1984

What are the mechanisms of control that the Party uses to maintain its power? The Party’s ultimate goal is to retain power, but how does each mechanism specifically contribute to achieving this goal (i.e., what reasoning seems to lie behind these mechanisms)? How do these details of the text support the ideas that Totalitarian Power Diminishes Individuality and Propaganda Manipulates Emotion and Discourages Individuality?  

Teaching Suggestion: You might follow up after this prompt by connecting it to the earlier discussion of dystopias, asking what features of Orwell’s own society might have inspired him to choose some of the details of the Party’s workings. You might also ask students to offer opinions about the realism or predictive value of Orwell’s vision of how a “future” totalitarian state might function. The following resources may be useful in connection with these possible follow-up discussions:

• A History Extra article on the history that influenced Orwell’s novel
• A Forbes article detailing which of Orwell’s predictions seem to have become a reality

 Differentiation Suggestion: Younger students and students with executive function challenges might benefit from working with a partner or small group to fill out a graphic organizer before responding to this prompt.