Students, homework questions? Please read this first!

Hi there!

Because the same - or very similar - questions seem to get asked about 1984, we're in the process of starting some sticky threads to try to cover most topics arising from homework or study requirements.

Bear with us over the next week or so as Bazarov and I (and any other helpers - who will be most appreciated!) set the threads up.

If you do want to help, have ideas, or have input you'd like to make, please PM either Bazarov or myself so we don't double up on the workload.

Making LitNet the premier site on the internet for all things George Orwell!

(Well, it already is, but we're gonna make it even better)

what is the setting of the first chapter?

london. i am pretty sure.

If the question is where, then the answer is London.

soo.. i have this essay question for a final tomorrow and i really really really need help on it. so if anyone could give me input on the matter that would be GREAT. so here's the question:

1984 is the story of a totalitarian state which holds power by smashing every humanist value. The Party had declared war on the human mind and its tools: memory and language. In an essay ezplain how the party achieves this "war" by using concrete examples from the novel.

well the dehumanization in use of language has to do with the principles of newspeak (see the section of 1984 after the actual story ends. well at least it is in the book i own.) Newspeak contains no creative aspect. It has simple, concrete words to express everything. There are no synonyms or similar words. Also, it takes away negitive words from direct speech. For instance, "bad" is expressed as "ungood." This speech eliminates any form of rebellious thought because we think in words. If our language is not creative, then our thought can't be creative either. (and by the way i do not take and do not try to take ANY credit for what i just wrote. I basically quoted "Principles of Newspeak" from the back of 1984). As far as memories, "Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present, controls the past." The party is recognized as right in every aspect. If a man is killed, then every record of his existance is destroyed, and the party says that he never existed, then he never existed. People are brainwashed into believing whatever the party tells them, even if it goes against what they remember.
I hope I have helped you at least a little.
~kevin

PS: do you know how to post new threads? I couldnt f-n figure it out!:crash:

I am writting an essay about how Orwell explores the theme of control. I have chosen to focus on the physical setting, the way the controllers and the controlled are contrasted, the motif of the lack of privacy, and the use of fear and intimidation to control.
As you would expect, there are plenty of examples of all of these in the text, however, i am having trouble linking the way in which Orwell explores these areas and the subsequent effects on the reader.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Karlt

As you would expect, there are plenty of examples of all of these in the text, however, i am having trouble linking the way in which Orwell explores these areas and the subsequent effects on the reader.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

---

Not sure exactly what you're after here as the effect on readers seems to run concurrently with the story - we feel the fear as the reality of being watched 100% of time is revealed. Although we live in a different world to Orwell in 1948, privacy is still prized with a man's house still his castle, the exact opposite of 1984.

Ah yes, I haven't explained myself very well. I am doing a comparative essay on One Day In The Live Of Ivan Denisovich by Solzhenitsyn and of course Nineteen Eighty-Four in which i compare how the two authors explore the theme of control. I stated before the key points I am looking at. If anyone has ideas (especially The Atheist:) ) about how i can develop these ideas, even if they don't have a knowledge of "One Day" that would be great.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Karlt

Ah yes, I haven't explained myself very well. I am doing a comparative essay on One Day In The Live Of Ivan Denisovich by Solzhenitsyn and of course Nineteen Eighty-Four in which i compare how the two authors explore the theme of control. I stated before the key points I am looking at. If anyone has ideas (especially The Atheist:) ) about how i can develop these ideas, even if they don't have a knowledge of "One Day" that would be great.

---

Ok - it's many years since I read Ivan Denisovich, but I do recall the control mechanisms being similar to 1984. That was Orwell's point, really - all totalitarian regimes must enforce the same controls to keep power.

The logical start is media control. While the USSR didn't try to change history, the output of media was every bit as sanitised for party purposes as in 1984.

Along with that, the spies reporting on friends and family in 1984 bears a lot of similarity to what USSR tried to institute. While few bought the idea of being a hero by turning in people with traitorous thoughts or actions, some did use it as a way of ingratiating themselves with KGB and the party.

USSR used an extensive network of KGB and associates to actively spy on people using the technology available - there's no doubt that had they had the ability to watch everyone through telescreens, they would have.

In both societies - real and imaginary - the theme of control starts at birth. Indoctrination in party rules permeated every school and house.

The message is clear - to preserve individual freedom, we must fight against central control. Ivan Denisovich is a great comparison, because in 1984 we see the theoretical effects of total surveillance, while ID gives us the historical view of what actually does happen.

Orwell uses scare tactics to hammer the message home, while Solzhenitsyn lets the actions speak for themselves.

The key driver in both books is to play on fear. Scary movies use fear as a means of entertainment, the two books you've chosen use fear as a means of controlling us - to make the reader see it the way the authors see it, they have used fear to ensure we come up with the inescapable conclusion.

You're doing this at a really good time, because this thread gives you a couple of current examples you can use about how the fear factor of 1984 can actually be too much for some people - check out the couple of respondents who think Winston was not destroyed. In their case, the message might be missed because they have recoiled against the fear brought on by the message.

Hoping all that helps in some way - it looks a bit disjointed reading my own post, but I hope I've covered the salient points!

If not, keep asking...

I am in serious need of help!!!

I have an essay due in less than 16 hrs & my assignment is to

"write an essay in which i explain how the a character in the novel 1984

could be viewed as morally ambigious and why his moral ambiguity is

significant to the work as a whole."


in the essay i must include 5 quotes from the novel (including chapter it came from)

i dont know where to start..so as you can see i am totally lost and i really need someone's help.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TiGGeR LoVeR

I am in serious need of help!!!

I have an essay due in less than 16 hrs & my assignment is to

"write an essay in which i explain how the a character in the novel 1984

could be viewed as morally ambigious and why his moral ambiguity is

significant to the work as a whole."


in the essay i must include 5 quotes from the novel (including chapter it came from)

i dont know where to start..so as you can see i am totally lost and i really need someone's help.

---

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?

I was just wondering about the ulcer. Winston seems to mention it a lot. Is it a big part of the book? Why does he have it? This was just something that caught my eye, thank you!:)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Broadwaygirl

I was just wondering about the ulcer. Winston seems to mention it a lot. Is it a big part of the book? Why does he have it? This was just something that caught my eye, thank you!:)

---

It was just part of the general malaise of Winston. He was not a well man - Orwell again inserting himself into the story - with poor lungs, no flexibility and stomach ulcer. In those days, stomach ulcers were thought to result from stress and poor nutrition, which would have encouraged Orwell to give Winston one.

Luckily, we now know they're caused by bacterial infections and anyone can get one.

Pretty sure there's no more significance than that.

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.

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.

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