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Powerplay
This material was written by Amelia Lawson, Hunter’s Hill High School
Introduction to Module C, Elective 2: Powerplay
English Stage 6 Prescriptions and Powerplay
Higher School Certificate Examination Assessable Outcomes
Concept Mind Map
Representation and Meaning
Representation and Meaning: Techniques Table
Related Texts
Related Texts Activity1: Analysis Questions
Related Texts Activity 2: Overview of Powerplay Concepts and Techniques
Related Texts Activity 3: Making Connections Between Texts
Where to find suitable related texts for Elective 2 Powerplay
Powerplay Prescribed Text: Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
Activity 1: Key Terms
Activity 2: Context Research
Activity 3: Nineteen Eighty-Four Comprehension Questions
Activity 4: Style and Language in Nieteen Eighty Four
Activity 5: Key Techniques Used to Represent Powerplay in Nineteen Eighty-Four
Activity 6 An Exploration of Medium and Message
Activity 7: Sample Questions for Powerplay: Nineteen Eighty-Four
Quotes: Nineteen Eighty-four by George Orwell
Introduction to Module C, Elective 2: Powerplay
“The bettercandidates demonstrated a sophisticated and clear conceptual understanding of the Module, the rubric, the elective and the question. They were able to construct an insightful, cohesive and unified thesis which demonstrated conceptual understanding and evaluation. The better responses were expressed in an appropriate voice for the purpose and style and were articulate.” (2003 Notes from the Marking Centre, Section III, Module C: Representation and Text)
“Candidates were able to construct a cohesive investigation and a skilful presentation which integrated concepts, textual references and evaluation to enhance a thesis.” (2004 Notes from the Marking Centre, Section III, Module C: Representation and Text)
The focus of this elective is on the concepts or ideas that arise from the examination of a range of texts that explore the concept, Powerplay. The texts that you source and analyse will be used to support these concepts. You must be able to articulate these concepts in your sustained response to the HSC examination. After your study of this Elective, ask yourself, what have I learned about Powerplay, and what techniques do composers use to make their meaning?
What is a concept/ idea/ thesis?
As you study the Powerplay module, you will explore and be exposed to many ideas relating to Powerplay. The key outcome of the Module is that you will develop your own thesis about Powerplay/ the representation of Powerplay. The thesis is an idea or concept that you can then support with reference to your texts. Your thesis is the ‘umbrella’ that holds your texts together. Caution: your examination response must be tailored to the question – do not prepare a response based on your thesis and ignore the examination question.
Possible concepts that you may choose to develop include:
- Powerplay is ultimately about the control of truth
- Powerplay’s key tool is the control of language
- Without want or desire there can be no powerplay
English Stage 6 Prescriptions and Powerplay
What are you expected to understand and do in this unit? (The following quotes are from English Stage 6 Prescriptions):
“Each elective requires the study of one prescribed text offering a representation of an event, personality or situation.”
- In this Elective the chosen ‘situation’ is Powerplay. The document focuses on the prescribed text, Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell.
“…Students consider representations and interplay of types of power.”
- This elective is an exploration of the differentrepresentations of Powerplay that exist in a range of texts, across a range of mediums. This involves the consideration of not only the different types of power and Powerplay that are represented in texts, but also the different means (or techniques) used to make these representations.
“They analyse the portrayals of the powerful, consider how the depiction of particular relationships provides insight into the nature of politics and consider the extent to which power resides with the people.”
- When undertaking this elective, keep in mind the key words and phrases associated with the elective: ‘portrayals of the powerful’, ‘relationships’, ‘the nature of politics’, ‘power…people’. For each text focus on understanding:
- How have ‘the powerful’ in this text been portrayed?
- What are the relationships in the text? What are the qualities of this/ these relationships?
- What do you learn about politics in this text?
- What role do ‘the people’ have in this text? Do ‘the people’ fight the powerful? What methods do they use?
“Students are also required to supplement this study with texts of their own choosing which provide a variety of representations of that…situation.”
- You are to supplement your class’s prescribed text with texts of your own choosing. In the HSC Examination you will be required to refer to at least TWO related texts. These texts should relate to Powerplay. Your texts should enable you to discuss a range of ideas or concepts relating to Powerplay (for example, because Nineteen Eighty-Four depicts the individual against the institution, you might balance this with a text that represents two powerful parties vying for power). You should source and analyse your own related texts.
“These texts are to be drawn from a variety of sources, in a range of genres and media.”
- In order to fully grasp how medium influences the message, you will need to analyse more than two related texts during your study of this Elective. To address the need for a range of genres, you may choose a combination of fictional texts and factual texts (documentary, feature article). Balance written texts with texts that are more visual (such as film), or sound reliant (such as music).
“They evaluate how medium of production, textual form, perspective and choice of language influence meaning.”
- Texts created in the same medium (for example, two feature articles) have the same ‘tools’ of communication at their disposal; however, the techniques that are used by the composer for each text may vary, depending on the composer’s particular message or purpose.
- Different mediums utilise different techniques or tools. For example a film uses visuals, sound, music, editing (among other techniques). The same message or narrative may be communicated in another medium, but the tools used are different and this will influence the meaning. For example, a song may communicate the same narrative as a film, but it relies upon a different set of techniques and tools. A song relies more heavily upon lyrics, imagery, repetition, symbolism and instrumentals.
Higher School Certificate Examination Assessable Outcomes
What will you be assessed on in your Higher School Certificate examination for this elective?
“How well you evaluate and show understanding of the relationship between representation and meaning.”
- Although the examination question might not directly ask you to address this, not only MUST you address the question, you MUST include an evaluation and communicate your understanding of representation and meaning.
“How well you organise, develop and express your ideas using language appropriate to audience, purpose, context and form.”
- You will be asked to write in a specific text type. You may be asked to write a speech, an essay, a conversation, a feature article, etcetera. You are expected to use the language features appropriate to the text type you have been asked to write. You are also expected to demonstrate in your writing that you are addressing the audience specified (for example, a presentation to a youth forum may use more casual language). You are to ensure you write according to purpose specified (for example, the purpose may be to persuade your audience) and context.
Concept / Mind Map
What is included in Powerplay? The following mind map is a visual representation of the different questions that you should consider in this unit. What other questions could be included?
Representation and Meaning
“Candidates displayed an improved conceptual understanding of the relationship between representation and meaning and an evident improved understanding of how concepts of the elective were represented in texts.” (2004 Notes from the Marking Centre, Section III, Module C: Representation and Text)
“Candidates demonstrated a greater awareness of the media of production and approached this aspect either explicitly through a discussion or implicitly through the conceptual framework that informed the response.” (2004 Notes from the Marking Centre, Section III, Module C: Representation and Text)
Key techniques used to represent Powerplay
- selection of information
- emphasis
- exaggeration
- perspective
- parody/ satire
- symbolism
- contrast
- combination of fact and imaginative recreation
Representation and Meaning: Techniques Table
The following table suggests how different media use their ‘tools of production’ to impact on meaning and the representation of Powerplay. There are gaps for techniques that you would like to add to the table. For each of these techniques, think of a text where this technique has been used. What is the effect/ impact on meaning?
| Text | Techniques | Example from a text/impact on meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Film | Camera work:
Costume/ makeup:
What else?: |
|
| Song | Word choice:
Style of singing:
|
|
| Novel | Perspective:
|
|
| Feature article | Perspective:
|
|
| Visual Text |
Layout:
|
|
| Other Text types… |
Related Texts
“Students explore the ways in which different media present information and ideas to understand how various textual forms and their media of production offer different versions and perspectives for a range of audiences and purposes.” (English Stage 6 Syllabus – Advanced, Module C: Representation and Text)
“A wide variety of texts of own choosing was evident. The way texts were used to support a candidate’s understanding of representation and texts allowed for discrimination in the quality of the response.” (“Strengths”, 2004 Notes from the Marking Centre – English Advanced)
“Better responses demonstrated a discerning use of texts and a skilful control of language and form.”
(“Strengths”, 2004 Notes from the Marking Centre – English Advanced)
What related texts should you choose?
The focus of the Powerplay unit is on how texts portray ‘the powerful’ and the relationships involved in Powerplay. The unit requires you to be able to comment on the text’s representation of the ‘nature of politics’ and the extent to which power lies with the people. You need to consider how your prescribed text represents these aspects of Powerplay. ‘Strong’ related texts are texts that represent these different aspects of Powerplay; offer a different perspective on the representation of Powerplay; are composed for a range of audiences, purposes; and utilise different media of production.
The following subjects/ topics would be suitable for Powerplay related texts:
- Powerplay on the personal/ social level. For example, articles about Powerplay between the sexes
- Powerplay between countries For example, feature articles on North Korea’s missile testing
- Powerplay within the workplace. For example, the British television series, The Office
- Powerplay between ‘equals’ (in terms of strength, fighting capacity, etcetera)
- Powerplay between weak and strong
- Profiles of those who misuse their power. For example, the documentary Thin Blue Line on police corruption
- Texts that show the individual taking on society. For example, the film, V for Vendetta
- Texts that show manipulation of truth as a way to gain/ maintain power. For example, the film Wag the Dog
When choosing related material, it is important you take the time to choose appropriate texts. Do not focus purely on a text where you admire the subject or think it is an ‘easy’ text. You must be able to write comprehensively about the Powerplay represented in the text and the techniques it has used to shape its meaning. If you can’t answer the following questions about the texts with any level of detail, perhaps you should keep looking:
Related Texts Activity 1: Analysis Questions
Related Text Research. Find three texts, in a range of media (film, song, documentary, newspaper article, novel, poster, etcetera) that represents power/ Powerplay. Answer the following questions on each text. You may supplement or mould the questions where appropriate.
- Write a brief summary (refer to the text type and the composer). Your summary should cover the who, what, when, where (and maybe the why) of your text. Who is the audience? What is the purpose of the text?
- What type of power/ Powerplay is represented? (Is it between countries, families, individuals, states, organizations, etcetera?)
- What state of development is the power/ Powerplay in? Does the text focus on the struggle for power, the maintenance of power? The techniques used to gain ascendancy in the Powerplay? A shift in power? The loss or disintegration of power?
- Why do the ‘players’ in your text want power?
- If relevant, who is subordinated in the text? (Who is controlled or is the ‘victim’ of the power of the other?) Do they try to redress the power imbalance? If so, how?
- What are the key ‘tools’ of the Powerplay? (Lies, fear, manipulation, etcetera)
- What are four key techniques used by the composer to represent the Powerplay in the text? For each technique, provide an example AND explain the effect (this is the meaning made). The technique used will vary according to the form of the text.
- What is the composer’s message? What techniques have they used to communicate this message?
- What is the mood of the text? How has the composer created this mood? What is the connection between mood and the meaning of the text?
Related Texts Activity 2: Overview of Powerplay Concepts and Techniques
“Candidates displayed an improved conceptual understanding of the relationship between representation and meaning and an evident improved understanding of how concepts of the elective were represented in texts.” (2004 Notes from the Marking Centre, Section III, Module C: Representation and Text)
Overview of related texts and their connection to Powerplay
| Text title | Powerplay represented | Key techniques | Examples | Effect of technique on meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text #1 | Consider the above questions when completing this section. |
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| Text #2 |
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| Text #3 |
Related Texts Activity 3: Making Connections Between Texts
Considering your prescribed text and your related texts (use the table above), note any patterns, similarities and/ or differences in the representation of Powerplay and the techniques used to make meaning in these texts:
Where to find suitable related texts for Elective 2 Powerplay:
Print Media
If you are choosing a text from print media (newspapers, magazines), it should be a recent text. A good rule of thumb is to choose an article that has been published within the last twelve months. Both newspapers and magazines will have relevant articles. Avoid news reports; you require a text with more depth and scope to enable conceptual application and analysis. Feature articles in the weekend magazines (Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian) will be more likely to have the ‘human’ Powerplay; the ‘news review’ sections of these publications will focus on political and business Powerplay. Feature articles that consider the Powerplay between countries (war, trade) can be relevant to the course. Other publications that often have comprehensive articles dealing with subject matter relevant to the elective include Time Magazine and The Economist.
Television
Reality television shows are often based around ‘pitting’ people against each other for a prize. The Powerplay often involves the physical, mental and strategic. People are shown lying and scheming, forming alliances and betraying one another. The most obvious example is the reality television programme, Survivor.
Television programs that deal with political subject matter will often have episodes or series that would be relevant to this elective; for example, The West Wing.
Film/ Documentaries
Suggestions:
- Pan’s Labyrinth directed by Guillermo del Toro
- V for Vendetta directed by James McTeigue
- Election directed by Alexander Payne
- Wag the Dog directed by Barry Levinsons
- Ghandi directedbyRichard Attenborough
- Dr Strangelove directed by Stanley Kubrick
Music/ song
Music tends to take more of a personal/ individual perspective than many other texts, often communicating ideas using first person perspective. You will find that the most commonly themed songs will be political ‘people against the party’ songs. When analysing music, remember to consider the whole ‘package’: the choice of instruments, mood, delivery of lines and chorus, as well as the lyrics.
Language Techniques to consider
“Students explore the role of textual features in the shaping of meaning in specific contexts.” (English Stage 6 Syllabus)
When analysing the techniques used in your related text, consider the listed features of the following text types:
Media/Feature Articles:
- Title
- Image choice/ graphics
- Language register (formal/ informal)
- Use of slang
- Use of quotes
- Rhetorical questions
- Person (first, second, third)
- Structure (how is information laid out)
- Use of exaggeration (hyperbole)
- Use of metaphors, similes, symbolism
Reality TV/ Documentary
- Title
- Camera angles/ camera movement
- Graphics
- Music choice/ sound effects
- Narration? / Voice over/ presenter to camera
- Footage type: dramatisation, presenter to camera, in action, pre-filmed footage
- Structure
Film
- Title
- Camera angles
- Camera movement
- Cinematography
- Setting/ set design/ costume design
- Acting style
- Music
Music
- Language techniques: symbolism, metaphors, similes, alliteration, repetition
- Word choice
- Person (first, second, third)
- Rhyme
- Rhythm
- Instrumental choice
- Mood
Powerplay Prescribed Text: Nineteen Eighty-four by George Orwell
Activity 1: Key Terms
You will need to understand what the following terms mean in order to be able to a) understand the module and the text’s cultural and contextual references b) communicate your ideas about power and powerplay.
Activity: Make notes on/ define each of these terms (Wikipedia is a good online resource):
- Power/ powerplay (You will need to understand the meaning of both these words. The concept mind map will help you define both and clarify the difference.)
- Totalitarianism
- Proletariat
- Communism
- Socialism
- Superpower
- Propaganda
- Indoctrination
- Subjugation
- Fascism
- Dictatorship
- Omnipotent
- Dogma
Activity 2: Context Research
As an understanding of the text, Nineteen Eighty-four, requires a general knowledge of 20th Century European history the following research is recommended:
- Briefly list some of the characteristics of Nazi Germany. Focus on techniques used to maintain control/ power (propaganda, torture, language control, fear, children’s league, extermination, surveillance, break-down of family unit, community control).
- Briefly list some of the characteristics of Stalinist Russia. Again, the focus is on techniques used to gain and then maintain control/ power.
- Find out what you can about the ‘home front’ in Britain during World War II (the bombing of London, rationing, work conditions and politics).
Activity 3: Nineteen Eighty-Four Comprehension Questions
The following comprehension questions will give you greater textual knowledge and insight into the issues of the text. Use the listing of quotes provided to help with your responses.
Chapters 1 & 2
- Describe/ explain the following:
- The slogans of the Inner Party
- The four ministries
- Two minutes hate
- ‘Thoughtcrime”
- The ‘thought police”
- What happens to Winston during the Two Minutes Hate? What is Orwell’s purpose in creating this scene?
- Who do the Parsons represent? Describe the Parson children. What is Orwell’s message for us?
Chapters 3 & 4
- What does the ‘golden country’ represent? What does Winston’s dreaming of this place tell the reader?
- Explain the party slogan, “Who controls the past, controls the future; who controls the present controls the past.”
- How is the past controlled in Nineteen Eighty-four?
- What special literature, music and entertainment are produced for the proles? What connections can you make between the proles’ ‘entertainment’ and our own society’s?
Chapter 5, 6 & 7
- Why does Winston believe Syme will be vaporized? If this is true, what do we learn about the Party and its control of the people?
- What is the purpose of marriage in the state? Why do you think the Party controls this aspect of the people’s lives?
- How are the proles controlled? Are they are threat to the Party? Why? Why not?
What lies and half-truths does the Party teach about history? Why have they manipulated the past?
Chapter 8
- Why does Orwell include the scene between Winston and the old man in the pub? What is his message?
- What is your impression of Mr Carrington? What qualities does he have that inspires trust in Winston? In the reader?
Book 2
Chapter 1
- Describe the parade in Victory Square. What is the Party’s purpose in holding these events?
Chapter 2
- Describe your impression of Julia. Why has Orwell chosen to create this type of character?
- What is Julia’s philosophy?
- What is the significance of the setting and the thrush’s song?
- Why does Winston love Julia all the more when he learns she has had many sexual encounters?
Chapter 3
- What is Julia’s attitude to the Inner Party?
- Describe Winston’s marriage. What is surprising or shocking about this relationship?
Chapter 4
- What is Winston’s reaction to the singing Prole woman? What is the relevance of this character and his reaction to her?
- Why is Winston so interested in the church bells? Why are they important to him?
- What does the coral paperweight symbolise?
Chapter 5 & 6
- What actual events in Western history does Hate Week mirror? Why does the Party hold Hate Week?
- Julia and Winston think and cope very differently with their lives as Outer Party members. Explain. Which character do you think you would be most like in the same situation?
Chapter 7
- What does Winston dream about and what is the relevance of this dream to Winston and the novel’s meaning?
Chapter 8 & 9
- Describe the living quarters of the Inner Party. What does this say about the Inner Party?
- Describe O’Brien. Do you have a positive or negative response to him, why?
Chapter 9, The Book
- Describe the contents of the book.
Why do you think Orwell chooses to include so many passages from The Book? - Do you see truth in The Book? What aspects?
- What do you learn about power and powerplay from The Book?
Chapter 10
- What realisation does Winston come to with regards to the common people?
Book 3
Chapter 1
- Describe the setting in this chapter.
- What is the purpose of this chapter?
- Do you think O’Brien is an effective character or face for the Party? Why?
Chapter 2
- What is the purpose of this chapter?
- What do we learn about the Party in this chapter?
Chapter 3
- Describe the stages of reintegration that Winston will go through.
- What do we learn about the Party and power in this chapter? Consider this attitude toward power in comparison to other texts you have explored.
- Explain the slogan ‘Freedom is Slavery’. To what extent do you agree with this slogan? Why are the Party slogans so powerful/ effective?
- According to the novel, how does one person assert power over another? Compare this to other texts you have explored?
- How does Winston’s severely deteriorated physical appearance affect him?
- What is Winston’s relationship to O’Brien? What impact does this have on you, the reader?
Chapter 4
- In what way is Winston not entirely ‘true’ to Big Brother? What is Orwell saying about what makes us human/ free humans?
Chapter 5
- What is the relevance of this chapter? Why must Winston betray Julia? Who is he really betraying?
Chapter 6
- How has Winston changed? Given that we have had the benefit of knowing the thoughts of Winston throughout the story, how is the change especially shocking?
Activity 4 and 5 below double up on the questions/ responses required from you. Consider both activities and respond to the one that you find the most useful.
Activity 4: Style and Language in Nineteen Eighty-Four
- What general points can you make about the language/ perspective/ structural choices Orwell has made in creating Nineteen Eighty-Four? What person (perspective) is the novel told in? Is the story mostly action, reflection, description or dialogue? How is the story structured? What language choices does Orwell make? What is the effect of these techniques on the story?
- Flick through the novel. What different forms are used to create Nineteen Eighty-Four? (Diary entries, excerpts, songs, etcetera). List the different forms you find. What is the effect of incorporating each of these text types into the story?
- Orwell uses selection and emphasis in the novel (consider the use of exaggeration, perspective, repetition of ideas, impact of language choices). List examples of selection and emphasis from the novel.
- Define parody. Find an example of where Orwell has used parody.
- Define satire. Find an example from the text of satire
Activity 5: Key Techniques Used to Represent Powerplay in Nineteen Eighty-Four
| Technique | Detail/ Example | Effect on meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Setting |
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| Person/ Perspective |
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| Character (protagonist: Winston) |
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| Character (antagonist: O’Brien) |
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| Narrative structure |
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| Selection of information (consider what information Orwell chose not to include) |
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| Inclusion of historical reference/ combination of fact and imagination |
Activity 6: An Exploration of Medium and Message
“Students explore the ways in which different media present information and ideas to understand how various textual forms and their media of production offer different versions and perspectives for a range of audiences and purposes.” (Module C, Representation and Text, English Stage 6 Syllabus)
Imagine you are a film director. You are presenting your idea of a film adaptation of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four to the Film Commission. In your presentation you are to address the representation of Powerplay in the text, and how you will adapt the techniques used in the novel to the film medium. Your presentation should consider the audience and purpose of both texts.
Activity 7: Sample Questions for Powerplay: Nineteen Eighty Four
“Candidates were able to construct a cohesive investigation and a skilful presentation which integrated concepts, textual references and evaluation to enhance a thesis. Better responses demonstrated a discerning use of texts and a skilful control of language and form.” (2004 Notes from the Marking Centre — Module C: Representation and Text)
“They were able to construct an insightful, cohesive and unified thesis which demonstrated conceptual understanding and evaluation. The better responses were expressed in an appropriate voice for the purpose and style and were articulate.” (2003 Notes from the Marking Centre, - Module C: Representation and Text)
The 2005 Module C question in English (Advanced) Higher School Certificate focused upon representation - the techniques used by composers to represent their perspective of Powerplay. The question put forward two key techniques used by composers: selection and emphasis.
The 2004 Module C question in English (Advanced) Higher School Certificate focused upon the concept of ‘visions and versions’ in relation to Powerplay. The question also required the ability to refer to the how (techniques) and why (purpose of composer) for each text.
The 2003 Module C question focussed on the connection between representation and meaning. How have the texts represented Powerplay? (What perspectives? What techniques?) The question has provided a concept relating to Powerplay for you to respond to: ‘Real Power is Not Obvious’
Consider the examination questions for the Module C English (Advanced) paper on the Board of Studies website. Plan and write responses to the past questions.
Consider past questions in connection to the English Stage 6 Prescriptions and Syllabus booklets. What areas of the Module have not yet been addressed or considered by these questions? This may be a good way to ensure you have explored all areas of the Module, and are fully prepared for this year’s Higher School Certificate examination question.
Practise Question 1
“Power, however it has evolved, whatever its origins, will not be given up without a struggle.”
Shulamith Firestone
How have the texts you have studied demonstrated this in relation to ‘Powerplay’?
Discuss this statement in reference to your prescribed text and at least TWO other texts of your own choosing.
Remember, you will be assessed on how well you:
- evaluate and show understanding of the relationship between representation and meaning.
- organise, develop and express your ideas using language appropriate to audience, purpose, context and form.
Practise Question 2
Imagine you are a journalist. You have been asked to contribute an article to the arts section of the local newspaper about the representation of Powerplay and the way texts make meaning.
Your headline is The Medium is the Message
In your article, refer to your prescribed text and at least TWO other related texts of your own choosing.
Quotes: Nineteen Eighty-four by George Orwell
The following quotes will enable you to write comprehensive responses to the comprehension questions, and provide support information for more detailed analytical responses.
Part I
Setting (p. 3): “The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats….”
Big Brother (p. 3) “On each landing, opposite the lift shaft, the poster with the enormous face gazed from the wall…BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU”
Winston (p. 4) “He moved over to the window: a smallish, frail figure, the meagreness of his body merely emphasised by the blue overalls which were the uniform of the Party…”
Setting (p. 4) “Outside, even through the shut window-pane, the world looked cold…no colour in anything…”
Setting/ Ministry (p. 4) “A kilometre away the Ministry of Truth, his place of work, towered, vast and white…”
Ministries detailed on page 5 and 6
Control/ Law (p. 8) “The thing that he was about to do was to open a diary. This was not illegal…but if detected it was reasonably certain it would be punished by death”
War propaganda film/ atrocities (p. 10)
Winston character/ attitude to women (p. 12) “He disliked nearly all women, and especially the young and pretty ones. It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies and nosers-out of unorthodoxy”
O’Brien (p. 12): “O’Brien was a large, burly man with a thick neck and coarse, humorous, brutal face. In spite of his formidable appearance he had a certain charm of manner…He felt deeply drawn to him…he had the appearance of being a person you could talk to…”
Two Minutes Hate (p. 13)/ Goldstein/ Film propaganda
Winston/ Two Minutes Hate: “In a lucid moment Winston found that he was shouting with the others and kicking his heel violently against the rung of his chair…it was impossible to avoid joining in…”
Party slogans (p. 18)
Omnipresent Thought Police (p. 21) “Whether he went on with the diary, or whether he did not go on with it, made no difference. The Thought Police would get him just the same.”
Terrible state of housing (p. 22)
Party children (p. 25) “There was a sort of calculating ferocity in the boy’s eye, a quite evident desire to hit or kick Winston and a consciousness of being nearly big enough to do so.”/ “Another year, two years, and they would be watching her night and day for symptoms of unorthodoxy” (p. 26)/ “…they adored the Party and everything connected with it” (p. 26)
Premonition of future (p. 27) “We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness”
Freedom (p. 29) Always the eyes watching you and the voice enveloping you. Asleep or awake, working or eating, indoors or out of doors, in the bath or in the bed – no escape. Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimetres inside your skull.”
Winston knows no future (p. 29): “The diary would be reduced to ashes and himself to vapour. Only the Thought Police would read what he had written, before they wiped it out of existence and out of memory.”
Idea of better world, Winston’s diary entry (p. 30) To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free, when men are different from one another and do not live alone – to a time when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone…”
Winston’s will to live (p. 30) “Now that he recognised himself as a dead man it became important to stay alive as long as possible.”
Control through war (p. 36) “Officially the change of partners had never happened. Oceania was at war with Eurasia: therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia. The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil, and it followed that any past or future agreement with him was impossible.”
Control of history (p. 37): “And if all others accepted the lie with the Party imposed – if all records tole the same tale – then the lie passed into history and became truth. ‘Who controls the past,’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.’/ “All that one needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory. ‘Reality control’, they called it: in Newspeak, ‘doublethink’.”
Doublethink (p. 37)
History control (p. 38)
Setting/ work (p. 44): “In the long windowless hall…”
Winston’s work/ History control page 40-43 “Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date.”
Winston/ work: (p. 46) “Winston’s greatest pleasure in life was his work.”
Control of people/ vaporisation (p. 48) “Winston did not know why Withers had been disgraced…-what was likeliest of all – the thing had simply happened because purges and vaporisations were a necessary part of the mechanics of government.”
Setting/ Canteen (p. 51): “In the low-ceilinged canteen, deep under ground, the lunch queue jerked slowly forward. The room was already very full and deafeningly noisy. From the grille at the counter the steam of stew came pouring forth, with a sour metallic smell that didn’t quite overcome the fumes of Victory Gin.”
Isolation/ friendship (p. 51) “You didn’t have friends nowadays, you had comrades…”
Public hangings/ enjoyment of violence (p. 52) “ ‘It was a good hanging,’ said Syme reminiscently. ‘I think it spoils it when they tie their feet together. I like to see them kicking. And above all, at the end, the tongue sticking right out, and blue – a quite bright blue. That’s the detail that appeals to me.”
Language control (p. 54) “It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words.”
Language control (p. 55) “Don’t you see the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thought crime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.”
Proles (p. 56) “The Proles are not human beings…”
Humans in Party ugly (physical reflection of state of being) (p. 63) “Nearly everyone was ugly, and would still have been ugly even if dressed otherwise than in the uniform of blue overalls…the majority of people in Airstrip One were small, dark and ill-favoured…It was the type that seemed to flourish best under the dominion of the Party.”
Party control of sex (p. 68) “The aim of the Party was not merely to prevent men and women from forming loyalties which it might not be able to control. Its real, undeclared purpose was to remove all pleasure from the sexual act. Not love such much as eroticism was the enemy, inside marriage as well as outside it.”
Party control marriage/ passion (p. 68) ‘All marriages between Party members had to be approved by a committee appointed for the purpose, and – though the principle was never clearly stated – permission was always refused if the couple concerned gave the impression of being physically attracted to one another.”
Party control/ marriage (p. 68-69) “The only recognised purpose of marriage was to beget children for the service of the Party. Sexual intercourse was to be looked on as a slightly disgusting minor operation, like having an enema.”
Party/ sex (p. 69) “The Party was trying to kill the sex instinct, or, if it could not be killed, then to distort it and dirty it.”
Proles (p. 72) “If there is hope, wrote Winston, it lies in the proles.”
Proles (p. 72) “If there was hope, it must lie in the proles, because only there, in those swarming disregarded masses, 85 per cent of the population of Oceania, hold the force to destroy the Party ever be generated.” (Yet he then describes the situation where the Proles are upset because a sale of saucepans has run out, and he thinks, ‘Why was it that they could never shout like that about anything that mattered.’)
Proles/ Winston’s diary (p. 74) “Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.”
Proles’ life page 74-75… “Proles and animals are free”
Manipulation of truth (page 76) “How could you tell how much of it was lies? It might be true that the average human being was better off now…”
Winston’s quality of life (p. 77) “It struck him that the only truly characteristic thing about modern life was not its cruelty and insecurity, but simply its bareness, its dinginess, its listlessness.”
Ideal of Party (p. 77) “The ideal set up by the Party was something huge, terrible and glittering – a world of steel and concrete of monstrous machines and terrifying weapons – a nation of warriors and fanatics, marching in perfect unity, all thinking the same thoughts and shouting the same slogans, perpetually working, fighting, triumphing, persecuting – three hundred million people all with the same face. The reality was decaying dingy cities where underfed people shuffled to and fro in leaky shoes, in patched-up nineteenth century houses that smelt always of cabbage and bad lavatories.”
History control (p. 78) “Everything faded into mist. The past was erased, the erasure forgotten, the lie became truth.”
Party’s control of reality (p. 84) The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
Freedom for Winston (p. 84) “Freedom is the freedom to say two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.”
World of proles p. 86 on.
Proles (p. 88) “But if there was hope, it lay in the proles. You had to cling on to that. When you put it in words it sounded reasonable: it was when you looked at the human beings passing you in the streets that it became an act of faith.”
Face of Big Brother (p. 107) “The face gazed up at him, heavy, calm, protecting: but what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache?”
Part II
Desire/ care in life (p. 115) ‘At the sight of the words I love you the desire to stay alive had welled up in him, and the taking of minor risks suddenly seemed stupid.”
Beauty of nature/ countryside (p. 123) “Winston picked his way up the lane through dappled light and shade, stepping out into pools of gold wherever the boughs parted. Under the trees to the left of him the ground was misty with bells. The air seemed to kiss one’s skin.”
Julia’s technique of survival (p. 128) “I always look cheerful and never shirk anything. Always yell with the crowd, that’s what I say. It’s the only way to be safe.”
Winston enjoys a ‘moment’ (p. 130) “He stoped thinking and merely felt” – highlight’s BB control of their pleasure emotions.
Julia (strong/ healthy/ sexual) (p. 131) “Almost as swiftly as he imagined it, she had torn her clothes off, and when she flung them aside it was with the same magnificent gesture by which a whole civilisation seemed to be annihilated. Her body gleamed white in the sun…the freckled face with its faint, bold smile.”
Winston’s response to her promiscuity (p. 132) “Listen. The more men you’ve had, the more I love you. Do you understand that? … I hate purity, I hate goodness!”/ Not merely the love of one person, the simple undifferentiated desire: that was the force that would tear the Party to pieces.”
Sex/ politics (p. 133) “Their embrace had been a battle, the climax a victory. It was a blow struck against the Party. It was a political act.”
Julia practical (p. 133) “She obviously had a practical cunning which Winston lacked, and she also seemed to have an exhaustive knowledge of the countryside round London…”
Julia story page 136
Pornsec page 137
Julia’s non-intellectual response to Party (p. 138) “She hated the Party, and said so in the crudest words, but she made no general criticism of it. Except where it touched upon her own life she had no interest in the Party doctrine… The clever thing was to break the rules and stay alive all the same.”
Julia/ Sex (p. 139) “With Julia, everything came back to her own sexuality.”
Sex/ party power (p. 139) “What was more important was that sexual privation induced hysteria, which was desirable because it could be transformed into war-fever and leader-worship…There was a direct intimate connection between chastity and political orthodoxy.”
Control/ Family (p. 140) “They had played a similar trick with the instinct of parenthood. The family could not actually be abolished, and, indeed, people were encouraged to be fond of their children in almost the old-fashioned way. The children, on the other hand, where systematically turned against their parents and taught to spy on them and report their deviations. They family had become in effect an extension of the Thought Police.”
Julia’s optimism (p. 142) “She would not accept it as a law of nature that the individual is always defeated. In a way she realised that she herself was doomed, that sooner or later the Thought Police would catch her and kill her, but with another part of her mind she believed that it was somehow possible to construct a secret world in which you could live as you choose…She did not understand that there was no such thing as happiness…”
Paperweight symbol (p. 154) “The paperweight was the room he was in, and the coral was Julia’s life and his own. Fixed in a sort of eternity at the heart of the crystal.”
Propaganda/ patriotism (p. 156) “The proles, normally apathetic about the war, were being lashed into one of their periodical frenzies of patriotism. As if to harmonise with the general mood, the rocket bombs had been killing larger numbers of people than usual.”
Happiness and health (p. 157) “Winston had dropped his habit of drinking gin at all hours. He seemed to have lost the need for it. He had grown fatter, his varicose ulcer had subsided…”
War/ control (p. 160) “The rocket bombs which fell daily on London were probably fired by the Government of Oceania itself, ‘just to keep people frightened’.”
Julia less intellectual (p. 161) “ She did not feel the abyss opening beneath her feet at the thought of lies becoming truths.”
Julia’s form of rebellion (p. 163) “ ‘You’re only a rebel from the waist downwards,’ he told her.”
Control (p. 163) “In a way, the world-view of the Party imposed itself most successfully on people incapable of understanding it.”
Proles (p. 172) “The proles had stayed human. They had not become hardened inside. They had held on to the primitive emotions which he himself had to re-learn by conscious effort.”
Betrayal (p. 173) of Julia by Winston “Confession is not betrayal. What you say or doesn’t matter: only feelings matter. If they could make me stop loving you – that would be real betrayal.” That is, they would show control of his ability to feel.
O’Brien’s house (p. 175) "The passage down which he led them was softly carpeted, with cream-papered walls and white wainscoting, all exquisitely clean.”
O’Brien (p. 176) “His heavy face, bent down so that one could see the line of his nose, looked both formidable and intelligent.”
O’Brien (p. 182) “In spite of the bulkiness of his body there was a remarkable grace in his movements...A wave of admiration, almost of worship, flowed out from Winston towards O’Brien.”
Hate week and change in enemy p. 187 – 88 “It was night, and the white faces and scarlet banners were luridly floodlit…On a scarlet-draped platform an orator of the Inner Party, a small lean man with disproportionately long arms and a large bald skull over which a few lank locks straggled, was haranguing the crowd...contorted with hatred, he gripped the neck of the microphone…the most savage yells came from the schoolchildren.”
Orwell’s use of exaggeration to make point (p. 189) “the thing that impressed Winston in looking back was that the speaker had switched from one line to the other actually in mid-sentence, not only without a pause, but without even breaking syntax.”
Goldstein’s book (p. 192); there are too many quotes here to quote.
Joy of life (p. 230) “The birds sang, the proles sang, the Party did not sing.”
Winston ‘thinking’ that the future must lie with the proles, (p. 230) “Out of those mighty loins a race of conscious being must one day come. You were the dead; theirs was the future. But you could share in that future if you kept alive the mind as they kept alive the body, and passed on the secret doctrine that two plus two makes four.”
Party soldiers (p. 231) “The room was full of solid men in black uniforms, with iron-shod boots on their feet and truncheons in their hands.”
Destruction of Winston’s world (p. 232) “There was another crash. Someone had picked up the glass paperweight from the table and smashed it to pieces on the hearth stone.”
Part III
Setting (Ministry of Love)(p. 239) “He was in a high-ceilinged windowless cell with walls of glittering white porcelain. Concealed lamps flooded it with cold light, and there was a low, steady humming sound which he supposed had something to do with the air supply…”
Setting (p. 241) “in this place, he knew instinctively, the lights would never be turned out. It was a place with no darkness…”
Officer “A young officer, a trim black-uniformed figure who seemed to glitter all over with polished leather, and whose pale, straight-featured face was like a wax mask, stepped smartly through the doorway.”
Children’s League (p. 245) “ ‘It was my little daughter,’ said Parsons with a sort of doleful pride. ‘She listened at the keyhole. Heard what I was saying, and nipped off to the patrols the very next day.”
Effect of torture (p. 248) “ ‘Do anything to me!’ he yelled. ‘You’ve been starving me for weeks. Finish it off and let me die. Shoot me. Hang me. Sentence me to twenty-five years. Is there somebody else you want me to give away? Just say who it is and I’ll tell you anything you want. I don’t care who it is or what you do to them…”
Pain = power – torture on page 250-251
Torture/ confession (p. 254) “He confessed to the assassination of eminent Party members, the distribution of seditious pamphlets, embezzlement of public funds, sale of military secrets, sabotage of every kind…”
O’Brien as a torturer (p. 256) “He was the tormentor, he was the protector, he was the inquisitor, he was the friend…”/ “ ‘…Now the turning-point has come. I shall save you, I shall make you perfect.”
Memory control (p. 261) “ ‘But how can you stop people remembering things?’ cried Winston, again momentarily forgetting the dial. ‘It is involuntary. It is outside oneself. How can you control memory? You have not controlled mine!’”
Memory control (p. 261) “ ‘But I tell you, Winston, that reality is not external. Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. Not in the individual mind, which can make mistakes, and in any case soon perishes: only in the mind of the Party, which is collective and immortal. Whatever the Party hold to be truth, is truth. It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party.”
Winston/ O’Brien’s relationship (p. 263) “He had the feeling that O’Brien was his protector, that the pain was something that came from outside, from some other source, and that it was O’Brien who would save him from it.”
Winston/ O’Brien’s relationship (p. 264) “The pain was already half forgotten. He opened his eyes and looked up gratefully at O’Brien. At the sight of the heavy, lined face, so ugly and so intelligent, his heart seemed to turn over…He had never loved him so deeply as at this moment, and not merely because he had stopped the pain.”
History of control page 265, 266, 265 “When finally you surrender to us, it must be of your own free will…But we make the brain perfect before we blow it out.”
History of control (p. 265) ‘The command of old despotisms was “Thou shalt not”. The command of the totalitarians was “Thou shalt”. Our command is “Thou art”.’
O’Brien’s belief (p. 268) “He is not pretending, thought Winston; he is not a hypocrite; he believes every word he says.”
Brain washing by party (p. 268) “What happens to you is for ever. Understand that in advance. We shall crush you down to the point from which there is no coming Back. Things will happen to you from which you could not recover, if you lived a thousand years. Never again will you be capable of ordinary human feeling. Everything will be dead inside you. Never again will you be capable of love, or friendship, or joy of living, or laughter, or curiosity, or courage, or integrity. You will be hollow. We shall squeeze you empty, and then we shall fill you up with ourselves.”
Proles cannot revolt (p. 274) "It is all nonsense. The proletarians will never revolt, not in a thousand years or a million. They cannot. I do not have to tell you the reason: you know it already. There is no way in which the Party can be overthrown. The rule of the Party is forever.”
Why power? Winston’s first thought (p. 275) “He knew in advance what O’Brien would say. That the Party did not seek power for its own ends, but only for the good of the majority. That it sought power because men in the mass were frail cowardly creatures who could not endure liberty or face the truth, and must be ruled over and systematically deceived by others who were stronger than themselves. That the choice for mankind lay between freedom and happiness, and that, for the great bulk of mankind, happiness was better.”
Power (p. 275) “ The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power.”
Power over others (p. 279):
‘How does one man assert his power over another, Winston?’
Winston thought. ‘By making him suffer,’ he said.
‘Exactly. By making him suffer. Obedience is not enough unless he is suffering, how can you be sure that he is obeying your will and not his own? Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation. Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing….’
Party future (p. 280) “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – for ever.”
Winston as last man (p. 282): “‘If you are a man, Winston, you are the last man. Your kind is extinct; we are the inheritors’”
Winston physically (p. 284) “He had stopped because he was frightened. A bowed grey-coloured, skeleton-like thing was coming towards him. Its actual appearance was frightening, and not merely the fact that he knew it was himself. He moved closer to the glass. The creature’s face seemed to be protruded, because of its bent carriage. A forlorn, jailbird’s face with a nobby forehead running back into a bald scalp, a crooked nose and battered-looking cheekbones above which the eyes were fierce and watchful…”
Death as a release (p. 287) “ ‘It might be a long time,’ said O’Brien. ‘You are a difficult case. But don’t give up hope. Everyone is cured sooner or later. In the end we shall shoot you’”
Winston gives up (p. 293) “Now he had retreated a step further: in the mind he had surrendered, but he had hoped to keep the inner heart inviolate.”
Freedom (p. 294) “To die hating them, that was freedom.”
Winston’s betrayal of Julia (p. 300) “’Do it to Julia! Do it to Julia! Not me! Julia! I don’t care what you do to her. Tear her face off, strip her to the bones. Not me! Julia! Not me!’”
Winston washed (p. 303) “ ‘They can’t get inside you,’ she had said. But they could get inside you.”
Winston loves BB (p. 311) “He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath that dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.”
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