1984 - Big Brother, Thought Police, Censorship & Surveillance

Big Brother, Thought Police, National Security Administration, Surveillance, Censorship, Twitter and Facebook

 

In the novel, Nineteen Eight-Four, there are so many options available to investigate further. George Orwell’s dystopian future depicted in his novel has made a dramatic resurgence of recent and for good reason. The insight we can gain from the novel continues to be applicable even toward today’s generation. For this blog post I would like to focus on a couple of themes, surveillance and censorship, as well as the character Big Brother.

·       Surveillance

Regarding the first theme, surveillance, we can see the ways in which Winston is being watched and observed throughout the book. There are telescreens watching his every movement. There are the Thought Police. And there are even every day, younger citizens to be concerned with. As Winston becomes more aligned with the party’s opposition, the Brotherhood, he becomes more closely watched. Undercover Thought Police observe his movements, and, as the book progresses, entrap him in his anti-party movement.

Surveillance has become a grave concern; the United States’ National Security Administration has even been coined Big Brother. There has been some acceptance towards this movement in politics largely because of the fear of terrorists infiltrating America and attacking once again. The increase in technology has allowed for this to happen more often and more secretive than George Orwell would have ever imagined. It brings to question, to what extent should we give up our freedom for the sake of security? And, are we safer from doing so?

·       Censorship

The second theme we will focus on is censorship. Winston works in the Ministry of Truth, which is ironic because all they do there is produce documents and rewrite history that is anything but true. The goal of the Ministry is to only have news, historical or present, that supports the Party and aligns with their beliefs. When the Party changes alliances, Winston goes into work to edit and rewrite past news articles to support the changes in allegiances, as if it was the same allegiance the entire time.

The Party censors the media its citizens are exposed to. The hopes are to keep the population supportive of the regime while keeping them unaware of any other viewpoints except for the one that supports the Party’s agenda. Are there any other reasons for censorship? Facebook and Twitter have both been asked to censor certain groups from their social media websites, should we be concerned?

·       Big Brother

 

Big Brother is the leader of the Party. Throughout the novel, we are not even sure he exists, but his image is so profound, you would have never guessed whether he had existed or not. Regardless, the people of Oceania still pledge their allegiance to him, even Winston at the end of the novel will once again confess his admiration for Big Brother, “He loved Big Brother.” 

Big Brother is always watching, through telescreens and microphones. He is always there, but he really isn’t ever there. Big Brother is more a symbol, not a person or individual, of obedience and loyalty toward the Party. Do we see this anywhere in our culture or in other cultures? Maybe in Sports? Entertainment? Branding? Politics? Internet?

1984 quote ressonates in today's world

 

1984 Quote Analysis

“We control matter because we control the mind. Reality is inside the skull. You will learn by degrees, Winston. There is nothing that we could not do. Invisibility, levitation-anything. I could float off this floor like a soap bubble if I wish to. I do not wish to, because the Party does not wish it. You must get rid of those nineteenth-century ideas about the laws of nature. We make the laws of nature.” (p. 167)

This quote comes from close to the end of the novel as we are reaching the climax of the story. O’Brien, an Inner Party member who caught Winston committing a thought crime, was further explaining the purpose of the Party and how it could accomplish absolute power over everything, even matter, by having the power over the human mind.

The quote’s relevance is of present-day importance. Brainwashing can be subtle, we see this in marketing when we hear a certain jingle or see a specific symbol. “Alternative facts” are a part of our reality now. Kellyanne Conway, an adviser to President Trump, coined the term herself after being questioned about the press secretary’s comments about the size of the inaugural crowds. 

 

Furthermore, the relationship between major media outlets and President Trump is continuously blurring the truth as seen below from a New York Times tweet suggesting there were much less New England Patriot Players and team members there compared to when President Obama was in office.

The quote, and what we are experiencing today, should help us to realize to be more analytical, understanding that there is bias in much of the world as everyone or every group or every party has their agenda. It isn’t that we must speculate everything being heard or seen, but that we must take a more critical approach into why so that we may always find the truth.

Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell initial post

I decided to use Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. The novel was published in 1949, but many of the themes found are relevant even today. If you have any questions on why the themes may be relevant, then this article https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/26/books/why-1984-is-a-2017-must-read.html in the New York Times can sum it up nicely. 

Students, at the completion of the book, should be able to examine different parts of society, research and find solutions to problems and/or discrepancies. Examples include: “When a chemical plant in Merrimack has contaminated the drinking water of the town, how do we find the truth behind the disaster?” “How relevant is voter fraud in New Hampshire?” “Should we really fear refugees?” “Should we be concerned with ISP’s selling our information?”

These examples will help students discover the truth about answers through examining, questioning and researching of events or statements made that are most often taken as simply truth, such as Winston and Julia both had done in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Enjoy!

Discussion Strategies - Lesson Plans (2)

 

 

Introduction:

For this post I wanted to focus on two lesson plans, Reading Response Journals and Thunks. I had chosen the books, The Things They Carried and Animal Farm, to represent the two different strategies. The Reading Response Journal is a low-tech approach, but could easily be brought up to the 21st century standards by changing the blue book to a blog like this one. We could also add more options to how a student would be able to answer the prompts, such as with a picture, gif or meme. Please enjoy the lesson plans and feel free to take anything that may be useful to you.

Response Logs Lesson Plan

SUBJECT	TEACHER	GRADE	DATE
English	James Maccabe	9-10th	5/6/17

OVERVIEW

            Throughout the reading of The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, the class will be responsible in answering prompts from their reading in a journal. The prompts will have strong connections to parts of the book they are reading at that moment while allowing for student choice in answering the prompts, and later on, developing prompts. The completion of the journals will become the basis of the class discussion.

	TEACHER GUIDE
Objective	·       To have students gain a better understanding of the different components of the book through various prompts, and to use that understanding to participate in classroom discussion.
Materials	·       Blue book journal ·       The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien ·       Journal Prompts
Activity	·       In the beginning, prompts will be created and handed out by the teacher. ·       As students become more familiar with expectations, prompts for the next reading response will be generated through classroom discussion. ·       The teacher will begin each class by allowing for open discussion on students’ responses on the prompts.
Assessment	·       Each student must participate in responding to their journal prompts. ·       Students must display accurate and relevant information. ·       Students must participate in classroom discussion of the prompts. ·       Extra credit will be given to students that create a prompt that the class will use. ·       Journals should be free of most spelling and grammatical errors.
Summary	·       The students will become more analytical readers. ·       The teacher will be able to help guide students who are having difficulties with close-reading through appropriate prompts. ·       The pedagogical approaches will focus on student-led learning, student-centered focus, student-to-student collaboration and teaching by guiding. ·       Prompts should be revisited every time, and adjusted as necessary because of the direction of the classroom’s interests.

Examples of prompts: ·       Why was what they carried so significant? Did it reflect who they were or affect them or both? ·       Why does Jimmy Cross blame himself for the death of Ted Lavender? Why are distractions sometimes bad and sometimes good? Examples? ·       How would you describe (insert character) to a friend who did not know of them? Notes:

·       This can easily be adapted for use with online blogs. ·       Classroom discussion should be tailored to what works best for the class dynamic. Is it teacher-directed call and answer or to form small groups or something else? ·       Were the students successful? ·       Were the students focused? ·       Is there improvement? ·       Did students participate in developing prompts? Creating Thunks Lesson Plan SUBJECT TEACHER GRADE DATE English James Maccabe 9-10th 4/20/17 OVERVIEW             Throughout the reading of Animal Farm by George Orwell, the class will have to produce thunks, “a beguiling question about everyday things that stops you in your tracks and helps you start to look at the world in a whole new light.” – Ian Gilbert. The students’ thunks will be posted on twitter with the hashtag #MaccabeLit. They will also need to respond to classmates thunks, a minimum of five classmates. The students will be able clarify their thinking of central and important ideas in the book while collaborating with classmates both inside and outside the classroom. TEACHER GUIDE Objective ·       To have students gain a better understanding of central and important ideas illustrated in the book and promote useful discussion in relation to proposed questions. Materials ·       Twitter account ·       Animal Farm by George Orwell ·       Web-enabled Devices ·       Definition and examples of thunks. Activity ·       At the end of the period, the students are given five minutes to produce a thunk on their Twitter feed with the appropriate hashtag. ·       Before the beginning of the next class, they must answer five other student Thunks using Twitter. ·       The teacher will begin each class by reading chosen student Thunks and some responses to begin discussion. Assessment ·       Each student must participate in producing Thunks and responding to classmates Thunks. ·       Students must display accurate and relevant Thunks that are reflective of the reading. ·       Students must participate in classroom discussion of Thunks. Summary ·       The student should show better understanding of Thunks and develop better Thunks as the class progresses through the unit. ·       The teacher will be able to help guide students who are having difficulties with developing appropriate Thunks. ·       The pedagogical approaches will focus on student-led learning, student-centered focus, student-to-student collaboration and using technology as a tool. ·       Objective should be revisited every time, as necessary, prior to the the students’ participation in creating Thunks at the end of the period. Examples of areas to focus: ·       Cyclical nature of the humans to pigs. ·       Focusing on individual characters, Old Major, Napoleon, Boxer, Moses, etc. and what they represent. ·       The various historical connections to the rise of the Soviet Union and the irony of the communist party. Notes: ·       Were the students successful? ·       Were the students focused? ·       Is there improvement? ·       Was there enough time to accomplish the task at the end of class?