1984.notebook
October 24, 2012
George Orwell
"Eric Arthur Blair"
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1984.notebook
October 24, 2012
What are the influences of Orwell’s wring?
Middle Class Family
Indian Imperial Police
Democrac Socialist
Hated Totalitarianism
Poor and polically powerless
Communism
Democratic Socialists believe that both the economy and society should be run democratically—to meet public needs, not to make profits for a few. To achieve a more just society, many structures of our government and economy must be radically transformed through greater economic and social democracy so that ordinary Americans can participate in the many decisions that affect our lives.
Totalitarian
A centralized government that does not tolerate parties of differing opinion and that exercises dictatorial control over many aspects of life.
Exercising control over the freedom, will, or thought of others; authoritarian; autocratic.
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Totalitarianism:
Makes people less and less conscious
Less able to make distinctions between truth and falsehood
Censorship and propaganda are essential methods of controlling the Proletariat
Convinces them that those in other political systems are fools
Capitalism:
Production, distribution, and the exchange of wealth are
made, maintained, and owned by private individuals and
corporations.
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1984.notebook
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I. Growth of capitalism in the 1800's
A. Positive effects of a free-enterprise system
1. Technological advances
2. Expanded world market
B. Negative effects of a free-enterprise system
1. Workers labored 14 to 18 hours a day under harsh
conditions for meager wages.
2. No child labor laws
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II. Rise of Socialism
A. Reformers against Capitalism
1. Concerned about the severe inequality of wealth distribution
created by laissez faire capitalism
2. Change the way in which the means of production (land, mines,
railroads, factories, banks, stores, etc.) were owned and
operated
B. Socialism
1. Means of production should be owned publicly (or socially) and
should be operated for the welfare of all the people.
2. Utopian societies in which people voluntarily gave up all their
property and attempted to share equally all the profits proved to
be unsuccessful
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1984.notebook
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C. Karl Marx
1. German philosopher and professional radical who was banished
from his native Germany because of his socialist activities
2. Communist League- unite the working classes of Europe through
revolution, to compose The Manifesto of the Communist Party
III. Marx and "Scientific Socialism"
A. Tenets of the Communist Manifesto
1. All wealth is created by labor under capitalism and labor only
receives a small fraction of the wealth it creates
2. Chronic economic depression results because the laborers have
no money to buy the finished products
3. The Proletariat will violently overthrow the government and
force socialism on all of the world
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B. Worker's Paradise
1. According to the manifesto, by throwing off many remnants of
past eras through a violent revolution, men could remake their
society
2. Marx foresaw a worker's revolt followed by a worker's paradise
where each person would work according to his or her ability and
receive according to his or her need
IV. Socialism in Communist Russia
A. Revolution of 1917
1. Bolshevik Party led by Nikolai Lenin successfully overthrew Czar
Nicholas II and gained control of government
2. At Lenin's death Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin struggled for
control, and in 1926 Stalin assumed leadership of the U.S.S.R.
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B. Stalin behind the "Iron Curtain"
1. To maintain control he deported dissenters to Siberia,
used his secret police to enact arbitrary arrests,
torture, and mass executions, and continuously purged
his cabinet of any opposition
2. The idealism of the Revolution turned into a system no
less terrifying than rule by the Czars: there was no
freedom in the new system, which was based on military
bureaucracy, and forced labor created wealth for the
few while their own conditions changed little or grew
worse
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Orwell's Social Conscience: In part, the dark world of 1984 emerged from the
deep hopelessness of the 1930's and 1940's (Great Depression and WWII). Big
Brother, the Party, and the constant warfare were drawn from the fascist/
nazist/socialist/communist oppression sweeping Europe. It seemed for a time
that most of the world would be conquered by totalitarian dictatorship.
Orwell captured the fears and concerns of the early twentieth century as fascism
and communism subordinated the people to the state, demanding unquestioning
loyalty to its leader and exalting military supremacy at the expense of the civilian
standard of living.
Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
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Orwell's novel, published in 1949, proved to be a timely publication: it was just at
the beginning of the Cold War when the true aims and methods of the Russian
communists were beginning to come to light.
In his inaugural address, January 1949, Truman said:
"Communism is based on the belief that man is to weak and inadequate that he
is unable to govern himself, and therefore requires the rule of strong
masters... Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and
intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern himself with
reason and justice."
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Z4rBDUJTnNU
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Why?
October 24, 2012
1984
Brish Empire in India
∗Imperialism
Political Satire
Russian Revoluon
∗Exile
∗polical imprisonment
∗censorship
∗millions and millions dead
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1984.notebook
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Parallels Between Stalin's Dictatorship and Big Brother's Regime
Stalin= Big Brother
Bolsheviks= the Party
Communism= Ingsoc/English Socialism
Great Purge 1934-1939= purges of the 1950's - 1960's
K.G.B.= Thought Police
5 year economic plan= Ninth 3-year economic plan
Marx & his Manifesto= O'Brien & Goldstein's The Book
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London
October 24, 2012
1984
Orwell creates a ficonal world in which a totalitarian government uses modern technology to control individual thought and even reality itself. ory
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1984.notebook
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1984
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Ministry of Truth
ØAlters Records
Newspeak = New Language
ØLimits Thoughts
Government Controls:
ØBody
ØMind
ØHeart
4 Major Characters:
Winston
Julia
O’Brien
Big Brother
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Who is Big Brother?
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Individuality can be destroyed by a polical system.
Language is a powerful tool for controlling how people view the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=MDSCC5iR_DE
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People can be forced to give up their beliefs and even alter their feelings if their survival is threatened. A knowledge of the past is essenal for evaluang the present.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=0wL9Li0f1Po
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