Study Guide

Totalitarian Novels
Lecture 1
1984: Pain
Suggested Readings

● George Orwell, 1984.

Outline

0:00-8:59 — Totalitarianism
● Since antiquity, tyranny has been understood as the worst regime.
● Modern totalitarianism is tyranny with two additional characteristics that make it more pervasive,
controlling, and vile.
o Totalitarianism is animated by ideologies that promise utopia and justify the human
misery and death it imposes for the sake of the good it seeks.
o Totalitarianism utilizes modern technology and science to create a surveillance state,
censor and influence public opinion, and threaten greater violence in ways prior tyrannies
could not.

9:00-19:09 — Oceania
● Oceania is the totalitarian state in 1984. It is led by Big Brother and split into the Inner Party, Outer
Party and Proles.
● ere are four Party ministries that are used to govern society:
o e Ministry of Truth is the organ for propaganda.
o e Ministry of Love is the organ for arresting and torturing thought criminals.
o e Ministry of Plenty is the organ for supervising rationing.
o e Ministry of Peace is the organ for conducting war.
● e Party demands “doublethink”—to think two contradictory ideas to be true at the same time,
without questioning the contradiction. It develops “newspeak” to control the words with which
thoughts can be formed.
● e family is corrupted as children are taught to spy on and report their parents.

19:10-29:03 — Oceania
● e plot of the novel centers around Winston and Julia’s love affair, which is an act of rebellion against
the party. ey pursue love for each other that is private and more important than the party.
● e final resolution of the novel is Winston and Julia betraying their love for each other under torture.

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• Winston Smith: a 39-year-old Outer Party member. Winston works at the Ministry of Truth where
he rewrites historical documents and news articles to coincide with the Party’s narrative.

• Julia: a 26-year-old Outer Party member. Julia and Winston fall in love in rebellion against the party.
She works for the Fiction Department at the Ministry of Truth.

• O’Brien: a high-ranking Inner Party member. O’Brien pretends to befriend Julia and Winston in
their rebellion but betrays and tortures them.

• Big Brother: the leader of the Party ruling Oceania. Big Brother is always watching. His image is
everywhere to reinforce his omnipresence and omnipotence.

• Thought Police: the secret police of the Party. They detect, prosecute, and eliminate any thoughts or
beliefs that contradict the Party before it turns into action against the Party.

• Syme: one of Winston’s coworkers at the Ministry of Truth who revises the New Speak dictionary.
Syme is fervently loyal to the Party but is killed for having independent thoughts.

• Parsons: one of Winston’s coworkers at the Ministry of Truth. Parsons is entirely loyal to Big Brother
but is arrested after his children accuse him of thoughtcrimes in his sleep.

• Mr. Charrington: an elderly man who rents a room to Winston and Julia above his antique shop.
Mr. Charrington is secretly a member of the Thought Police.

• Emmanuel Goldstein: The purported leader of an underground resistance movement called the
Brotherhood. It is unclear whether he is real or a creation of the Party to expose rebels.

Plot Summary
George Orwell published 1984 in 1949. The novel is set in Airstrip One, which is formerly Britain.
Airstrip One is a province in the totalitarian superstate of Oceania. There are three superstates—
Oceania, Eastasia, and Eurasia. They engage in perpetual war with each other.

The protagonist’s name is Winston Smith. The novel opens with Winston returning to his old,
rundown apartment. Every apartment has a telescreen through which the party closely monitors
everyone. The telescreens also transmit propaganda into every apartment. Winston works at the
Ministry of Truth, where his job is to “correct” historical records so they align with the Party’s current
narrative. The Party is continuously rewriting history to fit its narrative.

Winston hates the Party. He keeps a diary to record his private thoughts, which is seditious activity.
He eventually meets Julia, who is a young, attractive woman who is in love with him out of rebellion
to the party. They engage in an affair, which is forbidden by the Party, and rent a room from Mr.

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Mr. Charrington eventually reveals himself to be a member of the Thought Police and turns in
Winston and Julia for their subversive affair. They are taken to the Ministry of Love where they are
tortured by O’Brien. O’Brien tortures Winston to the point of controlling what he thinks is true, even
the basic mathematical truth that 2 + 2 = 4. O’Brien admits that the goal of the Party is to torture its
members as the only real means to know that obedience to the Party stems from its power.

Winston holds out against this torture until O’Brien puts a cage filled with hungry rats to his face.
This final act breaks Winston as he betrays his love for Julia by screaming for O’Brien to torture her
instead. The novel ends with Winston in total submission to Big Brother. He now loves Big Brother.

Discussion Questions

Is it possible to eliminate or take control of that private part in the mind of each person and completely
control it like Orwell presents as happening to Winston?

How does our perception of the past affect our perception of reality?

Is there any hope found in reading 1984?

Notes

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