Background
In some ways 1984 (the year, not the novel), the world, divided into East and West and under the perceived threat of global nuclear war, seemed very different from today. Our president, Ronald Reagan, had, two years earlier in 1982, called the Soviet Union “the evil empire” and backed up his tough talk by increasing our nuclear arsenal; the Soviets, for their part, showed no signs of backing down. We lived in constant fear of a sudden flash of light, of mushroom clouds filling the sky. The personal computer was becoming a fixture on people's desks.

It was in the summer of that year that I got the chance to go “behind the iron curtain” visiting Russia and Uzbekistan. I went expecting the grim version of the world Orwell describes in his novel, or something like it, and, in fact, I witnessed firsthand a widespread paranoia, a culture nurtured by oppression, and a general emptiness of spirit. Yet, this world was not so bleak as Orwell’s dystopia; a black market of ideas thrived there even after years of totalitarianism.  And people were just people.

That was 23 years ago, and, now, of course, the Soviet Union has collapsed, Ronald Reagan has died, and the world has new divisions. We no longer fear nuclear annihilation (though we probably should), but we do fear unclaimed shopping bags and hijacked airliners. We find ourselves in a (new kind of) eternal war, one with invisible adversaries. We find ourselves flooded with small choices that make us forget we also have big ones. We are interconnected with the globe both virtually and in the goods we consume. We labor almost as slaves within a reality that vested interests have constructed to confine us. The more we participate in this reality, the less we may see others.

How relevant is Orwell’s book beyond 1984, in this new world order? To wjat extent does his book, which once seemed so accurate in describing the totalitarian Soviet Union, describe what, in a different way, we are becoming as a society?

Gather Data
Use interpretive analysis to ask questions as you read this novel and talk about it. Compare and contrast different characters, their points of view, symbols, scenes, or other elements of the novel and draw conclusions. Classify and divide your observations in order to find patterns. Get control of Orwell’s terms (such as “doublethink”), defining both their denotations and how they function in the narrative. Look for causes for particular effects in the novel (by asking why?), and look for the consequences of particular characters’ actions. Draw inferences that reveal what is not apparent.

Brainstorm/cluster about how some of these particulars derived from Orwell’s novel might compare to our life in contemporary society, to politics, or popular culture.

The Essay
Explain how Orwell in his novel reveals a particular truth about our world today.