1984, 4 decades later
1984, or 2025? (due June 6)
The above question will, should, make more sense by the time you’re submitting this paper.
Don’t make this assignment harder than it is. Your main task is to demonstrate that you can analyze a social problem (using the framework we’ve discussed in class), picking something from Orwell’s book, and then something that pertains to contemporary society (from the linked articles on the assignments web page). You’ll be asked to do two things in this assignment:
- Explicitly use the frameworks for analyzing social problems, and the ideas about social problems we’ve discussed in class to make a case for a social problem in the book;
- Examine possible contemporary parallels with Orwell’s 1984. Choose 3 articles from among these categories:
(a) big brother; (b) perpetual war; (c) doublespeak; (d) information control (e) police state
and discuss how they relate to the book. These four categories aren’t necessarily social problems, so put some thought into what you think the actual social problem is (e.g., Is Big Brother a social problem, or is it what Big Brother symbolizes? What might that be?). I will have a web page with articles covering topics from these four categories. You can choose to use articles from more than one from a category, or stick to one. Your job is to figure out, Is there a social problem; if so what is it? If not, why not? And then describe and analyze it, using the framework from class. This could be the same social problem you discussed from the book, or a different one—your choice. I would recommend choosing an article that focuses on the same kind of social problem you’ve described and analyzed in the book—it will save you a little time. So in the second part of the paper you need to:
- briefly summarize the articles you used
- Go through the social problems framework, discuss whether the issues the articles address pose a social problem; describe why or why not;
- discuss how they relate to 1984
The point behind this assignment is to see that you can discuss and analyze a social problem, using the tools we’ve discussed in class. That’s what I’ll be looking for. If you stray from this, it will be difficult to do well on this assignment, so make sure you’re clear on how you can go about analyzing a social problem.
An exercise in critical thinking
Critical thinking involves efforts to identify and explain issues, recognize context and assumptions, identify multiple perspectives, and evaluate evidence to reach conclusions. For this paper, analyze Orwell’s book, and apply what you learn to contemporary society. It’s your job to critically analyze possible parallels between Orwell’s Oceania and the US. Orwell is also talking to a large extent about power and social control, and there are many ways a ruling class tries to exert control over a population. They don’t all involve force, they don’t even have to involve government directly. And many people may go through their days unaware.
To compare these two societies, you will want to use the social problems framework we will discuss throughout class—what is the problem as you’ve identified it, what are possible causes (and arguments/evidence for those), what groups are affected, what are some of the consequences, either to individuals, groups, or even institutions (such as government, democracy), who might stand to benefit from a certain way of thinking about or defining the problem, who has the power and access to media to influence public understandings about how problems are framed in the society, and what should be done about the problem (that depends on one’s viewpoint—for instance, what Winston thinks should be done in the book is quite different than what the government thinks the problem is and how it should be addressed)? These questions are your guide to thinking critically about comparisons between Orwell’s society and contemporary US society.
I will use the following criteria in evaluating your papers:
- Making your argument—Does your paper use evidence from the book and from the sources you’ve used to draw parallels/make comparisons between Orwell’s Oceania and US society? Keep in mind—you can use older articles from the Bush/Cheney White House years, as well as more recent articles from the Obama, Trump or Biden White Houses—governments come and go, and this isn’t about a specific administration or political party, but about how government, war, media, and powerful interests collude to shape public opinion (and isn’t that a form of social control?). 50 points possible.
- Assessing multiple perspectives—to truly understand a social problem, you seek to view it from the perspective of those likely harmed, those who stand to benefit, those who may serve as mediators (e.g., the media) in communicating different perspectives, political leaders, etc. 20 points possible.
- Analyzing language—in both the book and US society, language serves as a powerful means of influencing how problems are perceived (for instance, Winston is told he lives in a ‘victory mansion,’ the ‘Ministry of Love’ actually engages in torture of citizens, US enemies on the battlefield have ‘weapons of mass destruction’ while the US forces have ‘smart bombs’ and ‘precision munitions’). I’ll be looking to see that you’ve addressed the use of language (this doesn’t mean you need to pick articles from the ‘doublespeak’ section of the list of articles—you should be thinking about how language is used more generally, even where the article isn’t specifically about language use and manipulation). 10 points possible.
- Drawing conclusions—Pull your argument together with a concluding paragraph or two that states pretty concisely what you’ve learned from this process, and what your comparison of Orwell’s Oceania with contemporary US Society suggests. Hopefully you will go into this paper not with a conclusion you’re determined to prove, but with some intellectual energy for doing critical analysis, seeing where it takes you. In the long run, learning how to do that is much more useful than whatever specific conclusions you draw or grades you receive from/on this assignment. 10 pts possible.
- Writing—paper should be proofread, written by you (refer to ‘A note on AI’), free of spelling and grammar errors, complete citations in APA format (or a consistent format you use), and organized in a coherent fashion that allows the reader (me ….) to follow your arguments and supporting evidence. 10 pts possible.
Criteria | Developing | Adequate | Proficient |
Thoughtful analysis | Demonstrates partial understanding of how to analyze social problems in book and through articles | Shows basic understanding of how to examine social problems and apply them to parts 1 & 2 | Analysis is thorough and demonstrates ability to critically examine both the novel and contemporary society |
Following guidelines | Several elements missing (social problems framework, articles chosen from list, etc.) | Elements of assignment present, but inconsistently applied in parts 1 & 2. | All elements present, clearly shows an effort to apply the framework to parts 1 & 2 |
| up to 70 pts | 71-85 pts | 86-100 pts |
Some strategy
Keep in mind as you do this paper, there are many ways that social control could express itself in a society. Orwell writes about the most heavy-handed kind. But are there other possibilities for controlling a population that don’t require the sort of total control of Oceania? We will discuss some possibilities in both halves of this course. But mainly, use the social problems questions to structure the paper (causes, consequences, ….).
A note on AI
Generative AI (like ChatGPT) produces new data (such as text, images, or video) that is based on prompts provided by the user, and available information data (e.g., from the Internet). Generative AI does not include spelling and grammar checking tools.
Don’t jeopardize your grade in the class. Write your own paper. AI can be a useful tool, but representing work generated by machine learning as one’s own work falls under academic dishonesty. Same for any written assignment—obviously it’s out there and I’m not going to police that. And it can be useful as a tool. But like any other source that is outside of your head, if you use it, you must cite it. Properly. And describe how you used it—what prompt(s) did you use? Which AI application? Grammarly? At what URL? Submitting AI-generated work without properly citing it will be considered like any other work you submit that includes unattributed sources—it violates the academic honesty code. If I suspect a student has used generative AI on the 1984 paper without acknowledging it, I will contact them before assigning a grade. If I suspect use of AI to write the paper, I may invite you into my office to talk about your work. So … just do your own writing. If we don’t want robots replacing us in the workplace, we will have to think for ourselves, and college is a great place to practice and polish.
And last: I have developed means to identify AI-generated papers. Just give yourselves the time to do your own work.
100 points possible. Papers should be double-spaced, 5- 6 pages. I stop reading after 6 pages, so heed the upper limit. So there’s no space for fluff or narrative—stick to analysis. You can lose points for straying from the guidelines, so read them well, understand them, and ask questions if you need to. Due June 6th –there is no draft this time—only the final version.
