1984

When Winston Smith writes this line in his secret diary, he is saying that freedom means having the ability to assert objective truths. The made-up Ingsoc ideology that 2+2=5 represents the way...

Everything isn't alright for Winston at the end of 1984; far from it. Broken and brainwashed, he has effectively been tortured into loving Big Brother. And because he's been brainwashed, he no...

The Parsons are a family of four—a mother, a father, a son, and a daughter—who live in an apartment near Winston's. Mr. Parsons also works with Winston at the Ministry of Truth. Winston describes...

When citing sources it is important to cite them in two different ways; an in-text citation within the body of your paper and on the works cited page at the end of your paper. When citing a novel...

Room 101 was the place where the worst thing in the world was found. Winston had previously asked O’Brien to tell him what exactly was in the room because he noticed that all the prisoners who had...

The Junior Spies is a government organization concentrated on indoctrinating children into the Party's socialist ideology. The primary objective of the organization is to create a loyal, orthodox...

Winston says, “We are the dead” to convey the reality of his and Julia’s situation. In going against the Party, even just through their initial relationship, they are condemning themselves to...

The children in 1984 are taught to love the government of their own country. All their loyalty, energy, and obedience is directed toward their leaders. Anyone who threatens the state is a threat to...

As other answers have noted, the quote about controlling the past appears in various places in the novel: in part 1, chapters 2 and 3; in part 3, chapter 2; and in Emmanuel Goldstein's The Theory...

In Orwell's dystopian nation of Oceania, the authoritarian regime controls every aspect of society in order to exercise complete dominance over the country and population. The essence of Big...

In Orwell's classic novel 1984, the Ministry of Truth's primary focus is on producing government propaganda and altering historical records to coincide with Big Brother's current claims. In short,...

In chapter 2, Winston recalls a dream he had years before in which a voice had said to him, We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness. He had been in a pitch black room when he heard...

Some readers may have different opinions on what the five most important events in George Orwell’s 1984 are. However, the following are some of the main events that are key to the development of...

In 1984, the world is divided into three states: Oceania, Eastasia, and Eurasia. Oceania is constantly at war with one of these states while at peace with the other. For the majority of the book,...

In 1984, the Brotherhood is the name of the secret organization whose role is to bring down the Party. In Part Two, Chapter Eight, when Winston and Julia are at O'Brien's apartment, the reader gets...

There’s many editions of 1984, as it's one of the most widely-read books of all time. If you are reading the more recent Houghton Mifflin Harcourt edition, then you will find the quote on page 77,...

A page number can change based on the edition you are using, but the quote appears in part I, chapter 4 of the text. In my Signet edition, it is on page 36 and reads as follows: As short a time...

Similarities • Both Winston and Julia are rebellious towards the Party and go against the laws that govern thought and action • They both desire each other and engage in a covert affair...

In Oceania, the Party insists on controlling all aspects of existence. It is not enough to control how people act and behave but also how they think. This involves creating an alternative reality,...

In 1984, Ingsoc is an abbreviation of English Socialism, the state ideology of Oceania. The word is described as appearing on a poster before it is explained, but the second time the poster is...

Winston and Julia have just awakened from another evening spent in the "secret" room above Charrington's shop. Winston is thinking about the implications of Goldstein's book, which he has almost...

In Part One, Chapter Four, while at work, Winston is tasked with writing a man called Comrade Withers out of history. (Withers has been vaporised and is now considered to be an enemy of the Party)....

This particular quote serves as an illustration, provided by O'Brien, to better clarify the core motivation which ultimately lies behind this entire dystopian world as envisioned by Orwell. Indeed,...

There is a great character description and analysis for each character in the novel on eNotes, so I will post Katharine's here for your convenience. Katharine is "Winston’s wife. She was a tall,...

1984's exposition can be found as Orwell establishes the world of 1984 through the viewpoint of his protagonist, Winston Smith. We observe the deteriorating condition of his flat and the oppression...

Orwell's physical description of Winston Smith—a "smallish, frail figure" with a meager body— in the very first chapter of 1984 tells us straight away what kind of person we're dealing with....

In Oceania, the Party is always looking for ways to bind people more closely to the state. That makes it much easier for them to be monitored, controlled, and brainwashed. One way of achieving this...

The concept of "2+2=5" in 1984 can be a bit confusing at first. This is because it is a statement from the book's made-up Ingsoc ideology. Basically, the statement represents the way that the Party...

Oligarchical collectivism refers to the system by which Orwell's dystopian future nations are governed. In some sense it is a paradoxical term, since a "collectivist" society, at least ideally, is...

The one-party government of Oceania controls society through fear, repression, and propaganda. This is a society in which no one has any rights, where the government can do whatever it wants...

The purpose of the telescreens in Orwell's popular dystopian novel 1984 is to constantly monitor, control, and oppress the population of Oceania. The Party uses the telescreens to assert its...

In the totalitarian society depicted in Orwell's 1984, Ingsoc is the governing political philosophy. Its name is derived from "English Socialism," which, as the name implies, is an English...

Winston's dreams about his mother reveal something about his tortured psyche and also the events of his childhood that gave rise to his feelings of guilt and shame. They also tell us something...

In Chapter One of 1984, Winston writes in his newly-purchased diary for the first time. This diary is used by Winston as a tool for self-expression because, under Party rule, Winston is not allowed...

In Orwell's celebrated novel 1984, Ampleforth and Parsons are depicted as significantly different characters who are both arrested by the Thought Police and imprisoned in the Ministry of Love....

Winston rents the room above Mr. Charrington's shop so that he and Julia can have a private space to conduct their love affair. This is a huge risk, but from the start of the novel, Winston takes a...

In the first stage of Winston's reintegration in the Ministry of Love, he is physically tortured and forced to confess to imaginary crimes against the Party. Party intellectuals continually...

The uniform of the Party is the blue overalls that are worn by men and women alike. The overalls are worn by both inner Party members, like O'Brien, and outer Party members, such as Julia and...

Winston has only hazy, dreamlike memories of his mother and sister. In reality, there's no evidence he murdered her: she and his sister disappeared one day after he snatched a small piece of...

As other educators have noted, this sentence appears in a dream to Winston and is uttered by O'Brien, a fellow party member. When it first appears, in Part One, Chapter Two, it represents Winston's...

Winston occasionally dreams about the Golden Country, and once, when he is with Julia in the countryside, comes upon a real landscape that almost (but not quite) lives up to his dream. Later, in...

We only see Julia through Winston's eyes, so what happens to her in many ways remains mysterious. We know she approaches Winston for an affair, they fall in love, and that both promise not to...

We primarily learn what the prole woman hanging laundry and singing means to Winston, as we are not privy to Julia's interiority. We do learn, however, that on their last day together, shortly...

Love and marriage are extremely important to the Party, in a negative sense. In other words, they see love and the sort of marriage based on love as inherently subversive forces and attempt to...

Julia rebels against the physical privations that come with being an outer Party member. Inner Party members enjoy all sorts of privileges denied to the rank and file, such as good coffee, wine and...

Emmanuel Goldstein's book is called The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism. Goldstein opposes the predominant political philosophy of the society in 1984 and uses his book ("The...