Notes
KEY THEMES
Content of the notes (4)
Page 1
TOTALITARIANISM
- Warning
- He demonstrates the terrifying degree of power and control a totalitarian regime can acquire
- Personal rights, freedom and individual thought are pulverised
- Spain + Russia
- Franco + Stalin + Hitler and the Nazis
- Rise of communism = destruction of: civil liberties, honest government and economic strength
- The party is unflawed in it's universal control over society
- evidencced by its ability to break even an independent thinker such as Winston
- In ending the novel with Winston's defeat, Orwell clearly suggests that their is no hope for stopping the expansion of such a perfectly established regime
- Orwell warns that at the time this outcome was in the realm of possibility long as the world supported and embraced communism
Page 2
LOVE + SEXUALITY
Page 3
POWER + CONTROL
'Big Brother's watching you'
The ministry of truth manipulates history and reshapes the memories of society, in order to create their perfect scenario and have more control over people's minds.
The power that O'Brien has over Winston's beliefs and mindsets at the end of the mirrors the Party's control over society in general.
CONTEXT
Before - 1984 was in the future so it was still a possibility/outcome
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