1. THE BOOK AS AN OBJECT
1.1. BIG BROTHER - Winston’s building - peculiar
1.2. left pivoted picture - mild aged man - continues in book’s spine - rotated leftwards - right position - staircase and door
1.3. Published in 1949
2. THE CONTENTS
2.1. literary genre
2.1.1. Dystopian science fiction
2.2. Plot
2.2.1. exposition
2.2.1.1. imaginary future - 3 totalitarian police states - Englishman Winston Smith - government, distorting - rewriting history
2.2.2. rising action
2.2.2.1. longing for truth - secretly rebel - love affair
2.2.3. climax
2.2.3.1. Visit O’Brien > Revolution - arrested by the Thought Police
2.2.4. falling action
2.2.4.1. torture - break physically - submit - love Big Brother
2.2.5. resolution
2.2.5.1. betrays Julia - brainwash - benevolent love for Big Brother
2.3. Characters
2.3.1. Main characters
2.3.1.1. Winston Smith
2.3.1.1.1. 39 years old - itchy swollen ulcer on his leg - frail and thin - blue overalls
2.3.1.1.2. writing talent - drinks and smokes - lonely - observant – resentful - pessimistic
2.3.1.2. Julia
2.3.1.2.1. dark-haired - 36 years old - Anti-Sex sash
2.3.1.2.2. duplicitous - small rebellion - zealous Party member - sexual being - community service
2.3.1.3. O’Brien
2.3.1.3.1. black overalls - 40 years old - distinguished manners
2.3.1.3.2. powerful and cunning – Brotherhood - set Winston up- betrayal - torture
2.3.1.4. Big Brother
2.3.1.4.1. 45 years old – handsome – mustache
2.3.1.4.2. May not exist- ruler of Oceania – unavoidable - everywhere
2.3.2. Secondary characters
2.3.2.1. Emmanuel Goldstein
2.3.2.1.1. Sheep like – cunning stare – jewish like – big nose
2.3.2.1.2. Never appears - legendary leader of the Brotherhood - dangerous and treacherous
2.3.2.2. Parsons
2.3.2.2.1. fat - 35 years old - boy-like attitudes - illiterate
2.3.2.2.2. obnoxious - dull - Party member
2.3.2.3. Syme
2.3.2.3.1. Intelligent – outgoing - language - too intelligent
2.3.2.3.2. small - rat-like
2.4. time and setting
3. MY WORK RESOURCES
3.1. Literature dictionary
3.2. Signature - Encyclopedia Britannica - Cliffnotes
3.3. Paperback encyclopedia
4. MEANING
4.1. Author’s style
4.1.1. Narrative technique : internal focalization to Winston
4.1.1.1. "He and Julia - speculations - out of his mind"
4.1.2. tone: blunt - witty - precise
4.1.2.1. "past> alterable - past>never had been altered"
4.1.3. language : intellectual yet clear
4.1.3.1. "cockney> disapeared"
4.2. Warning on totalitarism - love of power and domination - human subordination - personal extinction - potential dangers of totalitarianism
5. THE AUTHOR
5.1. Pen name: George Orwell
5.2. Eric Arthur Blair - England: 1907 - Burma - Spain - World War Two - sporadically writing - Tribune, Observer, Manchester Evening News
5.2.1. 1903, India – January 1950, England
5.2.2. importance in literature history
5.2.2.1. 2 classics - bywords - political abuses
5.2.3. best reminded for
5.2.3.1. widely read works - thorny >simple - trivialities>status of art.
5.2.4. predilection topics
5.2.4.1. experiences on war - poverty - political related allegories