George Orwell English Writer/Journalist Eric Arthur Blair (1903 –1950)

1. George OrwellEnglish Writer/JournalistEric Arthur Blair (1903 –1950) His work is marked by sharp wit and keen insight about social justice. 1984 and Animal Farm have sold more copies than any other books in the 20th century!!!!

2. 1984 • Written in 1949, 1984 takes place in a fictional oligarchical society called “Airstrip One” in the Country of “Oceana.”

3. Characters of 1984 • Big Brother: the Faceless Government force which spies on citizens and seeks to control freedom through mind control • Winston Smith: A intellectual, questioning man of slight build who works at the ministry of truth • Julia: Winston’s girlfriend who works at the department of fiction. • O’Brien: A mysterious, powerful member of the “inner party” whom Winston suspects is a rebel

4. Basic Plotline (conflict) • The Government, known as “Big Brother” constantly spies on its citizens and practices “mind control” on them through TV monitors which exist everywhere • Winston feels uncomfortable with the society’s constant surveillance of him, purchases a diary and begins recording his private thoughts. • He “illegally” falls in love with a girl and tries to live in a society where he doesn’t know who he can really trust

5. “The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats. At one end of it a coloured poster, too large for indoor display, had been tacked to the wall. It depicted simply an enormous face, more than a metre wide: the face of a man of about forty-five, with a heavy black moustache and ruggedly handsome features. Winston made for the stairs. It was no use trying the lift. Even at the best of times it was seldom working, and at present the electric current was cut off during daylight hours. (page 1) • It was part of the economy drive in preparation for Hate Week. The flat was seven flights up, and Winston, who was thirty-nine and had a varicose ulcer above his right ankle, went slowly, resting several times on the way. On each landing, opposite the lift-shaft, the poster with the enormous face gazed from the wall. It was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran.”(page 1)

6. Bookflavor.com • George Orwell's classic was incredibly visionary. It is hardly fathomable that this book was written in 1948. Things that we take for granted today - cameras everywhere we go, phones being tapped, bodies being scanned for weapons remotely - all of these things were described in graphic detail in Orwell's book. Now that we have the Internet and people spying on other people w/ webcams and people purposely setting up their own webcams to let others "anonymously" watch them, you can see how this culture can develop into the Orwellian future described in "1984...”

7. Bookflavor.com • “This is one of those classics that I never got around to reading while in high school (it was required, but I just didn't read it ;)... At the request of a colleague I picked this book up last year and was blown away by point of the book. In the chaotic and unclear times we live in, I recommend this book to anyone and everyone who wants to understand what the point of the elite is and what the point of government is. Everything is about control and power ... AND KEEPING IT. We live in the novel 1984”

8. Resources • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell • http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/1984/characters.html • http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.newsrealblog.com • Book available online at: http://www.george-orwell.org/1984 • Audiobook available at:http://www.archive.org/details/George-Orwell-1984-Audio-book