Students
Teachers & SchoolsStudents
Teachers & SchoolsBy the end of this video, you will be brainwashed. There's nothing you can do about it; we just wanted to let you know. We like to think we're bigger than Big Brother...
Author | Orwell - George Orwell |
British Literature | All British Literature Post-1945 British Literature |
Form | Novel |
Language | English Language |
Literature | British Literature Dystopian Literature Post-1945 Literature |
Themes | Language and Communication Loyalty Manipulation Memory and the Past Philosophical Viewpoints Power Rebellion Repression Technology and Modernization Violence War and Warfare |
It's enough to give a guy a complex. Don’t believe me? You try peeing in front of a telescreen.
… I'm a member of the Party of Oceania, which
sounds glamorous…
…but it's kind of a drag. I have to wear overalls, which are all wrong for my body
type…
…and my job is absolutely mind-numbing. The party likes to change history a lot, and
whenever it does, I'm the “White-out Guy.”
There aren't many perks to living in Oceania.
You are the one bright spot in my life, Diary, and I'm pretty sure I'd be killed if anyone
found out that you existed. The Party isn’t exactly supportive of free thinking.
It’s not like there’s any juicy bits in here, though, because I don't have much of
a love life to write about. There is one girl I’ve got the hots for, but she's sworn to
celibacy. Great.
Plus, she acts like a real snob. I was pretty sure she hated me, too, but the other day
she slipped me a note saying that she loved me! Wowza!
That kind of thing just doesn't happen in Oceania. We aren't really allowed to date,
much less fall in love. Now that I know her, Julia and I get along
pretty well, although she's not as into the revolutionary stuff as I am. She just wants
me for my body. I guess I'll learn to live with it, somehow.
Julia and rented a secret room in a secondhand store without any recording devices. Which
is fine with me, because I really don't want a sex tape getting leaked.
Our gooses are totally cooked if we’re discovered, but torture and death won't be a big deal,
as long as Julia and I stay secretly true to each other.
I mean… how bad could a little torture be, anyway…right? …. Right?
By now you’ve probably gotten the impression that the Party is a sinister, mind-controlling
government. You’d be correct. But there is one force that resists the party...the
Brotherhood.
No, they're not a group of mutants with superpowers, but how cool would that be?
Still, even without a telepathy-resistant helmet, anyone who fights Big Brother is okay
with me.
You know, this guy at work, O'Brien, gave me a weird look the other day, and it made
me wonder whether he's a member of the Brotherhood!
But it's not just something you can just come out and mention to a guy, like… telling
him he’s got spinach in his teeth. Breaking news, Diary…it’s true! O'Brien
invited Julia and me over to his pad. It was so cool. He even turned off his telescreen
so nobody could eavesdrop on us!
O’Brien has tons of actual books which somehow escaped the Party’s clutches, and he loaned
me the manifesto of the Brotherhood! What a guy.
I'm actually starting to think that life might not be an endless slog fill of drudgery and
despair!
Okay, Diary. I'm writing this entry in my head, because you aren't here. Where am I?
Well, that's a funny story...
Let me sum it up for you... O'Brien is really in cahoots with the Thought Police, and he's
been watching me for 7 years. How did I not figure out that this guy was an evil genius?
He's also really good at torture, and his goal is to brainwash me until I love Big Brother
again.
Yeah right. I'll always secretly hate that mustachioed twerp, and keep on loving Julia.
Even if O'Brien says she ratted me out in interrogation.
Speaking of rats…I really hoped nobody would figure out that rats are my worst nightmare,
but what do you know… O'Brien guessed it!
He had rats… big, hungry rats! And he was going to put them on my face!
And you know what? I decided to opt out of that. Yes sir. I told O'Brien to put those
rats on Julia's face, not mine! And then it was over!
Shoot, if I'd known It was that easy, I would have sold Julia out a long time ago. I don't
need her anymore, anyway. I'm a happy man now. I just love Big Brother. Don't you?