Students, homework questions? Please read this first!

[bazarov]

That has never been talked deep before...there is no such a thing. Pick one of stickies and make a massive review.
BB and The party or Thought Police looks here like most interesting and reviewed.

[The Atheist]

Hi, everybody, my first post here! I have a very big problem on writing a 5000-word thesis on 1984. The funny thing is, none of my supervisors has read this book, yet they still manage to point fingers on my selected topic.

You what?

I'm guessing your subject is English, so I find it almost incredible that none of the supervisors have read 1984.

I'm required to choose a specific topic(should be narrowed down) that has never been talked deep before, yet once mentioned in some authorities or experts or professors'(anyone has reputation, influence on English literature) articles, papers etc.. So I have to do massive literature reviews. I'm merely an undergraduate. I feel all I want to write or reflect have already been discussed by others. I'm trapped.

As Bazarov says, it isn't possible to find a part of 1984 which hasn't already been 1000 times, so that's an incredibly naive thing for a teacher to suggest.

I recommend you go back to the teachers and point this out. You'd be left with discussing why Winston had such a bad cough.

So could anyone give me some suggestions on the thesis topic? And the topic "should has significances". Thank you very much!

After you've clarified it with the teacher, come back in and see if we can make some progress, because the task you've been given is impossible.

Please do direct your teacher to this thread as evidence that what you've been asked to do can't be done.

[Psycho-1960]

Thank you, bazarov and The Atheist. Yes you guys are right. And my interest is always the Proles and emotion control. One supervisor suggested "Asceticism in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four". You bet, I'm an English major in China, and none of my supervisors've read 1984, not even Chinese version. They kind of heard of it.

The reason they want the subject "untalked"(newspeak ;P) deep is that if one subject has been discussed so much by professors or experts, there's no need for you to summerize their opinions.

About a subject like "why winston had such a bad cought" is similar to what I lifted before: "why uses Virginia Woolf to replace the Big Bad Wolf in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" And this kind of questions can be answered within a paragraph, no extension to a 5000-word thesis. XD All my peers have this kind of problem.

But the teachers won't change the directions of choosing topics. And this rule of propose a research topic exists for several years. Here's an example they gave: Topic "The Madmen in King Lear" and topic "The Madmen in King Lear and Merchants of Venice" are different because the first one is analysis of madmen in King Lear, the latter one is talking about the similarities or differences between the madmen in these two plays. And the latter one is preferred to be the subject for the madmen in both plays have been researched alone, yet their connection not been discussed.

It's a bit of lengthy to explain more, hope you understand what I mean to say. Do you think Asceticism in Nineteen Eighty-Four is worth discussed?

[The Atheist]

Wow. They work you guys hard in China!

I doubt most NZ students would 5000 words in all three years! And certainly not in one go below Master's level, but you have to live with it.

Yes, ascetism and 1984 is a good one. How you keep it going for 5000 words is the trick...

I'd go with the obvious description of ascetism to kill off a few hundred words, then explain where it fits into the story. Why it's enforced by the Party, why it isn't enforced for Inner Party members.

You could get into links with yoga and join in Winston's physical jerks as part of the learning. The usual idea of ascetism is to live cleaner, healthier lives fits in nicely and you can even bring in Julia's Celibacy League (I think) as another branch.

Might work.

Good luck!

Let us know how you got on and feel free to post a draft before you hand it in. I think you'll go quite well - you're already smarter than your classmates as I don't see any other ones talking about it.

[Psycho-1960]

Thanks for the advices, exactly the outlines I've been thinking about. And thanks for the encouragement. I have to write a 1000-word proposal for the topic, and only start the work after the approval of the committee of thesis writing in the upcoming new semester. ;p

Bibliography just killed me. XD

Thanks again!

[bazarov]

Thank you, bazarov and The Atheist. Yes you guys are right. And my interest is always the Proles and emotion control. One supervisor suggested "Asceticism in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four". You bet, I'm an English major in China, and none of my supervisors've read 1984, not even Chinese version. They kind of heard of it.

My God, you remind me on Kafka's Josef K. How can they supervise you if they haven't read it?!
Good luck; I agree with Atheist on thesis.

P.S. If they haven't read it; did anyone ever tried to put something that actually has nothing to do with the story? That would be fun. Like - fall of Big Brother!

[The Atheist]

P.S. If they haven't read it; did anyone ever tried to put something that actually has nothing to do with the story? That would be fun. Like - fall of Big Brother!

Great idea - they want something which has never been discussed before, so that would fit!

[Psycho-1960]

Agree! Good point!

[bazarov]

But would it be allowed in China to write about fall of Big Brother and Party?

[Psycho-1960]

I'm afraid bazarov, it's not OK to talk about it publicly cuz there's only ONE party in China. ;p But don't forget to state clear that you're commenting on the society in the book, nothing else.

[Belizabeth]

what is the setting of the first chapter?

Oceania.

You read it right?

1984 = most annoying in a sense since nearly every high school assigns it and it gets old quick LOL...

Morally ambiguous because the gov't has restricted everything...which if you think about it, strips people of moral values...if nearly everything and every thought it banned and you are arrested for petty things such as a bad thought, then living in that society, how can one tell that having a bad thought is a lesser crime than murder? You'd get arrested for both in 1984 and disposed of for both...so if raised in that world, how do you know the difference that a bad thought is normal and a lesser crime than murder?

It's been a banned book of course they're gong to have it out there for high schoolers to read. It's actually something that can get them interested.

i mean duh tell some teenagers that there's controversy and that they use to not be able to read the book and they'll jump at the chance to explore why..

[Dark Lady]

May I first of all say that I greatly admire the task bazarov and The Athiest have decided to take on here. I've just skimmed through all the sticky threads here and would like to say well done guys.

It's been at least a few years since I've read 1984, although I do remembering loving it. I've found it interesting to note the comments about every high-school student having to study it as I never have! In fact I've never even read much about it since I read it (although I was obviously aware of how well-known and alluded to it was) and so was enthralled by these threads. I am considering writing about it in my Modern Lit exam as there are rich pickings for topics (as shown here) and I could see it fitting in very nicely with - even if it is in stark contrast to - other texts I've considered.

I have a question that I thought I'd put forward in this thread as it doesn't seem to fit in the other sticky threads. As I said it's been years since I read the novel so there are a lot of things I don't remember. Out of interest; are there any explicit references to the other countries? I remember there being wars, and the fact that every few years who they are at war with and who they are allied with changes (although not according to the Party, obviously) but how much do we learn about the state of these places? I'm just trying to remember if Orwell gives any indication of whether other places have a similar totalitarian government or whether there are still other more liberal states in existance.

[The Atheist]

I have a question that I thought I'd put forward in this thread as it doesn't seem to fit in the other sticky threads. As I said it's been years since I read the novel so there are a lot of things I don't remember. Out of interest; are there any explicit references to the other countries? I remember there being wars, and the fact that every few years who they are at war with and who they are allied with changes (although not according to the Party, obviously) but how much do we learn about the state of these places? I'm just trying to remember if Orwell gives any indication of whether other places have a similar totalitarian government or whether there are still other more liberal states in existance.

Orwell describes the world as being split into three totalitarian regimes, with the other two being Eastasia and Eurasia, split roughly along the lines of Europe + USSR being Eurasia and eastern Asia forming Eastasia. It is presumed that the other two have similar regimes to Oceania.

The only area not subject to any rule by one the three superpowers is Africa south of the Sahara, which is described as an area of tribal conflict, no rule and is one of the prizes fought for by the three superpowers. There are no countries as we understand them.

[Dark Lady]

Orwell describes the world as being split into three totalitarian regimes, with the other two being Eastasia and Eurasia, split roughly along the lines of Europe + USSR being Eurasia and eastern Asia forming Eastasia. It is presumed that the other two have similar regimes to Oceania.

The only area not subject to any rule by one the three superpowers is Africa south of the Sahara, which is described as an area of tribal conflict, no rule and is one of the prizes fought for by the three superpowers. There are no countries as we understand them.

Thank you for your swift reply! That's interesting. No mention of North or South America or Australia. I was just trying to get a view of Orwell's world to place Oceania in. That and procrastinating (the internet makes that much easier than it should be for me). I may well come back to your Orwellian sub-forum after I'm set free from university.

[The Atheist]

Thank you for your swift reply! That's interesting. No mention of North or South America or Australia. I was just trying to get a view of Orwell's world to place Oceania in. That and procrastinating (the internet makes that much easier than it should be for me). I may well come back to your Orwellian sub-forum after I'm set free from university.

Sorry, I figured you know that Oceania is UK + all of the Americas and the ex-Commonwealth countries in the Pacific - NZ, Australia & the Pacific Islands.