Summer Project
George Orwell's 1984
The novel 1984 was written about a future dystopian society in which the main setting was Oceania. Oceania was always at war with Eastasia or Eurasia which is a main aspect of the dystopian element of the novel. The government of Oceania which is labelled the Party was in control of everything in everyone's lives. The Party even changes records so that everything is the same in the past as it is in the present. The novel follows the life of Winston Smith who is trying to live the best life he can in the circumstances he is presented with. He was a worker in the Records Department where he was one of the many people that changed documents so the matched the current ideals of the Party. Winston starts a diary which the reader follows with as he writes it. This act, however, is a highly punishable crime which is commonly punished with death. This is a crime worth death in this society because all thoughts and actions are seen by the government. However, the government has become so strict that an underground organization to bring down the party called the Brotherhood was formed. Winston and his lover Julia were welcomed into the Brotherhood after they confessed to O'Brien, what they feel against Big Brother.
This novel has many symbols that can be taken into a different, real life meaning. One of these symbols were the telescreens. These were present everywhere so the Party could constantly monitor the citizens of Oceania, but this can symbolize how technology can be abused and do the opposite of improving life. The words, "the place where there is no darkness" is a sort of symbol because Winston constantly dreams of meeting O'Brien in this place (Orwell 25). He trusts him even though he senses that he may be an operative of the Party because Winston believes no matter what he does in this society he is doomed. The glass paperweight represents failed attempts to connect with the past from Winston. The appearance of the paperweight also is a representation of the government controlling things with words because of propaganda that brainwashes people. The Prole woman that Winston hears singing symbolizes hopes that Winston has for the future. He believes that this is hope for the future because as a rebel of the Party he believes that the Proles, the poorest people in Oceania, would be the group to rebel. Big Brother is the largest symbol in this novel because he is the head of the government and no one even knows if he exists. This represents the mysteriousness of the Party and he's always watching you, which to some is protection, but to others is a threat (Orwell 2).
I chose this format because I wanted to combine a few of the suggested options. I wanted to combine multimedia, blog, and website. I have done a few aspects of this option for the project before, but I wanted to improve upon my visuals and my blogs. I wanted to be able to tell the story without giving away the end and I feel like these options don't give too much of the novel away. Also, I think that including how the novel ended was not necessary as a wrap up because the multimedia wrapped everything together. I think this is creative because even though it was necessary to answer questions about the book I could show a little bit of my personality and creativity through the multimedia portion. I think this project connected to me because it has a good flow, is simple but effective, and is fun like I hope I am.
Works CIted
Orwell, George, and Erich Fromm. 1984: A Novel. New York, NY: Signet Classics, 1977. Print.
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http://headlong.co.uk/media/media/images/1984_Branding.png
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