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1984 is about totality anism a
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totalitarian government is one that
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tries to control every aspect of life
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how people spend every minute of their
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time even in private who they can
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associate with what they're allowed to
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say a totalitarian government even tries
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to control what people think and what
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they believe George Orwell wrote 1984 in
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the late 1940s what he knew about so
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Talat arianism was based on the Soviet
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Union and Nazi Germany those governments
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had come into being not that long before
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and they weren't very well understood
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yet what Orwell was trying to do with
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1984 was to give his readers a clear
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picture of what life would be like if a
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free country like England were under
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totalitarian rule 1984 takes place in
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London the London in the book is a
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depressing place there's never enough to
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eat
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the food's disgusting there aren't
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enough clothes or shoes or anything to
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go around and the city is pretty
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dilapidated except for these giant
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pyramid shaped government buildings that
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rise above the landscape there's some
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sort of war going on who no one really
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understands what it's about
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rockets frequently explode in the
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streets and blow people to bits the
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worst part is that the government is
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always watching everything people do
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there are these posters of big brother
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who's supposedly the leader of the
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government that say big brother is
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watching you there are thought police
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who have hidden cameras and microphones
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literally everywhere the government can
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watch you in your home through your TV
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screen and you're not allowed to turn
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your TV off ever there are a lot of
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things you're not allowed to do in this
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society and if you do them the police
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might take you away and throw you into a
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forced labor camp you're not allowed to
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have close friends you're not allowed to
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be in love you can't date or have sex
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with someone you like you're basically
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supposed to save all your emotional
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energy for the party the party being the
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government then there are things you
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have to do you have to watch the
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government programming on TV most of its
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news some of its exercises
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you have to attend pep rallies including
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this one called the two minutes hate so
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it's hard to even have time to think
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your own thoughts because they're
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constantly filling your head with
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propaganda the main character of 1984 is
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Winston Smith he's 39 he has a job in
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the government and he lives this
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horrible dreary existence without any
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friends or anyone in his life at the
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beginning of the book he starts writing
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a diary to talk about how much he hates
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life in his society even though writing
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a diary is one of those things she'd be
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killed for doing if you were caught the
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diary is his place for thinking about
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his society it's a place where he tries
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to imagine if life could possibly be
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different from the way it is there's no
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way for him to know if things were ever
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different before because the government
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has changed all the records of the past
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and rewritten all the history books at
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the beginning of the novel there are two
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other people who matter to Winston and
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he doesn't even know either of them one
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of them is Julia Julia is this
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attractive young woman who works in the
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same building as him she's some kind of
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mechanic
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Winston basically hates her he hates her
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because she's pretty and he can't have
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her but he also thinks she's the sort of
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person who would turn him in to the
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thought police so he's afraid of her but
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also sort of fascinated the other person
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he's interested in is this portly guy
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named O'Brien who's a member of the
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inner party that means he's a boss much
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higher up than Winston Winston should be
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afraid of this guy but he gets the sense
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that O'Brien is intelligent so he has
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this yearning to be friends with him he
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thinks O'Brien would understand how he
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feels about life the book takes a turn
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one day when Julia slips Winston a note
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that says I love you this note
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completely rocks Winston's world of
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course he's interested he can't wait to
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get in touch with her but it's very hard
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for them to say two words to each other
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in private with all these spies and
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cameras everywhere finally they do
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manage to get out to the country and
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they start this mad love affair the love
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affair makes them both very happy it's
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dangerous because they could be killed
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or sent to labor camps if they get
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caught but that makes it more exciting
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at last Winston has someone who
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understand
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and who hates the party as much as he
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does but Winston needs to go that extra
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step he's rebelling against the party
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privately by having the secret affair
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now he wants to go to the next level and
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be an active rebel against the
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government he gets his chance one day
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when O'Brien invites him to his
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apartment to look at something
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work-related Winston takes a leap of
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faith and guesses that O'Brien must be
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part of the rebellion because no one
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invites people over to their home it
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just isn't done so he and Julia go to
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O'Brien's house and confess that they
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want to be rebels and O'Brien says yes
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I'm a rebel too and we all read this
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book that explains why things are the
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way they are
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Winston reads the book and he's blown
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away by it unfortunately right after he
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reads it the thought police bust in and
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arrest him and Julia and carry them off
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to the Ministry of love to torture them
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so we've learned that O'Brien wasn't a
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rebel after all he just wanted to catch
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Winston in the Ministry of love they
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torture Winston in all sorts of horrible
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ways they break his bones in his teeth
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they use electric shock they starve him
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and on and on he tells them everything
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he knows he confesses to everything they
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ask him and he tells them everything he
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knows about Julia after torturing him
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over and over O'Brien finally tells
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Winston what it is that the government
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really wants what they want is to have
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total power over the minds of people
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like Winston they want people like
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Winston to say 2+2 equals 5 and really
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believe it not just say it to avoid a
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beating for the government it's purely
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an exercise in power they're not trying
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to control his mind for some other
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purpose they just want to exercise total
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power over people's minds they finally
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do break Winston completely in this
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place called room 101
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where they do whatever it is you're most
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afraid of they lock his face into a cage
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and threatened to let these rats eat
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their way through his face he has a
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phobia of rats so he loses it and says
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do it to Julia not me which is a
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complete betrayal of what's most
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important to him
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the government has taken his last shred
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of integrity after he does that
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they let him and Julia go the thought
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police don't care about them anymore
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the two of them meet on the outside but
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they can't love each other anymore
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Winston and Julia are basically broken
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people after they get out Winston has
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changed to the point that he doesn't
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even want to think about anything that
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might be rebellious he just sits in a
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cafe listening to the news and smiling
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the last words of the novel are he loved
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Big Brother so one of the points the
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book makes is that a human being can be
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broken down completely until he'll
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believe whatever you tell him even if
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it's that two plus two equals five at
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the same time the book has a positive
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message which is that it's really hard
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to get inside someone's head to that
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extent the government has to go to
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incredible lengths to brainwash the
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Winston successfully for more
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information about 1984 check out the
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spark no2 at Han sparknotes calm
