1984 by Orwell - full summary, Schemi e mappe concettuali di Inglese

Scarica 1984 by Orwell - full summary e più Schemi e mappe concettuali in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! 1984 by GEORGE ORWELL Introduction Describes the danger of a future world where totalitarian societies could be dominant and prevail. The writer was inspired by some totalitarian society that he could see before and during World War II. This is one of the main points. Orwell is against any kind of totalitarian society even if he was a socialist. Is a political dystopia, based on a non existing negative place projected in the future. Orwell wrote this book in 1948, the title comes from here because he swaps the numbers 4-8. There are 3 blocks with privileged and no priviliged people The story The story is set in 1984: the world, following World War III, is completely changed. Now there are the following continents: Oceania, Eurasia, Eastasia, which constantly fight among them. Oceania is led by an omnipotent and supreme leader no one has ever seen: Big Brother, which is continuously at war with the other two states. His eyes are the telescreens that spy the daily life of every citizen, allowing the ‘Thought Police’ to identify anyone who might compromise the security. Big Brother dictates all the rules and all the citizens must obey them. He watches the others not because is taking care, but he controls. In order to control people's lives, the Party is implementing 'Newspeak', an invented language with a limited number of words, and threatening them through the ‘Thought Police'. Free thought, sex and any expression of individuality are forbidden, but the protagonist, Winston Smith, illegally buys a diary in which he begins to write his thoughts and memories, addressing them to the future generations. The main character of the novel is Winston Smith, a member of the middle class Outer Party, who lives in a one-room apartment in London. He works at the Ministry of Truth as an editor. He is responsible for historical revisionism, so he rewrites records and documents to conform to the state’s ever-changing vision of history itself. Despite being good at his job, Winston begins writing a personal journal where he criticizes the Party and its leader, Big Brother. One day Winston notices an attractive dark-haired girl staring at him, and is afraid she might be an informant who will prove him guilty of thoughtcrime'. The girl's name is Julia; she proves to also have a rebellious attitude, and they begin a secret affair. Weeks later, Winston is approached by O’Brien, an Inner Party member whom Winston believes is an agent of the Brotherhood, a secret underground society that intends to destroy the Party. They arrange a meeting at O’brien’s flat where both Winston and Julia swear allegiance to the brotherhood. O'Brien gives Winston a copy of Goldstein's book, the manifesto of the Brotherhood. Winston is reading it to Julia in their room when some soldiers suddenly break in and arrest them. He is taken to the 'Ministry of Love', where he finds out that O'Brien is a Party spy. O'Brien tortures and brainwashes Winston for months, but he struggles to resist. At last, O'Brien sends him to 'Room 101', the final destination for those who oppose the Party. Here, Winston is forced to confront his worst fear: rats on his head, ready to eat his face. Winston's will is shattered, he betrays Julia and their secret relationship and is released into the outside world. Here he meets Julia, but he doesn't love her anymore. He completely gave up his identity and learned to love Big Brother. Ministry of Love (Miniluv) → It enforces loyalty to Big Brother through fear, using a massive apparatus of security and repression as well as systematic brainwashing. It is the most powerful Ministry, controlling the will of the population. Its ultimate aim is to instill love for Big Brother and to establish law and order. Thus it includes the Thought Police who look for people who might be thinking thoughts contrary to the Party’s interests. They look for facial expressions, off handed remark → a thought crime means having a thought that the Party doesn’t like , the penalties range from camps to tortures to death. They use psychology, surveillance to search, find, monitor and arrest members of society who could potentially challenge authorities, even only by thought. They use terror and torture , they also eliminate very intelligent people. Ministry of Truth (Minitrue) → It’s Oceania’s propaganda Ministry , responsible for any falsification of historical events in order to show a government-approved version of events. It also spreads the new language, Newspeak. It is the Ministry where Winston Smith works. It spreads lies, it censors all print media, revises history, changes the past. Ministry of Peace (Minipax) → conducts war. Ministry of Plenty (Miniplenty) → takes control of the economic affairs, it controls and rations food supply to keep people near starvation. Winston Smith → he tries to maintain his individuality, he attempts to write a diary in which his private memory is defended against the official rewriting of history. He is middle-aged and physically weak. He experiences alienation from society and feels the desire for spiritual and moral integrity.        Dystopic features of “1984”  - It gives a frightening picture of the future; - It is set in a grotesque, menacing, squalid London; - Future world in which a tyrannical power headed by the dictator Big Brother controls man’s actions and thoughts through telescreens and microphones; - It foretells a mass society whose ideas and minds are manipulated and controlled by mass- medias; - No privacy: monitors are set in every street and room and they watch every step people take; - Love is forbidden; - The country is in a perpetual state of war; - The Party has absolute control of press, communication and propaganda; - Introduction of a new language called Newspeak: language has undergone a limitation and reduction of words so that people find more and more difficult to express their own ideas; - Rebellion against rules is prohibited with prison or torture; - Sense of loss, feeling that all positive values (beauty, truth, love, sincerity,..) belong to the past; - It reveals references to the reality of totalitarian systems. THEMES 1984 is a satire on hierarchical societies which destroy fraternity. The dictator is called BIg Brother but here “watching” does not mean “taking care” but “controlling”. Memory and mutual trust become positive themes in the struggle of Winston to maintain his individuality. Orwell believed that if a man has someone to trust, his individuality cannot be destroyed because his identity arises from interaction. Decency is tolerance, respect, empathy and it is very important for political action and civic culture. For Orwell the major theme of memory is linked to a view of morality. An ideal society after revolution does not have to change the values but has to respect the old and create new ones. This is a completely democratic and ideal point of view.    BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU  The novel takes place in London which is a completely changed London. It has many elements of a burden town, especially at the end of the beginning. We can see even if the novel takes place in 1984 the past tenses are mainly used inside the narration. This choice is to give a sort of real atmosphere to everything, the novel is a warning against a possible totalitarian state society, but these past tenses make us know that this world will certainly take place if we go on in fascination with the idea of a totalitarian society. There is a third person narrator, an omniscient narrator and in this case he always shares the impressions and visions of reality expressed by Winston Smith. He is a sort of example of someone who is very common and someone who is special and wants to be a rebel. Smith is the most widespread surname in England while Winston refers to Winston Churchill and this is a sort of irony by Orwell. There are many other elements that recall the atmosphere of war. For example the use of victory, the fact that many things don’t work perfectly, a sort of squalid atmosphere. Everything was typical of war times and totalitarian society. Things don’t work well but they were supposed to do. The propaganda is that everything was alright. There are also other elements of the totalitarian society, the use of technology, of a metal plack that is there to perceive all the sounds, helicopters to control people. Winston appears as a sort of anti hero because he is 39, he works slowly, he had several times so he is not the representation of the hero. He is very thin and so on. There are also many representations of this Big Brother, there are posters in many places but also some elements belonging in reality to Stalin and Hitler. There are many elements taken from the reality of World War II. Another important poem is when there is the system of control that is perfectioned by the police that is controlling any individual’s