTHERE IS THE WHOLE STORY SUMMARIZED!! IT MIGHT HELP TO
READ IT
The story is set in London, chief city of Airstrip One, which is part of Oceania. Oceania is in a state of
constant war, against either Eurasia or Eastasia, the other two great power blocks. The Head of Oceania
is Big Brother. There are three classes in Oceania: the Inner Party, which effectively rules Oceania; the
Outer Party, to which Winston Smith belongs; and the proles, who might be seen as the working class.
At the start of the novel, Winston is rebelling against Big Brother by buying a book that he uses as a
diary and in which he writes DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER. He has come to believe that OBrien, an Inner
Party member, is also a secret rebel with whom he has a special sympathy. He suspects a dark-haired
fellow-worker, whom he later discovers is called Julia, of being a member of the Thought Police and
intending to find evidence for denouncing him.
As their paths continue to cross, Winston is stunned to receive a note from Julia saying I love you,
which changes his vague intention of murdering her into falling in with her plan to meet him and make
love to him. Their relationship is at first only physical. Winston rents a room over a shop run by an
apparently harmless old man, Mr Charrington. The room becomes their regular meeting-place.
OBrien contacts Winston, inviting him to his apartment and recruits him into the Brotherhood, an
organisation headed by Emanuel Goldstein and aimed at overthrowing the Party and Big Brother.
OBrien gives Winston a book, supposedly written by Goldstein, explaining how the Party has been able
to gain and keep power in Oceania. Shortly after, Winston and Julia are arrested by the Thought Police in
the room over the shop; Mr Charrington is a member of the Thought Police who have been watching
Winston and Julia through a concealed telescreen in the room.
Winstons relationship with Julia has deepened into love, an emotion which the Party allows its
members to feel only for Big Brother. Winston and Julia are taken to the Ministry of Love where they are
tortured and betray each other, at least in words if not in their hearts. OBrien, far from being a member
of the Brotherhood becomes Winstons main torturer, breaking him in body and spirit.
Winston, however, has not betrayed Julia in his heart. He does so only when OBrien brings him face to
face in Room 101 with what for him is the worst thing in the world, in his case, rats. Shouting
frantically that Julia should take this punishment, not him, he betrays Julia, loses the emotions that
make him human, and his rebellion against Big Brother and the Party is over. The Party has won. He
loved Big Brother.

Key Terms:

Doublethink the ability to believe two contradictory things at the same time
Newspeak the language of Oceania
Ingsoc Oceanias form of government
Thought crime thinking anti-party thoughts
Inner Party/Outer party those closest to Big Brother and those on the outside
Proles the lower classes who live in a separate part of the city

Chapters I, II, III

1. Who is the main character? Briefly describe the main character.

2. What is the setting of the novel? Give the country and the city.

3. What are the three slogans of the Party? Write them the way they are shown in the novel.

4. What does the caption on the posters say?

5. Name each of the Ministries and explain its function. Also include the Newspeak name for
each ministry.

6. What date does the main character record?

7. Describe the two people the main character sees just before the Two Minutes Hate.
Tell what he thinks of each of these people.

8. Explain the importance of Emmanuel Goldstein. Also describe the way his image looks.

9. Explain the importance of Big Brother. Also describe the way his image looks.

10. What crime does the main character commit? How does he do this? What is the punishment?

11. What is the telescreen and how is it used?

12. Describe thoughtcrime and give an example.

Diary Writing
Objectives: Relating literature to life Identifying the major concerns and thematic ideas of the text
Put yourself in Winstons situation. Imagine you have just started your secret diary. After you have
scribbled DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER numerous times, been accosted by the Parsons children, and
been told the chocolate ration is reduced; you sit down in order to begin writing a meaningful entry into
your diary.
When Winston first begins to write, he believes that he is writing for the future, for the people who will
live after the reign of Big Brother, after the end of INGSOC.
Imagine what kind of information you, as Winston, want to preserve for the future. Which descriptions,
facts, and events do you need to include in your diary to enable future generations to understand the
way of life in 1984? What advice and what warnings do you want to write down in order to ensure that
the age of Big Brother will never be repeated and that future generations can live in a state of peace and
equality?
After the quotation from 1984 that follows, continue Smiths thoughts and write a few additional
paragraphs.
We have begun a diary entry for you, but you can start yours any way you want. It is the year 1984. My
name is Winston Smith, and I am a member of the outer Party of INGSOC. I live in Oceania, and I work at
the Ministry of Truth.
You see, 1984 is the age of Big Brother...

Chapters IV, V, VI
1. What happens to the rewritten news articles after Winston puts them into the pneumatic tube?
Why is this significant?

2. Winston thinks that what he does is not forgery. What does he think it is?

3. What is Winstons greatest pleasure in his life, and why is it so?

4. Describe the aim of Newspeak and how it works.

5. What is Symes observation about Winstons appreciation of Newspeak?

6. Winston is at lunch when the message on the telescreen relates the good news about increases
in production, including that the chocolate ration has been raised to twenty grams a week. What
is Winston thinking as he hears this message?

7. What is facecrime? Give an example.

8. Who is looking at Winston during lunch? How does this affect him?

9. What is the aim of the Party with regard to male-female relationships and sex?

10. What is the Partys policy on marriage, divorce, and children?

Point of View
Objective: Understanding an authors use of point of view to create meaning in the story
1984 is written from a third-person limited point of view. All events and actions are viewed from
Winstons perspective. The reader gains information about people, events, and situations by learning
what is perceived, thought, experienced, and remembered by Winston.
For example, when Winston receives OBriens invitation to visit him at his house and pick up the
dictionary, Winston concludes that he has finally found access into the secret rebellion, the
Brotherhood:
Perhaps there would even be a message concealed somewhere in the dictionary. But at
any rate, one thing was certain. The conspiracy that he had dreamed of did exist, and he
had reached the outer edges of it.
When the book states that one thing was certain. The conspiracy...did exist, it becomes clear that the
narrator tells the story exclusively from Winstons point of view. The outcome of the story will prove
that Winstonsand the narratorsassertions are wrong.
Find passages in the text that demonstrate how the story is told through Winstons eyes only. Then,
explain how this third-person limited point of view contributes to the readers understanding of the text
and its outcomes.

Chapters VII, VIII

1. Where does Winston think hope lies? Why?

2. What is the Party belief about the proles?

3. Describe the one time that Winston held real evidence of an act of falsification.

4. What bothers Winston the most, along with the sense of nightmare?

5. What bothers Winston more than the thought that he might be a lunatic?

6. What is the heresy of heresies? Why is that terrifying to Winston?

The heresy of heresies is common sense. It is terrifying to Winston that the Party might be right
in its ideas.

7. For whom does Winston realize he is writing his diary? Why?

8. What is the final, most essential command of the Party?

9. What does Winston write in his diary?

10. Describe what happens when Winston goes to the antique shop, and who he sees when he
comes out.

SYMBOLS IN 1984
The strongest symbol in 1984 is that of Big Brother, the totalitarian leader of Oceania. Draw a
version of a Big Brother poster in the box below. Use elements of the story you have read thus
far to create a total, original image. Do not simple copy previous images that you have seen.
Take the themes and ideas and create something totally new! Below your image, explain in detail
what elements of the story you incorporated into your Big Brother image.

Theme
Objectives: Recognizing thematic ideas Relating literature to life and history
In 1984, Orwell describes Winstons view on the Oceanian political system, INGSOC, and the possibility
of rebellion:
If there was hope, it must lie with the proles, because only there, in those swarming
disregarded masses, eighty-five percent of the population of Oceania, could the force to
destroy the Party ever be generated. The Party could not be overthrown from within. Its
enemies, if it had any enemies, had no way of coming together or even of identifying one
another. Even if the legendary brotherhood existed, as just possibly it might, it was
inconceivable that its members could ever assemble in larger numbers than twos and
threes. Rebellion meant a look in the eyes, an inflection of the voice, an occasional
whispered word. But the proles, if only they could somehow become conscious of their
own strength, would have no need to conspire. They needed only to rise up and shake
themselves like a horse shaking off flies. If they chose they could blow the party to pieces
tomorrow morning. Surely sooner or later it must occur to them to do it. The Party
claimed, of course, to have liberated the proles from bondage. Before the revolution they
had been hideously oppressed by the capitalists, they had been starved and flogged,
women had been forced to work in coal mines (women still did work in the coal mines, as
a matter of fact), children had been sold into the factories at the age of six. But
simultaneously, true to the principles of doublethink, the Party taught that the proles
were natural inferiors who must be kept in subjection, like animals, by the application of
a few simple rules. In reality very little was known about the proles. It was not necessary
to know much. So long as they continued to work and breed, their other activities were
without importance.

Critics have argued that Orwell responded to some of the political issues of his time in 1984. The novel
was written in 1949. Use the library and/or Internet to research the terms socialism, communism, and
totalitarianism in relation to Orwells time. Collect your findings and list them in the following chart.

Theme Analysis
Find examples of each theme; fill in the boxes to further explore themes presented in Section 1.
Theme

Individuality/Freedom of
Thought and Speech

Power of Language

Illegal Love

Memory and History

Sensation Equals Freedom;

what is true Freedom

Rebellion

Manipulation/Propaganda

Power

Fear of Technology and

Security

Example (paraphrased or quoted)

with page number

Analysis

CONFLICTS
All of the possible conflicts exist in the novel 1984. Take a moment to think about each and analyze
where they are in the story.

TYPES OF CONFLICT

MAN V. _____________

MAN V. _____________

MAN V. _____________

MAN V. _____________

MAN V. _____________

MAN V. _____________

MAN V. _____________

EXAMPLE

ANALYSIS

STORYBOARD 1
Types of Conflict/Themes Found In Literature
Identifying major themes of literature and analyzing their development throughout a piece of text is part
of ELA common core standards for grades 9-12 (Literacy.RL.9-10.2, Literacy.RL11-12.2). A common
approach for this standard is to teach about the Big Four types of literary conflict: Man vs. Man, Man
vs. Nature, Man vs. Society, and Man vs. Self.
Using Storyboard That (http://www.storyboardthat.com/) or a physical storyboard, illustrate and write
captions for explaining 1 theme and 1 conflict from 1984 thus far.

Example: