Orwellian Warning: "Who controls the past controls the future."

Does technology help break down barriers of sex and class?
Or has it developed in a way to exploit the disenfranchised?  

Dystopian literature:
As opposed to utopian literature, dystopian literature presents a nightmarish version of a futuristic society, criticizing the current state of affairs, government, and power. 

How do dystopian novels portray the family unit?
To what extent is technology harmful to the human condition?
Why do some choose to write a dystopian novel?
Why does our society eagerly consume futuristic, dystopian narratives?  

George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair, 1902-1950)
Born in British India and schooled at Eton College, England
     
His early experience as an imperial policeman, school                    teacher, ​and soldier during the Spanish Civil War compelled        him to become a political prophet against totalitarian                    dictatorship. 

He became a staunch anti-fascist, anti-Stalinist, anti-totalitarian activist and a proponent for democratic socialism.
​
His writings resonate with the post WWII climate and the fear      of governmental dictatorship.
"Shooting an Elephant": shooting_an_elephant.pdf
1984 pdf: 1984_pdf.pdf

UTOPIA/ DYSTOPIA          POLITICAL SATIRE           TOTALITARIANISM    REALITY CONTROL         SURVEILLANCE STATE               PROPAGANDA     HISTORICAL REVISION        LANGUAGE and DISSENT        TECHNOCRATS
READING as an act of REBELLION   WRITING as an act of RESISTANCE
INDIVIDUAL AGENCY and COLLECTIVISM/CONFORMITY
CULT of PERSONALITY 

Plotline and the Freytag's Pyramid:
Exposition--Rising Action--Climax--Falling Action--Denouement (false catharsis)​

Book 1
Winston Smith & Thoughtcrime

1. W.S. writes a diary entry on the Two Minute Hate
2. The Parsons family and the Junior Spies 
3. The dream of Winston's mother and the Golden Country; the Physical Jerks 
4. "Unpersoning" Comrade Withers; Comrade Ogilvy is invented 
5. Syme works on revised Newspeak dictionary; the dark-haired girl in the canteen 
6. Recalling the past encounter with a Prole prostitute 
7. The memory of a photo that debunks the authorized version of history
8. Mr. Charrington’s antiques shop; a glass paperweight; a painting of St. Clement's Church

Book 2
Rebellion and Resistance 

1. The note says "I love you"; Victory Square
2. Winston begins a relationship with Julia in the Golden Country
3. Julia and Winston, strange bedfellows
4. A hideout above Charrington's shop 
5. Syme is vaporized; Julia voices her skepticism of the Party 
6. O'Brien contacts Winston
7. Dreams: return of the repressed 
8. Initiation into the order of rebellion 
9. Reading as an act of rebellion: Goldstein's manifesto 
​10. Arrested by the Thought Police 

Grammar X-ray Vision:
teachers_grammar_x-ray_vision_1984_chapters_9-10.pdf

Book 3
​An Antihero  

1. "Where there is no darkness" 
2. Torture and punishment 
3. Winston's loyalty to Julia 
4. Winston's final gestures of disobedience
5. Room 101 and psychological torture 
​6. Released from the Miniluv, broken and insentient

                                                       Guiding Questions 
Define what doublethink means and provide at least three examples of doublethink from the text.
Apply the logic of doublethink to the following statement: "we will meet where there is no darkness."
What thoughtcrime does Winston Smith commit? 
What is the purpose of the eleventh edition of Newspeak?
Why is ownlife a crime?
How does INGSOC annihilate human emotions and relationships? 
Why do you think Winston Smith has violent sexual fantasies about the dark-haired girl? 

                                                                       Big Picture Questions
What qualifies Winston Smith as the only sentient human being in Oceania, "the Last Man in Europe"?
Why does Julia lack the agency as a rebel?
Why does Winston exhibit a death wish and at the same time blind optimism in the Proles? 
Why and to what extent does the protagonist transform and change throughout the course of the novel?
What does the symbolic death Winston experiences in the final chapter signify and how does it exemplify the authorial intention in 1984?

George Orwell on Writing
       1. Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
       2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
       3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
       4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
       5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
       6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

Primary Source: "Why I Write": orwell_why_i_write.docx

Secondary Source: 
Packer, George. “Doublethink Is Stronger Than Orwell Imagined: What 1984 means today.” The Atlantic.                      www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/07/1984-george-orwell/590638/. Accessed 26 February,                2020.
        Link: george_packer_on_1984.docx 

Animal Farm (1945), a Political Fable and Satire

1. The Manor Farm and Old Major’s vision
2. The rebellion and the Seven Commandments
3. Sovereign self-governance at Animal Farm
4. The Battle of the Cowshed and "Animal Hero, First Class"
5. Mollie’s defection; Snowball and the windmill project; Napoleon’s ousting of Snowball

              Describe the flag of the Animal Farm and discuss its symbols.
              Characterize Old Major, Napoleon, Snowball, Squealer, Boxer, Clover, Benjamin, Mollie, Sheep, and Dogs
              Reading Comprehension Questions: animal_farm_chapters_1-5_reading_comprehension.docx

6. Animal utopia and the looming threat of Snowball, the external enemy  
7. The windmill collapses; the purge and the reign of terror
8. The Napoleon Mill and the Order of the Green Banner; Napoleon is drunk. 
9. Napoleon is elected president; Boxer is "retired"
​10. Pigs walk on their hind legs; pigs and humans banquet in the Manor Farm.

              Reading Comprehension Questions: animal_farm_chapters_6-10_reading_comprehension_quiz.docx