Category: English 10

In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, there are many examples of characterization. characterization in a novel is the way that a character is described either directly by telling you about the character or indirectly through STEAL (speech: what they say and how they say it, thoughts: what are they thinking, effect on others: how they impact another person, actions: what they do, looks: outward appearance) you can use STEAL to infer or guess from context aspects of the character. in the novel 1984 in chapter 8 of part 2 there are many great examples of characterization with the character Winston Smith such as when he is at Obrien’s house and the novel states, ” The terror that Winston already felt was suddenly shot through by a streak of ordinary embarrassment.” (Orwell 214) In this quote, it states directly that Winston is feeling embarrassed about his actions. indirect characterization is when a character is described through context and as mentioned earlier the STEAL acronym. a great example of indirect characterization is when O’Brien is questioning Winston’s loyalty and asks questions such as, “‘You are prepared to give your lives?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘You are prepared to commit murder?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘To commit acts of sabotage which may cause the death of hundreds of innocent people?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘To betray your country to foreign powers?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘You are prepared to cheat, to forge, to blackmail, to corrupt the minds of children?” (Orwell 217-218) This quote shows through Winston’s actions and speech that he is incredibly loyal to the cause of the brotherhood. this also shows his deep drive to want to change the way governing works in Airstrip One. in conclusion there are many great examples of characterization in the novel 1984, and characterization can be a great indicator of the way that certain characters behave and present themselves even without directly saying so.

The political spectrum is a spectrum in which the many political ideologies, are represented on a grid,  it goes along two axes, showing the ideology of a party (such as conservative, staying the same, and liberal, which is more change driven) the spectrum also goes up and down with authoritarian(more control) being at the top and libertarian (freedom). the difference between right and left wing politics is left wing is more pushing of change and equality and right wing is a more conservative view with less change and less taxes. an authoritarian government is when the government is much smaller and more controlling of the people, this may include more surveillance and government involvement. a more libertarian government involves less surveillance and a larger government, their is typically more freedom associated with libertarian’s governments and less government involvement in daily life. I believe that INGSOC and Big brother fall under the authoritarian, conservative spectrum. INGSOC has shown the be very involved in everyone’s lives, to the point where they are literally in every citizens house. they are also showing that they are not super keen on change or advancement and would rather keep things the same in order to maintain control

1. f) Provide examples of cancel culture in 1984.
2. g) Do you believe society should be able to cancel someone?
3. h) Who is Withers and who is Ogilvy?

In the novel 1984, there are examples of cancel culture (though it is not called cancel culture, rather it is called “Vaporizing”) some example of cancel culture in 1984 would be Withers who was a member of the inner party until he mysteriously disappeared and was presumed killed by the party. another example would be Emmanuel Goldstein who was a member of the inner party on a similar level to Big Brother until he showed opposing views and was ejected from the party, though he is not dead as far as we know, he has become the enemy of the people of airstrip one and is generally hated by all.

I think that having the ability to ruin someone’s career based on something they say is a very substantial power and I believe even in a perfect world, people will find ways to be offended by something and have the ability to destroy lives over something mildly offensive is a bit excessive. that being said I do believe that horrible people should not be given power and influence if they have been shown to do horrible things, i think that with cancelling someone the best approach is to be reasonable and not overreact.

in the novel 1984, Withers was a man in the book who was a member of the inner party before showing some form of opposition to the government and therefore was wiped from all databases and erased completely. the government was also believed to have executed withers. Comrade Ogilvy was a made up soldier working for the military whom died in combat evading eurasian jets. Ogilvy was created to replace a contradicting speech made by big brother

Winston Smith is the main character from the novel 1984, he is described as being a skinny relatively unhealthy man in his late 30s he has a varicose ulcer on his foot making it hard to walk. Winston Smith works for the outer party in the Ministry of Truth, keeping documents and recounting events. Winston lives in the Victory Heights apartment buildings. above the surface, he seems like a normal person but going a bit deeper into his head we see the brain of a man, broken and moulded by the standards of his totalitarian government. we see a man who views women as objects due to his inability to have independent thoughts or life (on account of the controlling government). Winston on the outside appears to see the government as completely acceptable but going into his mind we see a deep hatred for the government and a desire to overthrow “Big Brother”. in the recent chapters, we learned that Winston has now committed a “thought crime”(an instance of unorthodox or controversial thinking, considered a criminal offence or as socially unacceptable). by writing in a diary the phrase “Down with Big Brother” over and over in his diary. in conclusion, Winston is a man who hates the government and would prefer an alternate way of governing, he has shown to be guilty of thought crime and blatant misogyny. I do not particularly like some of the things that Winston has done such as being very self-absorbed and viewing women as sex objects, but I also believe that Winston is a very broken man who may do some of the things he does due to his instincts shaped by the government

.      Artists rendering of Winston above (artist unknown)

Eric Blair (better known as George Orwell, pictured below) was an author and activist who was born in 1903 until his untimely death in 1950 due to tuberculosis. Orwell is well known for his novels but was also well known for his poems, essays, journals, radio broadcasts and critiquing of other literature. most notably Orwell wrote the short story Animal Farm and the novel 1984. In addition to his contributions to literature, Orwell also fought in World War 2,  many of his stories (most notably 1984) are very clearly influenced by what he saw in WW2

Orwell wrote 1984 as he was fearful that a totalitarian government would take over Britain and the U.S. and wrote the book as a cautionary tale, to discourage going along the same path that the book takes. he wrote the book as a way to help people figure out what not to do and what the consequences their actions may have

The term Orwellian refers to a governing body trying to manipulate and twist language to force people to think the way they think. (ex. contradictory terms such as the ministry of peace [military], ministry of truth [propaganda dept] ,Ministry of Love [torture dept], joy-camps [work camps] many people think that the term “Orwellian” refers to the idea of government surveillance or anything that they don’t find desirable

The novel 1984 cautions the world about totalitarian governments and their impact on the world. the book paints a brutal picture of a world where free thought is illegal and the government maintains control of every aspect of the state, the story cautions against totalitarianism as the effects (as illustrated in the book) can be catastrophic and terrible for anyone who is not in a position of power