MGP+Group+1

"Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past." - George Orwell 1984

Burba, Tiffany Clester, Megan Contardi, Nick Darling, John (J.T.) Matthews, Johnathan
 * The following individuals have [[image:http://ibankcoin.com/gioblog/files/2009/05/1984-by-george-orwell.jpg width="436" height="306" align="right"]]**
 * exclusive rights to this webpage,**

__S ﻿ ____ummary of the Novel 1984__

This story takes place in 1984 in Airstrip One, a small province on the edge of the superpower state Oceania, and focuses on a certain Winston Smith, the protagonist and main character of the story. Winston lives in a run down apartment building owned by the Party, a political group who controls all aspects of Oceanic life. The Party, along with their leader, Big Brother, monitors members of The Party at all times through devices called “Telescreens” that ensure Party members are not breaking any laws. The Party, also called IngSoc or English Socialism, controls the history and language of Oceania. Four Ministries run by the Party are given various tasks to gain a firmer grasp on Party members. These ministries are the Ministry of Truth, which controls the news and entertainment, the Ministry of Love, which maintains law and order, the Ministry of Peace, which concerns itself with war, and the Ministry of Plenty, which controls the economy. Winston works at the Ministry of Truth and is tasked with the job of rewriting news. Although contempt with his job, Winston feels discontent with the oppressiveness of the Party and comes to the conclusion that he actually dislikes the Party while writing in a diary that he purchased illegally. Winston begins looking for others who he thinks may have the same feelings toward the party as he does. During the two-minutes hate, a daily session devoted to watching nationalist propaganda at work, Winston spots two individuals who he believes also despise the Party. One of these people is named O’Brien and is a member of the inner party, a group within the Party who are considered to be the most loyal to Big Brother. The other is named Julia. Winston thinks he may have feelings for Julia but is afraid of confronting her directly because he believes she is a member of the thought police, an organization that works to rid the Party of political enemies. Winston is reassured when Julia slips him a not that says “I love you”. Julia and Winston begin a love affair by using the top floor of an antique shop run by a Prole, a member of the lower class, named Mr. Charrington. Soon after, Winston and Julia contact O’ Brien because they believe he is a member of the Brotherhood, an underground group who is determined to overthrow the Party. O’ Brien admits to be a member of the Brotherhood and tells Winston and Julia that they will have to make great sacrifices if they wish to join. Winston and Julia agree to join and O’Brien says that they will receive a book that will tell the truth about the Party and reveal why the Brotherhood wishes to overthrow them. Weeks later, in the comfort of their upstairs apartment above the antique shop, Winston and Julia are captured by Mr. Charrington who is really a member of the thought police. They are taken to the Ministry of Love, where political prisoners are tortured and interrogated. It turns out that O’Brien wasn’t part of the Brotherhood after all and is tasked with torturing Winston to extract answers from him and make him like the Party once again. After months of torturing, Winston is taken to Room 101, where prisoner’s greatest fears are kept. Winston’s greatest fear is rats, so he is forced to wear a metal cage on his head that is filled with rats. This is the final step in the interrogation process and Winston finally betrays Julia, which is what O’Brien wanted all along. Winston is released from the Ministry of Love only to be executed in a year to be made an example of. Winston and Julia meet again but do not feel the same love for each other they once had. Winston notices a poster of Big Brother on a wall one day and realizes that he is now in love with Big Brother and the Party even after being tortured just months before.

**Why we should read this today **

Today, George Orwell's 1984 is still important to read, especially for kids. Most have not seen the horrors of a dictatorship, as displayed in the book, and it is important to see what the world could be if we lived in a differnet time or place. The novel displays important ideas of government by supressing it's characters. We are reminded the intensity of government control and how lucky we are to be free. As we read we see the hardships of a supressed people and are reminded to fight for our, and others, freedom every day to further seperate our world from Winston's.

1984: A Historical Criticism Upon the publishing of the book 1984, the year was 1949 and world war two was in full swing. George Orwell, the author of this dystopian rendition of a potential future ruled by totalitarianism, was living in England with the fear that English democracy would never be returned; surely the Soviet Union would oust Britain in the battle for supremacy. These fears are seen in 1984, based largely in Russia’s communist revolution in the early twentieth century. The story is set in Oceania, a militant communist dictatorship dominated by Big Brother and his resulting sadistic party. All citizens are under constant government surveillance by the though t police and censorship is prevalent through propaganda and distortions of past records. A mirror image to Russia’s Soviet Union, the society of Oceania is deeply repressed and living on minimum sustenance. Similarly, the Soviet Union was taken over by Joseph Stalin and his violent communist party. The citizens of Russia were constantly monitored by Stalin’s Cheka, (a secret police force which later evolved into the fearsome KGB) and a journalist himself, Stalin controlled the media to set his own public opinion. Orwell, who saw these events plaguing the Soviet Union, drew inspiration from the oppression, persecution, and torture of Russian peoples under the communist regime and expresses his idea of what could happen in the near future if totalitarianism goes unchecked in his society of Oceania. People constantly disappeared from the Soviet Union for crimes conjured up by the Cheka, which set to weed out even the darkest shades of pink from the red society. Likewise, Orwell’s thought police were responsible for the disappearance of many citizens accused of different crimes such as face crime or thought crime, two elements which were supposedly telltale signs of a person being only half-heartedly devoted to Big Brother. In neither the Oceania nor the Soviet Union was a political dissident accepted or allowed to live very long; with brainwashing a major propaganda tactic, Orwell doomed Winston to the same fate as many innocent Russians under the oppressive regime of Joseph Stalin.

The following items include 15 artifacts related to the book meant to assist those who are unfamiliar with 1984 in better understanding the text


 * __Artifact 1__**

=== The book 1984 was originally published in 1949, just six years before the Vietnam War. An unfavorable war on the behalf of the United States, the Vietnam War was one of the few conflicts between such strongly competing communist and capitalist factions which literally tore a country apart. In North Vietnam, a strong communist fighting force invaded the capitalist South Vietnam. Strongly supported by the United States and anti-communist countries, it seemed that South Vietnam would be triumphant. However, with the support of the Soviet Union and other communist civilians, North Vietnam proved to be a fighting machine. The United states was forced to create a sort of puppet state in South Vietnam. This cartoon could be a depiction of the views of anti-war Americans during the Vietnam War; the United States was acting as a hypocrite to its own ideals. Here in America, the prevailing ideas are those of freedom and liberty. However, we went against our own ideals and went into Vietnam, setting up a regime to run a whole other country’s government and decisions. Additionally, the regime of North Vietnam instituted many of the policies of surveillance present in the communist Soviet Union. Just as unfavorable as the United States intervening in a seemingly lost cause overseas was the idea of another country turning communistic. Therefore, this cartoon stating that “1984 was not supposed to be an instruction manual” would have been pointing out the fact that 1984 decried dictatorship rather than supporting it. The views of the artist would have been that he was facetiously blaming the rise of communism and its resulting military repercussions on the publication of 1984 as a tool of propaganda. ===


 * __Artifact 2__**


 * Along with this explanation is a link that will redirect you to a website with outstanding pictures of the covers of 1984 as years progressed. Please access the link before reading the explanation.

[] As the worldview of communism evolved during the twentieth century as a result of a devastating World War and the new Cold War competition between capitalism and communism as spearheaded by the United States and the Soviet Union, views on seemingly communist literature changed with the era. Thanks to the ideas about totalitarianism presented in the novel 1984, which seems to condemn dictatorship but ultimately surrenders to it in hopeless agony, George Orwell became a highly contested author for his apparent political ideals. These changes in the worldview of communism are directly reflected in the evolution of the cover-art of the book 1984. The original year of publication, 1949, shows a few covers that seem ordinary enough. Emotionless and indifferent, they show the uncertainty towards the Soviet Union expressed by countries during world war two. Here, while communism was not entirely favorable, people did not openly condemn Russia because it was helping in the battle against German Nazism. At this point, Stalin was considered to the world to be the lesser of two evils. The 1950 publications remain largely plain-covered, but very dark and rather foreboding. One look at one of these covers would instantly invoke a sense of depression and hopelessness. Upon the onset of the Cold War following world war two, communism was vilified and foreign policy was revolved mainly around protection from communist overthrow. The 1950’s served as the turning point of the worldview—when communism “when bad” in the eyes of the public, as shown by the dark, foreboding covers. Then, between the years of 1955 and 1966, the world began to learn more about communist doctrine, and each country formulated their own opinions on the matter. While some willingly embraced it, others hated the idea of a market dictated to them by an oppressive government. The covers of 1984 go from accepting to scolding and back again, until around 1974, when the novel covers and views toward communism were relatively indifferent until the onset of the early eighties. From then forward, the novel covers along with the immediate threat of communism became less intense. The dissipation of the Soviet Union through the independence movements of Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, and Czechoslovakia in particular loosened the grip the communist party had held on competing countries and allowed for a more relaxed feel than was present in the midst of the cold war. Right up until the early 2000’s, when the last new cover of 1984 was published, the artwork was more or less ordinarily indifferent with only subtle details betraying the views on communism of the countries of publications.


 * __Artifact 3__**



The setting of 1984 is in a world where there are no countries; all of the continents are divided up into three constantly warring super states. These consist of Oceania, including Great Britain, the Americas , southern Africa, and Australia. Eurasia, consisting of most of Russia and northern Europe, often switched alliances in a perpetual war effort between Oceania and Eastasia, which included most of China and Japan. The three super states fought in order to achieve dominance of the cheap labor and natural resources in the disputed territories, consisting mainly of northern Africa, strips of Central Asia, and Indonesia. Although in Orwell’s world, each super state has similar political doctrine in that they clung to totalitarian communism, this could have been a mirror image of the scene in world war two. The modern countries in the Realm of Oceania were either developing or adhered to capitalism, a stark contrast to what was occurring in Orwell’s Eurasia. While Russia ’s militant communism threatened Eastern Europe and parts of Asia, Western Europe was living in the shadow of fear created by Germany ’s Nazi regime. It seemed like everywhere, the autonomy of small states in Europe was being threatened by the all-consuming force of totalitarianism, as shown by their grouping together in Orwell’s version of Eurasia. Eastasia according to Orwell consisted of mostly China, Japan , and Northern India. Following world war two, Japan was building its economy to be a strong capitalist industrial power while China was adhering to a strong communist doctrine. All of these three equivalents to Orwell’s super states similarly switched alliances often due to political differences. At first, the United States was allied with the Russian Soviets against Japan and Germany during World War 2 (i.e. Oceania was allied with Eurasia against Eastasia), but upon the onset of the Cold War, the United States grew close ties with Japan in an attempt to usurp communism in eastern Europe (i.e. Oceania allying with Eastasia against Eurasia). Additionally, the allies and their adversaries were constantly competing for supremacy in the Middle East in order to possess the abundance of fossil fuels found in the area. Similarly, Orwell’s three super states battled for dominance of the disputed territories. Because Orwell lived during World War one and World War two, where alliances were forged and discarded for upcoming conflicts, he was able to portray his view on this hypocritical foreign policy in his novel 1984.


 * __Artifact 4__**

media type="custom" key="8003212" align="center"

 === A brief explanation... This song by Radiohead has the sort of melancholy, foreboding tone that matches the anxiety presented in 1984. With the lyrics themselves even pertaining to the novel, 2+2=5 could not have been a better find. In the storyline of 1984, Winston Smith, once extremely rebellious, had been captured and submitted to torture and “correction” by the central party. One vivid scene describes O’Brien attempting to brainwash Winston into submission, asking him over and over again what the sum of two and two is. Time and time again, Winston says four, while O’Brien tells him the answer is five. Finally, at the end of the book, Winston has his epiphany and completely succumbs to the power of the Party. Two and two had always made five to him, and he officially loved Big Brother. Additionally, this song is about things that are not as they seem, for example the fact that January is having April showers and hailing to the thief rather than hailing to the chief. This correlates to the tactics of Big Brother and how he used propaganda to lure the public into false pretenses. For example, he publicized the cut in the chocolate ration as an increase, so everyone thought that he was a compassionate leader making positive change, while in reality he was a power-hungry menace to human rights. ===


 * __Artifact 5__**



This is a student interpretation of how Orwell’s novel 1984 could have been a bit different had it been set further into the future, where different, modern technologies were readily available to Big Brother and the Inner Party. As government regulation and surveillance, as well as violations of privacy, were major factors in the society of Ingsoc, Big Brother and the Inner Party would have been fascinated by the idea of a full-body scanner, which allows monitors to see every object present on a person’s body. Although such a device was originally invented for security reasons in order to help protect the people of a country from external threats, many Americans questioned the constitutionality of such a violation of privacy. After the events of 9/11, the American government was determined to prevent another action of such devastation and undermining of our ideals of freedom from occurring, and began to increase security in important buildings and transportation agencies. A long debate has since ensued: is airport security justified as a measure to promote national security or does it violate the rights we once thought were unalienable? Here, we used a twist on the side of full-body scanners being a measure of oppression in order to emphasize the corruption and all-consuming power of Big Brother in the novel 1984. Surely, the Inner Party would utilize such a device in order to eliminate the possibility of human error in the Thought Police and catch even more political dissidents.

The societies of Soviet Russia and Orwell’s Oceania were nearly mirror images in that the mobs of the public were forced into supporting the government in power. Under Joseph Stalin, a secret police force was developed called the Cheka (later evolving into the KGB) which would keep tabs on suspicious or powerful persons in the communist regime as well as wreak havoc in the streets of the Soviet Union, taking and torturing suspected people at will. With the threat of losing family, property, and even their own lives, Russians everywhere were forced to comply with Stalin’s demands. Similarly, Big Brother had his force called the Thought Police which would monitor the every move of the people of Oceania and snuff out political dissidents when necessary. In both societies, propaganda was used as a rallying tool to bring the community together in reverence of the government in power. Public displays and processions were one way to glorify the communist government in Russia, just as events such as Hate Week were public events to celebrate the graciousness of Big Brother in Oceania. These photographs are as comparable as the societies depicted in them. One, with the image of the large face of Big Brother, shows a telescreen announcement occurring in Oceania about the war effort in Eurasia. All citizens of Airstrip One were mandated to be attentive and supportive of these pro-party newsflashes, and the audience is held in a spell of awe as they stand at attention. Likewise, the photograph of Stalin’s tanks surrounded by a cheering mob of Soviets expresses how the communist regime used war as pro-party propaganda in order to glorify the Soviet leaders and achieve even greater dominance over the public. In both photographs, the use of black and white as well as heavy shadowing shows the hypocrisy of both societies. While all cheer in excitement, the creeping shadows show the masked corruption of the parties in power and foreshadow the torture and oppression yet to come.
 * __Artifact 6__**

//﻿// //Soviet National Anthem//-
 * __ Artifact 7 __**

Explanation-media type="youtube" key="0yDrtNEr_5M?fs=1" height="385" width="480"

The Soviet National Anthem was supposed to promote nationalism and rally the people of Russia around their communist government, glorifying Lenin and Stalin and justifying the measures the country took. It was used as a propaganda tool; much like Big Brother used propaganda to gain support of his party in the book 1984. The first line of the song is “Unbreakable union of freeborn republics”, implying that the Soviet Union was in fact united willingly and freely, while in reality, the Soviets had used the Red Army to instill control in the Balkan states and provinces of Eastern Europe. Russia had forcibly expanded its borders in an attempt to spread communism, so the other countries were not “freeborn republics” at all, but the song tried to promote the fact that they were to keep the people appeased into submission. The word “unbreakable” says it all because for a time, the union was in fact unbreakable thanks to the threat of the overbearing Red Army and the secret police of Stalin to use torture to ensure unity. This is all very similar to what was occurring in Big Brother’s Oceania, where the Inner Party had full autonomy and was able to snuff out dissidents on command through the Spies and the Thought Police. The chain of the Party’s power seemed to in fact be “unbreakable” because it presented itself as such through the propaganda and brutal imprisonments of Big Brother. It is likely that had Oceania a national anthem, it would have sounded something like the Soviet’s, upbeat and strong to achieve a firmer hold on the minds of the general public.

__**Artifact 8**__

media type="youtube" key="Z4rBDUJTnNU?fs=1" height="385" width="480" align="center"

__Explanation-__ This is the trailer for one of the more recent productions of the movie 1984, based on the book written by George Orwell. Not only does it provide a good summary of what occurred in Orwell’s society of Oceania, but it also provides insight on the historical influences present in the novel. Seen clearly is the caption “where terrorism is exploited by the state,” indicative of the thuggish tactics used by Big Brother to maintain a strong grasp on the public. As with many twentieth-century dictatorships, full-scale terror was often used as a way for the government in power to ensure maximum cooperation in its people. Joseph Stalin of Soviet Russia, Adolf Hitler of Nazi German, and Benito Mussolini of Fascist Italy all utilized means of intimidation through gangs of heavily armed secret police forces, torture, and public executions. While in the novel, the common way of execution was to be shot, it is surprising to see that the majority of executions in Nazi German were actually done by the French Guillotine. Bombings and mandatory propaganda sessions were present both in 1984 and in Soviet Russia, which re-militarized in order to promote nationalism and to gain more satellite countries. Finally, in the novel, Winston was in grave danger due to his writing in and maintaining a journal. Big Brother wished to purge all intellectual dissidents and ensure the absence of a threat of overthrow. Likewise, upon Joseph Stalin’s coming to power, he gradually had each intellectual party leader killed in some manner to anchor his own supremacy. Trotsky, Kamenev, and Zinoviev were all great Soviets who had the misfortune of standing in the path of a sadistic journalist called Stalin.

This Time Magazine cover has intense symbolism for the corrupt rule of Joseph Stalin. A face of black and white betrays the sinister tactics of Stalin—his rule was tainted by torture, genocide, and conspiracy—while a web of humans are entwined on his hat. He held sway over so many people through his propaganda (full of lies) and apparent charisma. His followers tended to simply wander along blindly behind him until it was too late; they were stuck in his web of power and the only escape was death itself. Big Brother of 1984 had the same affect with his brainwashing of the public and demoralization of ordinary people. The imagery present really shows the disconsolate state of dissenters in both the Soviet Union and in 1984. Like Winston, all were aware of their impending doom, but try as they might, none could writhe free of the government’s deadly threads.
 * __Artifact 9__**


 * __Artifact 10__**

This is a poem written by Orwell himself. It reflects an underling idea present in the novel 1984 of being discontented with the time period you are living in. Winston, with the way he thinks and how he is overcome by nostalgia, is terribly out of place in Big Brother’s state of moral slavery and total submission. When Winston finds and old paperweight in a Prole antique shop, he is overcome with a sense of longing for a different time. The paperweight to Winston was a token of a past lost and unable to be recovered thanks to the oppression of Big Brother. An outsider, Winston felt he did not belong in the world of Big Brother. Reading this poem, you can see that the speaker is equally as unhappy with the time period he is living in. He indicates that he may have been more content two hundred years ago, and that he was “born, alas, in an evil time.” The tone of this poem is so melancholy and utterly hopeless that it sounds as though it could have been written by Winston. When it says “It is forbidden to dream again: we main our joys and hide them”, it expresses the fear of thought crime and face crime in Oceania and how this perpetual fear takes away from the joys of life that people typically experience. And, finally, in the final stanza, the speaker states “I wasn’t born for an age like this; Was Smith?” This last, resounding line really hits it home, making the concluding connection between the speaker in Orwell’s “A Little Poem” and Winston in 1984. Enjoy... 

**George Orwell ** **A little poem ** A happy vicar I might have been Two hundred years ago To preach upon eternal doom And watch my walnuts grow;

But born, alas, in an evil time, I missed that pleasant haven, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">For the hair has grown on my upper lip <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">And the clergy are all clean-shaven.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">And later still the times were good, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">We were so easy to please, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">We rocked our troubled thoughts to sleep <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">On the bosoms of the trees.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">All ignorant we dared to own <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">The joys we now dissemble; <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">The greenfinch on the apple bough <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Could make my enemies tremble.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">But girl's bellies and apricots, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Roach in a shaded stream, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Horses, ducks in flight at dawn, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">All these are a dream.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">It is forbidden to dream again; <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">We maim our joys or hide them: <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Horses are made of chromium steel <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">And little fat men shall ride them.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">I am the worm who never turned, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">The eunuch without a harem; <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Between the priest and the commissar <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">I walk like Eugene Aram;

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">And the commissar is telling my fortune <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">While the radio plays, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">But the priest has promised an Austin Seven, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">For Duggie always pays.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">And woke to find it true; <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">I wasn't born for an age like this; <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Was Smith? Was Jones? Were you? <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">

**__ Artifact 11 __**

This is a description of the four main social classes present in the novel 1984, complete with a chart of approximately how much of the population was in each class. This is particularly significant because it shows the utter futility of an uprising on the behalf of political dissidents. While the Proles or proletarian made up the majority of the population, they struggled to live through every day. In their poor economic and social standing, they really had no chance of starting a large-scale rebellion, thus the regime of Big Brother reigned free over all. This is a similar image to that of Russia’s Soviet Union. A majority of the population were rural farmers, scattered widely across the Siberian countryside. Stalin’s version of communism had not made provisions for agriculture, and the already instituted collectivization was particularly ineffective. This left farmers poor and without markets to sell their produce, considering the government now regulated all business. However, a major difference here is that in the novel, those directly under Party rule were discouraged from interacting in any way with the lowly Proles. A stark contrast, Stalin encouraged starving urbanites to pillage neighboring farms and ran-sack rural land in order to feed themselves. Massive search parties set out to wreak havoc upon Russia’s farms, leaving farmers decimated and with no resources to rebel. Subsequently, thanks largely to these oppressive measures, many farmers were counterrevolutionaries, so Stalin sent Cheka forces into the countryside to shoot dissenting farmers at will. Terribly incapacitated, the rural poor were in no way fit for revolution.

**__Artifact 12__** <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: 90%;">This is a design for a possible Google homepage of the future, based mostly off of the book 1984 by George Orwell. In 1984, a world where government surveillance and censorship are prominent, it seems unlikely that a database like this would be seen in society. However, whoever created this particular design incorporated the aspects of secret police (“people spying on you”) and control of the future (“your future”) into an American future society where information is available about everything thanks to a high-tech database. In this case, it would not be a person in total control of the country, it would be technology. While Winston fears what life for the people of Oceania could become in future decades thanks to the regime of Big Brother, people everywhere feared that technology could rise up to dominate the world at the turn of the millennium in 2000. This change in threat is reflected by the century change—while in 1984 a terrible human dictator was entirely plausible to imagine thanks to the fascist and communist regimes of the twentieth century, the technological revolution of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries instilled fear of a computer overthrow on hundred years later in 2084. In any case, this design reflects the fear of negative change present both in society across history and in Orwell’s 1984.

__**Artifact 13**__ George Orwell Joseph Stalin > George Orwell, a writer who brought to light fears of fascism and communism, and Joseph Stalin, the father of communism could not have more different outlooks on life, but strangely have some similar takes on the same subjects. For example, on politics, both see through the common façade to bring up the fact, and fear, that leaders in government can be untruthful and harsh. But on the other hand, each has a different take on war. Orwell believes that war brings nothing but discomfort and waste too its people, while Stalin believes that war brings everything to its people, as shown through power.
 * // " Political language. . . is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. " //
 * // " War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent. " //
 * A sincere diplomat is like dry water or wooden iron.
 * The only real power comes out of a long rifle.


 * __Artifact 14__**



In the book 1984, Orwell described a league of junior spies that were employed by the Party to carry out tasks for the glory of Big Brother. Winstons two young neighbors, shown in the above left picture, are part of this keen organization. From an early age they are instilled with nationalistic ideals making them essential tools of propaganda more loyal to the Party than even their parents. The above right photograph is a boy who enrolled in Hitler's Youth, a group created in Nazi Germany to brainwash children and teens alike with Nazi values and ideals. Both of these organizations share a similar goal; to create a generation that will be unable to rebel or question the ruling regime. //*Orwell most likely based the Junior Spy league off of Hitler's Youth, this is especially evident when comparing these two pictures//

.**__Artifact 15__**
 * This next artifact is a brief, hypothetical obituary written by a student describing the life of Big Brother if he would have died.

// April 4th 1986- Big Brother's rise to power began fifty years ago when he vanquished capitalism from the vast provinces of Oceania and started a political organization called The Party. Then, Big Brother along with his Party freed the Proles from the grasp of the capitalists and granted equality to all citizens of Oceania. Soon after, the foreign invaders from Eurasia attacked Big Brother's new Utopia and he was forced to make great sacrifices for the people by cutting food and clothing rations in half. Fortunately, Big Brother's strength was great enough to keep our enemies out and restore order to Oceania with higher production of goods and foodstuffs than ever before. As a result of Big Brother's vigilance, our quality of living has improved twofold since the last century. That is why on this day in history we have lost the greatest of comrades. Big Brother died last night at approximately 1800 hours while devising new economic plans to benefit the people of Oceania. His wife of forty years found him lying on the ground holding a chestnut in his left hand. Now his wife, who wishes to be called simply Big Sister, will assume the role comrade Big Brother once played so well. Citizens of Oceania salute you and the Party, Big Brother, for now and forever. //

This imaginative obituary stays parallel to the ideologies of the book. It continues the idea that Big Brother is the only reason for the Party's success, creating a hero that Party members can not deny in any way. The obituary also gives a summarized version of the history of oceania which has been edited and re-edited over and over again. The symbolism of the chestnut in Big Brothers hand represents that even after his death, he still had a grasp over Oceania as he did with Rutherford, Adams and Johnson, three traitors in the book. Big Sister, his made-up wife, assumes control of the Party immediately after his death to reassure citizens that the government is still in control. Most importantly, this obituary highlights the extreme power Big Brother has over his subjects by identifying him as the supreme leader in all matters.

In this next segment, we have provided a couple student literary projects to assist you, the reader, in developing a more concrete interpretation of 1984.


 * __Tiffany Burba's__** **__project-__**
 * __Megan Clester's__** **__project-__**
 * __Nick Contardi's__** **__project-__**
 * __John (J.T.) "Tha Kid" Darling's__** **__project-__**
 * __Johnathan Matthews__** **__project-__**

After viewing this fantastic website about 1984, you may have come to the conclusion that we got this stuff from somewhere else. In reality, we only used pieces of information from other sources. As a direct result of this mishap, we have provided a bibliography to rid readers of any suspicion they may have had and also for our own legal purposes. Thank You.

Bibliography-