1984

[Porridge]

How do you "teach" 1984? Do you just read and have general discussions with your student? Or did you create / follow some sort of learning plan? I'm looking for interesting ideas, interesting supplemental reading, etc.

Thank you!

[Malam]

It might be good to pair it with Brave New World. Just make sure to read ahead, as there's some fairly disturbing stuff in both texts 

[Brittany1116]

I'm sure I have seen a lit guide for it somewhere...

I like 1984. I couldn't get through BNW. Understood the premise, watched the movie, gave up on the book. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Malam said:

It might be good to pair it with Brave New World. Just make sure to read ahead, as there's some fairly disturbing stuff in both texts 

Thank you!   I thought about BNW but want to wait another year or two on that one given the content. 
 

We will pair it with Plato’s Republic. I also found some articles on commonlit 

[Zoo Keeper]

Brave New World is much more *intense* and better for an older teen/adult.  I wouldn't try to pair it with 1984, simply because it is a lot to digest. 

I would make sure that you have read Animal Farm before 1984.  Knowing the historical correlations of the characters in Animal Farm is helpful, but not strictly necessary in order to "get" the basic message of AF; you don't need to get too bogged down in Farmer = Czar Nicholas, Napoleon the pig = Stalin, Snowball = Trotsky, etc., and tracing every historical hiccup if it is sucking all the life out of the reading.  Showing hypocrisy of the revolution and how the leaders of the revolution were just as corrupt as those they overthrew is more important.  Understanding just how twisted "All animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others" is is the captain idea, imo. And how humanity at large keeps doing this over and over, within the framework of many different governments.  An older or motivated student can be led through finding some of these patterns in modern history.

Some decent discussion questions/essay prompts for 1984 are in this free guide... https://images.randomhouse.com/promo_image/9780451524935_5056.pdf

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is a quick but sobering read that would be a good follow up to1984.

[royspeed]

On 2/4/2023 at 6:40 PM, WTM said:

How do you "teach" 1984? ... I'm looking for interesting ideas, interesting supplemental reading, etc.

In my writing classes my students read many, many Orwell essays. — A fact little appreciated by English teachers: Orwell was probably the 20th century's single greatest essayist. — And in his essays you can trace the evolution of his thinking, the strains and paths that led to 1984.

Perhaps the single most relevant of those essays would be "Politics and the English Language" (1946), in which he traces deterioration of language to foolish thought and foolish thought to slovenly language:

... [A]n effect can become a cause, reinforcing the original cause and producing the same effect in an intensified form, and so on indefinitely. A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks. It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts."

In this essay you see many, many strains coming together in Orwell's mind. Two years later he would begin writing Nineteen Eighty-Four; for the title he simply transposed the digits (1948 --> 1984).

Hope that helps, @WTM.

 

[cintinative]

My son's lit class is covering it later this year. I will try to touch base later on this thread about what is shared there.

I wanted to recommend a short story:  "The Machine Stops" by E.M. Forster   It reminds me of a film, but I won't spoil it by telling you which one.  It's earlier--written in the early 1900s.  

Fahrenheit 451 was written in 1953, close to the time that 1984 was written, if you are looking for more dystopian novels from that period. 

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, cintinative said:

My son's lit class is covering it later this year. I will try to touch base later on this thread about what is shared there.

I wanted to recommend a short story:  "The Machine Stops" by E.M. Forster   It reminds me of a film, but I won't spoil it by telling you which one.  It's earlier--written in the early 1900s.  

Fahrenheit 451 was written in 1953, close to the time that 1984 was written, if you are looking for more dystopian novels from that period. 

 

Thank you! I will definitely check out the Forster story.

Yes, I was thinking of Fahrenheit 451, though I feel like Bradbury’s focus is more on the impact of technology on humanity, and Orwell’s focus is more on the impact of totalitarian regimes / language (though the government needs technology to create its propaganda machine and surveillance state). 

I really want to eventually take DD through Brave New World. I think it’s fascinating to look at how the 2 imaginary totalitarian societies approach social control in such different ways — one through strict repression, the other through the encouragement of license, “freedom,” (or the illusion of freedom) and indulgence.

I’ve also thought about having her read some excerpts from Richard Mitchell’s writings. He has a lot to say about language, its misuse, and how the structure of language shapes our thought and consciousness. 

[Guest]

7 hours ago, Zoo Keeper said:

Brave New World is much more *intense* and better for an older teen/adult.  I wouldn't try to pair it with 1984, simply because it is a lot to digest. 

I would make sure that you have read Animal Farm before 1984.  Knowing the historical correlations of the characters in Animal Farm is helpful, but not strictly necessary in order to "get" the basic message of AF; you don't need to get too bogged down in Farmer = Czar Nicholas, Napoleon the pig = Stalin, Snowball = Trotsky, etc., and tracing every historical hiccup if it is sucking all the life out of the reading.  Showing hypocrisy of the revolution and how the leaders of the revolution were just as corrupt as those they overthrew is more important.  Understanding just how twisted "All animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others" is is the captain idea, imo. And how humanity at large keeps doing this over and over, within the framework of many different governments.  An older or motivated student can be led through finding some of these patterns in modern history.

Some decent discussion questions/essay prompts for 1984 are in this free guide... https://images.randomhouse.com/promo_image/9780451524935_5056.pdf

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich is a quick but sobering read that would be a good follow up to1984.

Thank you!

Yes, DD has read (and made a super cute stop motion movie with DS) of Animal Farm. We studied communism, the Russian Revolution and Cold War last year. She’s also read Ivan Denisovich. I’m glad you’ve reminded me to revisit it, because the real-world gulag system would be an interesting system to discuss in parallel with the imaginary world of 1984. 

[cintinative]

2 hours ago, WTM said:

Thank you! I will definitely check out the Forster story.

Yes, I was thinking of Fahrenheit 451, though I feel like Bradbury’s focus is more on the impact of technology on humanity, and Orwell’s focus is more on the impact of totalitarian regimes / language (though the government needs technology to create its propaganda machine and surveillance state). 

 

The Machine Stops is more about impact of technology as well. 😃

 

[cintinative]

I had this thread in my followed list so I thought I would swing back.  My son is in the middle of 1984 with his lit class. The teacher has brought in a number of Orwell essays from here:  https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/

The ones they have read so far are linked below but are not in the order they were assigned. The purpose of reading and discussing the essays is to have a better idea of Orwell's purposes in writing 1984 (and Animal Farm).

• Notes on Nationalism (Polemic, October 1945)
• Shooting an Elephant (New Writing, 1936)
• Why I Write (Gangrel, 1946)
• Politics and the English Language (Horizon, 1946)

 

[Porridge]

Thank you, @cintinative! I’m going to check out the other Orwell essays you linked.

Some additional readings that added a lot of depth to our discussions, specifically around the relationship between language, thought, and action (all available online):

Richard Mitchell, Why Good Grammar?

Richard Mitchell, chapter 2 of Less Than Words Can Say (not available online, so you’d have to find a copy of the book)

Benjamin Whorf, Science and Linguistics

Helen Keller’s autobiography (not sure if this is online. I have a copy of it)

Orwell’s Politics and the English Language

various NYT Op-Ed’s, such as this one by linguist James McWhorter: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/24/opinion/woke-words.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article