Preparing for English GCSE: Improving Our Reading Skills
George Orwell wrote 1984 in 1948, imagining a dystopian* world
where the main character Winston Smith struggles with the
oppressive regime in Oceania- a place where every human action is
watched and scrutinised by a mythical being- BIG BROTHER and
freedom of thought and expression are forbidden. Here is the opening
of the novel and it features one of the most famous opening lines in
modern Literature.
*Dystopian- an imagined place or society where everything is
unpleasant or bad and people are oppressed.
__________________________
1984
Part One
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape
the vile wind, slipped quickly though the glass doors of Victory
Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust
from entering along with him.
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 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. 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 eyes gazed down 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.
Responding to the Text
A)
First Responses- discuss these questions with your partner.
● What is the passage about?
● What hints does it give about what is to follow?
● What impression is created of the mood and atmosphere at the
start of the novel?
B)
Close Reading
List four things which reveal that the novel is set in a dystopian world.
1.______________________________________________________
2.______________________________________________________
3.______________________________________________________
4.______________________________________________________
C) Analysis of the whole source
This text is from the opening of a novel. How has the writer structured
the text to interest you as a reader? Write down at one or two ideas
for each bullet point:
●
What the writer focuses your attention on at the beginning
●
How the writer presents the main character
●
Any other structural features that interest you.