Today we’re going to work together as a group to agree on 5 lines of research inquiry. Once the focus is decided, you’ll be asked to work in pairs to develop a 2-3 minute presentation, to be given to the class on Friday

Your presentations can be visual, verbal or written and can be live or pre-recorded – or any combination of these. Please try to restrict yourself to presenting verifiable facts (and include your references) – or if your material is inherently subjective – please acknowledge this.

Starting points:

1. Critical Theory: Gather evidence in the text that supports a theme that is apparent in Orwell’s novel – particularly those in relation to the setting, style, language and structure of the novel.
   • Select 5 aspects of the novel from the list above (or add your own) and write a supporting analysis that contains at least two quotations each. Use this model to support the construction of these analytical pieces
2. Authorial Context: Research the historical context of George Orwell’s authorship of the novel
   • Gather significant facts about Orwell’s personal history that are understood to have influenced his politics and his writing.
   • Read one of Orwell’s essays:
     • Politics and the English Language
     • Why I Write
3. Historical Context: Examine the actual realities of world politics in 1950 and 1984
   • Select and explore specific socio-political elements of the time: Technology, Political Systems, The Cold War, The USSR, Post-WWII Europe, Mutually Assured Destruction.
4. The allegorical basis for the text – Stalin’s Russia
   • Pay particular attention to facets of Stalinist Russia that may have influenced Orwell’s construction of his own Totalitarian Party. Also, have a read of this article about the post-fact world
5. Review other texts that fit the dystopia genre (read, view and summarise)
   • FILMS: V for Vendetta, Children of Men, Gattaca, Minority Report, Elysium, ExistenZ, Mad Max: Fury Road, In Time
6. Marxism as a literary theory – summarise.
7. Resonance in our society now – to what extent was George Orwell’s vision of the future prophetic? (This is going to be the topic for our first NCEA assessment and is best approached once you have secure knowledge of the material above)
   • Draw distinct parallels between features in Orwell’s vision of the future and that which we find to be true of our world today – match the present day truths with specific quotes from the text. Consider: Politics, Political Corruption, Technology, Privacy, Class, Sex, State Control over the Individual, Inequality, Media manipulation, Totalitarianism.

Stalinist Russia

Authorial Context – George Orwell

How accurate were Orwell’s predictions of the future?