1984

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

After reading about the impact of authoritarianism on the characters in Orwell’s novel, students design a slideshow comparing the impact of totalitarianism in 1984 with the impact of totalitarianism in a modern authoritarian state.

Create a slideshow presentation that compares and contrasts the impact of the Party’s government on Winston with the impact of a real-life contemporary authoritarian or totalitarian state on a real person.

• Review the text of 1984 to make a list of ways in which Winston is impacted by the government. Consider limits on his actions as well as how the Party’s rule affects Winston’s thoughts and feelings. Include details from the story’s beginning, middle, and end.
• Utilizing reputable online sources, find an account of a contemporary person living under a totalitarian or authoritarian regime. Make notes about how this person’s actions, thoughts, and feelings are/were impacted by their government. Be sure to note the source or sources that you are using.
• Consider how best to organize the information you have gathered. Does it make the most sense to tell all about Winston and then all about the other person, or would your comparisons be clearer if you alternated (or showed side-by-side) specific elements of the two lives?
• Share your findings in a slideshow presentation of 10-12 slides.