Alternative transcript:

political thoughts unapproved by Ingsoc's regime. ● telescreen talks about pig-iron and ninth three-year plan o could pick up any noise if he remained within the telescreen's field of vision o "three-year plan" is a reference to stalin's five-year plan where he developed the soviet union's economy and industrialization • it was thought police job too, they put omnipresent microphones and camera surveillance EVERYWHERE • you had to live under instinct that you are overheard wait! let's back up with some background information: ★ big brother is the big dog of oceania, the dictator, the all-mighty. he does not appear in the book but his presence is known. he "cares" for the citizens like little siblings. setting: oceania. but winston lives in london, chief city of airstrip one and one of the most populous provinces of oceania ★ language: newspeak ★ there are 4 MINISTRIES o truth (minitrue) - news, education, fine arts o peace (minipax) - war o love (miniluv) - law and order ■ most frightening one. ■ can only be in there for OFFICIAL business o plenty (miniplenty) - economic affairs three slogans: o WAR IS PEACE O FREEDOM IS SLAVERY o IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH ★ there are four classes in oceania from top to bottom: o big brother (the supreme, literally think the president) o inner party (access to luxuries and stuff, think the principals and superintendents) o outer party (still in government but doesn't get the good stuff, think teachers) o proles (the people, think students) ★ world is split into 3 nations o oceania o eastasia o eurasia Oceania Eurasia Eastasia Disputed Brazzaville Hong Kong Big Brother <2% of Party population Outer Party Proles -85% of population ★ existence is a major concept in 1984 o you exist if you're documented (so if there's a question saying "does Big Brother exist?" THAT'S A TRICK QUESTION!! HE DOES EXIST B/C HE'S DOCUMENTED!!) o vaporization is when a person is secretly murdered and is taken out of all documents so their existence is wiped out from the past, present, and future o more feared than death, the cause of this is usually thoughtcrime o people who are vaporized are called an unperson ok let's keep rollin' • he drank this thing called VICTORY GIN and it tasted like nitric acid + made him trippy (he felt sick and sad that he cried) and made the world look happier!! ● took victory cigarettes • telescreen in living room in an unusual position (i honestly have no idea why this is important but there was a whole paragraph about this) • took out a diary from his drawer- bought from a district that was free from Party monitoring (this is actually.. NOT ALLOWED! especially for workers of ministries) • it wasn't illegal but you would be like punished severely and killed if caught (indirectly illegal) • winston struggles SO HARD to write into his diary until he writes out of PANIC! • then he realizes it's an act of rebellion against the party... OH NO • whatever! he's already start writing... anyways he writes about war films o AUDIENCE LAUGHING AT AN OBESE MAN DYING IN THE WATER then he wrote about a young, pretty girl (she's 27... so it's kind of creepy) he met at the ministry to which he disliked and thought was dangerous • the girl side eyed him LOL ● writes about o'brien o large, burly man w/ thick neck and a coarse, humorous, brutal face like a GIANT o member of inner party • winston drawn to o'brien ♥ they go to two minutes hate o two minutes is a period that is held several times a day to unite the party members of oceania against the common enemies of the state, namely, goldstein. they watch a video with images of the enemy and hurl insults at it. • winston sat next to o'brien, girl sat behind them • images and videos of "enemy of the people" emmanuel goldstein o he is the face of the "enemy of the people" O one of the leading figures of the party almost on Big Brother level o engaged in counter-revolutionaries o condemned to death o primal traitor O wrote smth called "THE BOOK" • everyone went ham and threw chairs and yelled insults and got all riled up • winston joins in, to which he says that it was hard to not join in w/ everyone else doing it winston then has a bromance kdrama netflix movie moment w/ o'brien and has EYE CONTACT o they were kind of telepathically telling each other: "i'm with you!! after the memory, winston looks down and realizes he wrote DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER over and over in his diary he realized he committed thoughtcrime o thoughtcrime is the unorthodox or controversial thoughts, beliefs, and doubts that contradict the tenets of ingsoc • thought the thought police would seize him anyway and wrote he didn't care, they'll shoot the back of his head (YOLO!!!!!!) . then a knock was at his door... !? CHAPTER 2 ● it was just mrs. parsons, a neighbor! she asked winston to fix the kitchen sink (remember how i said the mansion was old and run down... yeah everything breaks) her husband, tom, would usually fix it but he's not there o tom is a fellow employee at the ministry of truth o fattish, active man • her kids pulled up and were accusing winston of being a traitor o they were Junior Spies and wore the uniform o the Junior Spies is a youth organization of children who monitor adults (including parents) for disloyalty to the Party and report them with no remorse • they all mad because they couldn't see the public hanging the Party held (hung war prisoners) • winston left but was hit in the back of the head w/ hot-wire by parsons's son ● mrs. parsons is afraid and helpless • basically, children were bad. they adored the party and it was all a game to them • winston remembers a dream he had 7 years ago O a man, presumably o'brien, said, "we shall meet again in a place where there is no darkness" o winston is unsure of o'brien being a friend or foe • newsflash on telescreen: oceania's forces won in south india winston continued writing in his diary, greeting a new age without the Party and Big Brother • he thought he was already dead he had ink-stained hands and washed it off he hid the book despite it being useless, did a dust trick where if anyone touched it then the dust would move CHAPTER 3 • winston was dreaming about his MAMA- she disappeared when he was 10 or 11 o she was a tall, statuesque, silent woman with slow movements and fine hair o father more vaguely dark and thin, neat dark clothes, and had spectacles o two of them swallowed up in one of the first great purges of the fifties (20 years ago in the book) O winston had a sister but he doesn't remember her • they were in the saloon of a sinking ship. his mom and sister sinking down, looking at him while he was out in the light and air they had to die to keep him alive (sacrifice) • suddenly, in the dream, he was in a springy turf with sun rays called the Golden Country • remember the girl with dark hair from chapter 1? yeah, she's here. she ran towards him and took her clothes off • he admired her act of freedom that annihilated the whole party. he wakes up with the word "Shakespeare" on his lips • telescreen gives a high-pitched whistle for 30 seconds, signaling the getting-up time for office workers (7:15 am) winston got up naked cuz he only gets 3,000 annual clothing coupons (pajamas are 600). he's part of the outer party. • physical jerks: round of grotesque exercise they had to do (gotta be fit somehow...) • winston having a violent coughing fit which nearly always attacked him every time. it emptied his lungs, swelled his veins, and itched his varicose ulcer • did the exercise through telescreen. thought about his childhood which he barely remembers o o things were different then. airstrip was called England or Britain his childhood was peaceful until an air raid. he doesn't remember the raid, but his father's clutching and mom's slow movements o they went underground into a tube station and there were people sitting on the floor being miserable oceania at war with eurasia and in alliance with eastasia, but winston knows that the records have been changed o the Party can put its hand into history and make changes if they say so ● no one has heard of Big Brother but now there are stories of him going back to the 1930s (remember how i said he exists because he's documented...) as winston has these thoughts, the instructor calls his name through the telescreen. reprimands him for not working hard enough at the physical jerks winston breaks into a hot sweat and tries harder to touch his toes O CHAPTER 4 • winston goes to his job at the records section of the ministry of truth where he works with a "speakwrite" o machine which types when you speak into it (SIRI!!!) he destroys outdated documents there too (OKAY WINSTONNN UP TO DATE) eurasian higher command launched an offensive attack in south india and left north africa alone o it's necessary to rewrite big brother's speech to make it seem like he predicted events. big brother can NEVER be wrong (typical big brother behavior!) ● even when the citizens of airstrip one are forced to live with less food, they are told (LIED TO) that they are being given more than ever + they believe it. a delusion to this dystopian society o they're basically being manipulated • winston sees tillotson. he doesn't know tillotson well. people in the records department didn't talk about their jobs o tillotson is a small, precise, dark-chinned man • he saw the sandy-haired (idk why she's sandy-haired here when she's dark-haired) woman go to and from. she had to delete names of the vaporized, as if they never existed (women power!!) • records department only a branch of the ministry of truth. their job was to reconstruct the past, supply citizens with media • winston's greatest pleasure in his life was his work ● an article had big brother praising an organization called FFCC which supplied cigarettes and other comforts to sailors in floating fortress o comrade withers given special mention and a decoration: order of conspicuous merit, second class 3 months later, FFCC dissolved. withers was executed as an enemy of the Party • winston has to alter the record of big brother's praise b/c it's unacceptable to have a file praising withers as a loyal member, it was also unusual for political offenders to be put on trial (cuz they had to be vaporized) • winston did not know why withers had been disgraced ● needed someone to substitute for wither's deeds because big brother praised him... the power of FANTASY AND IMAGINATION!!! o winston creates a made-up man named comrade ogilvy: ideal party member, opposed to sex, suspicious of everyone O winston then spoke into the speakwrite in big brother's style of talking o he gave ogilvy a whole backstory- an unperson O comrade ogilvy, unimagined an hour ago, was now a fact. never existed in the present but did in the past (OKAY DEEEP o winston reflects on ministry of truth: thousands of workers correct flow of history to make it match party ideology & produce endless nonsense to pacify the extremely impoverished people CHAPTER 5 • they're at lunch, smells like victory gin. winston meets a man named syme, which is his friend o syme is part of the research department, philosophist and specialist in newspeak, compiling the 11th edition of newspeak dictionary o tinier than winston w/ dark hair and protuberant ant eyes • syme asks for a razor blade, winstone said he don't got one-there was a famine for them • syme asks if winston saw the hanging. winston says no. syme knows it makes him uncomfortable, going into a grotesque description on it • winston picked up gin. drank gin. suddenly felt HUNGRY and scarved his food down like OMNOMNOMNOM syme talks about destroying words from the dictionary to make/narrow down thoughtcrime • syme is GOOFY and is all like "good? bad? just use ungood!" .. • winston is not enthused, syme says it's because winston's more into oldspeak • winston thinks syme will be vaporized because he's too intelligent since he's thinking about contradictions in the future (duckspeak) 09 o duckspeak is to quack like a duck, two contradictory meanings ● man of fiction department sitting to the table to the left with his secretary • parsons pulls up o tubby, middle-sized man with fair hair and froglike face parsons talks about subscriptions. winston owes him 2 dollars. parsons is treasurer ● • parsons reprimanded his son. his daughter turned in a stranger because of their shoes. don't know what happened to him ministry of plenty announcement: won battle of production o "our new, happy life" was a favorite line of ministry of plenty O announces increase in production o the increase in chocolate ration was a reduction from the day before. but everyone was happy about it anyway yippee!! ■ if you don't get it: let's say yesterday, the school announced that some brands of chips sold in the cafeteria were taken away. then today, they put those brands back and claimed it was an "increase" more food, more houses, more furniture, more everything except disease, crime, insanity • parsons asks for razor, winston says he got none ● winston thought parsons' children would hand his wife to the thought police • winston knew instinctively who would survive • dark-haired girl looking at him and looks away when he does (typical high school crush scenario) winston thinks of facecrime at this moment ● o facecrime is to wear an improper expression on the face he worries she's a Party agent they go back to work CHAPTER 6 • winston writes in his diary about his encounter with a prole prostitute. stopped though and wanted to shout curses and just RAAAGE he was married with a woman named katherine, not dead but somewhere • • poorer quarters had women who were ready to sell themselves • Party hates sex and goal is to remove pleasure from sexual act ● all marriages had to be approved, denied if they were only physically attracted • purpose of marriage was to beget children to serve for the Party (junior spies organization) • children were begotten by artificial insemination (ARTSEM) - semen into a woman artificially without sex • Party encouraged divorce with no children • katherine is a tall, fair-haired girl with splendid movements. had a stupid, vulgar, empty mind • she stiffened whenever he touched her. she hated sex and they separated when they realized they would have no children X ● desire was thoughtcrime • back to the diary, the prostitute was an old woman in her 50s with NO TEETH... but he did it anyway. • he was desperate to have an enjoyable sexual affair ● the therapy in his diary did not work as he still wants to shout profanities at the top of his voice CHAPTER 7 ● "if there is hope, it lies in the proles" - MUST be in the proles because it's 85% of the population. Party could not be overthrown within so it has to be outside even the Brotherhood had little chance to assemble in larger numbers than twos and threes o the Brotherhood is a legendary revolutionary group that is said to be hidden from the Party remembered down the street, he heard women YELLING and he thought it was a riot when it was just a stallkeeper giving out tin saucepans to women and people accused favoritism + him having more in reserve. they were RIPPING IT OFF EACH OTHER... • winston wrote that the proles won't rebel if they don't realize • Party claimed to have liberated the proles from bondage O the story was that the proles were oppressed by capitalists, starved, and forced into labor o but in accordance to doublethink, the Party taught proles that they're natural inferiors who must be kept in subjection like animals ● doublethink is the acceptance of contrary opinions at the same time (ex. the three slogans: war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength) the proles lived in a natural cycle like cattle: born, grew up in gutters, work at age 12, blossoming of beauty & sexual desire, marry at age 20, middle-aged at age 30, died at age 60 o heavy physical work, care of home & children, quarrel with neighbors, films, football, beer, gambling there is criminal activity in london but it is not important. promiscuity went unpunished, divorce permitted, religion allowed • "proles and animals are free" the Party's ideal set up of society was to have steel and concrete, monstrous machines and weapons; people marching in unity; thinking the same thoughts; shouting the same slogans; perpetually working and fighting the Party gaslit people through telescreens by saying they were better than they were 50 years ago (ex. 40% of people are now literate, it was 15% before the revolution) • children's history book basically described capitalists as rich men who viewed everyone as slaves + beat and starved people O JUS PRIMAE NOCTIS = law which every capitalist had the right to sleep with any woman working in his factories • 1973, winston and katherine parted • 7 or 8 years earlier, he discovered a lie he caught the Party in in the mid-sixties, there was a purge where all the OG revolution leaders were wiped out; exposed as TRAITORS and counter revolutionaries o goldstein fled and hid. the majority confessed at public trials and were executed. 3 survived: jones, aaronson, and rutherford • 1965, they turned themselves in with the crimes: intelligence with enemy (eurasia), embezzlement of public funds, murder of Party members, against Big Brother, acts of sabotage • they were pardoned, put back in the Party, given secures which sounded important • winston saw the 3 in the chestnut tree cafe once, rutherford's appearance impressed winston O monstrous man, greasy gray hair, face pouched. famous caricaturist whose cartoons inflamed opinion before and during revolution • suddenly, telescreens changed and song played. rutherford began to cry. the 3 were arrested again, engaged in fresh conspiracies after their previous release. confessed at trial and executed- put in history a a warning to posterity • 5 years later, 1973, winston was unrolling a wad of documents when he saw a photograph of delegates at some Party function in NY. in the middle was james, aaronson, and rutherford. on that day, the documents said that men confessed they were on eurasian soil, flown from canada to siberia in order to talk to eurasian general staff (enemy)- giving important military secrets o the trial confessions were lies O say that your friend was sick after you asked to hang out and then you see an instagram post from them an hour later with other friends winston immediately covered it up and tired acting all normal b/c the telescreen was right there... he destroyed it out of fear but it remains in his memory as concrete evidence of Party dishonesty winston then went on about the Party and the concept of doublethink (2+2=5) • "i understand HOW: i do not understand WHY" • thought about o'brien and remembered they're allies. he decides that he's writing the diary TO o'brien • Party requires you to reject evidence of eyes and ears winston believes that true freedom lies in the ability to interpret reality and one perceives it, to be able to say "2+2=4" o "freedom is freedom to say that 2 plus 2 make four. if that is granted, all else follows" CHAPTER 8 ● winston walks the street & smells REAL coffee not victory coffee (wtv the fook that is). he walked a bunch and his ulcer was ITCHING 2nd time in 3 weeks that he missed an evening @ community centre: a rash act b/c your attendance was checked o it was assumed that a party member would be taking part in communal recreation if he was not busy ■ known as OWNLIFE: individualism and eccentricity • this evening, winston came out of the ministry and the sky was more nice + the centre w/ its boring activities seemed intolerable so he just walked streets winston ended up somewhere in brown-colored slums of north and east of what used to be saint pancras station and kinda envied the people's simple lives the people eyed him CAUTIOUSLY and SUSPICIOUSLY as if he were an unfamiliar animal • sudden commotion on the streets, everyone went inside. a man in a suit pointed towards the sky and said to look out b/c there's a STEAMER!! O a steamer is the prole term used for rocket bombs • proles had an instinct that knew when the steamers came. winston covered his head and when he stood up, he saw he was covered w/ glass fragments from a window bomb demolished a group of houses, winston saw a severed hand that was so white it resembled a plaster • he went out of the affected area and the swarming life of streets went on as if nothing happened • he enters a pub and sees a group of men arguing about the Lottery $ $ o the Lottery is one public event that proles paid serious attention to w/ its weekly payout of enormous prizes. managed by ministry of plenty, prizes were imaginary ● saw a man, must be 80 at least. offered to buy him a drink. asked him about life before war until the man went on about top hats... I • asked if people were exploited by capitalists, but his memory is too vague to provide an answer cuz he's OLD • goes to the store where he bought the diary and buys a clear glass paperweight w/ a pink coral center o It was $4 which is a lot but used to be 8 pounds charrington takes him up to a room upstairs and it has no telescreen, shows him a print of st. clement's church. winston didn't buy it • when mr charrington showed winston the print, he did a little rhyme: "oranges and lemons, say the bells of st. clemont's / you owe me three farthings, say the bells of st. martin's" • he left and said how he'd buy more of his stuff and the picture ● then the dark-haired girl appeared and looked right at him but walked on as if she didn't see him (ignoring rizz • winston concluded that she was spying on him. terrified, he imagined hitting her w/ cobblestone or his paperweight • got home and drank a cup of victory gin. decides the best thing to do is commit suicide before the party catches him & thought police torture him • tried thinking of o'brien but began thinking of what the thought police would do to him • thought about o'brien again once more & the place with no darkness (NOT HIM THINKING ABOUT O'BRIEN TWICEEE ♥) • troubled, he takes a coin from his pocket and looks into the face of Big Brother • "WAR IS PEACE," "FREEDOM IS SLAVERY," "IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH" 1984 by George Orwell ; {Part 1 Notes } END what is there to conclude?: ❖ dystopian dynasty with a dictator named Big Brother ◆ the Party can alter records and insert/remove things from history so it fits their ideologies winston is kind of rebelling the Party gaslights, capitalists are really bad here he's antsy about the dark-haired girl he thinks him and o'brien are allies