These 1984 activities will get your students imagining, debating, analyzing, performing, and creating. The list includes activities for use prior to reading, during reading, and after reading the novel.
- Dystopia Preview (movie trailer)
- DIY Totalitarian
- Survival Guide: 1984
- INGSOC for KIDS (children’s book)
- Dream Analysis
- “Oranges and Lemons” Game
- Propaganda Gallery (historical context)
- Debate: Surveillance and the Right to Privacy
- “Oceania the Beautiful” (lyrics / karaoke)
- Mapping 1984 (geography predictions)
- Brother vs. Brotherhood: Propaganda Battle
- Judging a Cover by Its Book (visual arts)
Dystopia Preview (movie trailer)
Get students thinking about speculative fiction and the concept of dystopia by having them create their own nightmarish vision of the future. You can approach this thought experiment a variety of ways, but the handout below asks students to create a movie preview.
Many of our favorite movies start as a lone author’s idea for a short story, novella, or novel. When filmmakers turn a piece of literature into a movie, we call it an adaptation. (The telling has been adapted for a different medium.) Sometimes the original author is personally involved in making the movie and other times the author is just paid for their idea.
You will be making a film trailer (preview) to create excitement and interest for a new movie. This will be a dystopia movie set in a speculative human existence that is terrible to imagine.
DIY Totalitarian
Encourage students to release their inner tyrant. Ask students, “If you had total control over the entire world, even what people believed and felt, what would you do? What kind of society would you create?”
At long last, the Revolution is over. You are the undisputed, victorious leader of the new world order. Your forces have crushed your enemies and silenced the critics. You hold absolute authority and total control. You can make society whatever you want it to be. Will you try to make a life a utopia for all? Will you make life a dystopic nightmare for everyone but yourself?
Explain Your New World Order:
NAME OF SOCIETY:
IDEOLOGY / DOCTRINE: What ideas form the foundation of society?
EMBLEM / SYMBOL: This is not necessarily a logo. It could also be a person, event, object, or place.
VALUES: What does this society want its children to care about?
SLOGAN: This could be a formal motto or just a common expression.
LEADERSHIP / GOVERNANCE: Who makes the decision and how do they make them?
SOCIAL STRUCTURE: Are there different groups that serve different functions? Are they all equal? Explain.
MISCELLANEOUS: Provide any additional explanations needed to understand your societal vision.
- ECONOMY
- ARTS & CULTURE
- TECHNOLOGY
- EDUCATION
- LANGUAGE
- DRESS CODE
- LIFESTYLE
- TRADITIONS
Closing reflection: Imagine a totalitarian state that provided a fabulous standard of living. Would the people exchange their freedoms for comfort and prosperity? Explain your view.
Survival Guide: 1984
This 1984 activity helps students as they gain familiarity with Winston’s world. After reading the first few chapters, some unpacking of this unsettling setting is in order.
Winston Smith explains that there is nothing illegal about keeping a diary since there are no official laws. However, he knows that “if detected it was reasonably certain that it would be punished by death, or at least twenty-five years in a forced labor camp” (6).
In this speculative setting, one’s survival depends on understanding the unwritten and unspoken rules of the society.
Part 1: Collect Textual Evidence regarding survival in 1984 under Party rule.
Part 2: Create a 1984 Survival Guide.
CLOSING: The Party could clarify the expectations through clear laws and straight-forward guidelines. Why do you think the Party prefers to leave the rules unspoken?
INGSOC for KIDS (children’s book)
Once students have reached the excerpts from The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism by Emmanuel Goldstein, have them simplify the information by creating a book for kids. The end result of this 1984 activity could take the form of a slideshow (as modeled), a poster, a storyboard, a simple summary, or an actual book.
INTO: Einstein said, “If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, then you don’t understand it yourself.” Do you agree?
THROUGH: The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism is not light reading. Winston makes sense of the text easily as it confirms much of what he suspected. It helps that he is an educated member of the Party and an institutional insider.
ACTIVITY: A revolution against Big Brother will rely largely on proles, young people, and people who do not work in government ministries. How can we make this information accessible to everyone? You will serve the Brotherhood by bringing the ideas of Emmanuel Goldstein to youngsters.
Dream Analysis
INTO: Do you have vivid dreams that you remember? What is your view on the meaning of dreams? Do your dreams carry any significance for you? Explain your view.
THROUGH: Dreams have fascinated humanity since ancient times. The people of Akkad (Mesopotamia) believed dreams were messages from the gods. Some African faiths view dreams as communication with venerated ancestors. In his The Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud theorized that dreams are glimpses into secret desires. Still others consider dreaming a metaphysical state that can reveal profound understanding.
Are dreams a legitimate tool for psychological analysis? A meaningless byproduct of neurological processes? Messages from the great beyond? Personal epiphanies from the subconscious? Entertaining diversions?
1984 ACTIVITY: DREAM ANALYSIS
Dreaming is an important motif in 1984. Choose one of Winston’s dreams from the novel, and work with a group to analyze it.
Winston’s dreams
“A Mother’s Arm” – Part 2: Chapter VII
“Nightmare Wall” – Part 2: Chapter IV
“Walking in Darkness” – Part 1: Chapter II
“A Sinking Ship” – Part 1: Chapter III
“The Golden Country” – Part 1: Ch. III / Part 2: Ch. II
- Which details are the most important?
- Interpret what the dream means. What would you tell Winston if you were his friend, confidant, or even his professional dream interpreter?
- Take a step back and think about the narrative purpose(s) behind the dream. Why does Orwell include it?
- Share your analysis with the class.
“Oranges and Lemons” Game
This 1984 activity works best after students have finished reading Part 2. (At that point in the novel, Mr. Charrington reveals the chilling end of the nursery rhyme to the doomed Winston.)
The nursery rhyme “Oranges and Lemons” is by no means original to 1984. The first written evidence of the rhyme dates to 1744. The “Oranges and Lemons” dance/game is documented as early as 1665. When an author mentions a well-known work or a cultural touchstone as a reference, it is called an allusion.
Before we think about the original meaning of “Oranges and Lemons” or Orwell’s purpose behind the allusion, it is mandatory (yes, mandatory) that you sing the melody and play the game.
Propaganda Gallery (historical context)
INTO: When Orwell wrote 1984, the Cold War era had begun. The capitalist West and the USSR (Soviet Union) had just allied to win World War II. So why the enmity? If one nation wants to be capitalist and another wants to be communist, what’s the problem?
THROUGH: Through 1984 Orwell speculated on the geo-political future. Orwell theorized that continued World Wars, the power of the Soviet Union and the Communist Bloc, and the response of the capitalist West might result in world controlled by a small number of totalitarian superpowers.
Additional background: (You may want to view/read one or two as a class before starting the gallery activity.)
“The Cold War: Crash Course US History #37” (14 minutes) from CrashCourse
“The Cold War – Summary on a Map” (8 minutes) from Geo History
“The Power of One — The Russian Revolution” (4 pages) from Khan Academy
“Cold War – An Overview” (5 pages) from Khan Academy
PROPAGANDA GALLERY ACTIVITY: Combine what you have learned about the historical context of the novel and the persuasive techniques of propaganda by analyzing graphic designs from the Cold War.
Debate: Surveillance and the Right to Privacy
The issue of surveillance and privacy rights has increased significance in this age of AI analysis and data mining. Encourage deeper thought on this issue by having students conduct a classroom debate.
The debate example focuses on surveillance and privacy, but students could debate a number of topics relevant to 1984. They might debate economic models (capitalism vs. socialism), political parties, patriotism, or limitations on freedom of speech.
Debate Topic:
Should governments and commercial interests have broad surveillance powers, or should individual privacy rights be protected from excessive tracking and data collection?
Overview:
In this debate, two teams will argue whether broad surveillance by governments and corporations is justified. One team will argue in favor of surveillance to maintain security and efficiency, while the other team will argue against it, emphasizing the importance of privacy, free discourse, and individual rights.
“Oceania the Beautiful” (lyrics / karaoke)
This 1984 activity combines musical fun and meaningful exploration of the novel’s elements and devices.
Apply your understanding of Orwell’s novel by writing lyrics for a 1984-inspired song. The song must reflect a specific point of view and purpose in relation to the novel. Perhaps your composition is a national anthem praising Oceania, a protest song shared by The Brotherhood, a ballad from one of the characters, or something else entirely. You may want to choose a song you know and replace the lyrics (karaoke-style).
Mapping 1984 (geography)
This activity moves students from a detailed understanding of 1984‘s setting to a larger speculation about the world’s political future.
In the aftermath of WWII, communist governments had been established in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, and East Germany. All of these were loyal to Soviet leadership. Of course, many nations were already formal states of the USSR (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Azerbaijan…).
While Orwell was writing 1984, countries concerned by the specter of Soviet domination were forming NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The twelve founding nations signed the alliance on April 4, 1949 (Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States.)
It is easy to see how these developments shaped Orwell’s political premise in 1984.
Brother vs. Brotherhood: Propaganda Battle
The Party and its Ministry of Truth use censorship and propaganda to brainwash the people of Oceania. Propagandistic messages pervade newspapers, novels, textbooks, slogans, rallies, music, fraternal organizations, and broadcasts like the Two Minutes Hate. The Brotherhood, if it actually exists at all, relies on the secretive transmission of subversive missives.
You have been taught to be balanced, logical, unbiased, and honest when persuading others. Well, forget all that. You will take the side of Big Brother and The Ministry of Truth OR Emmanuel Goldstein and The Brotherhood and garner the support of the populace. Remember that your reasons and methods should be unfair, biased, and fallacious. You will be graded on how well you create propaganda materials for one of the sides, present your materials to the class, and explain propaganda techniques that you used.
Judging a Cover by Its Book (visual arts)
This 1984 activity is a fun way to combine literary analysis and the visual arts standards.
With hundreds of editions and adaptations over the decades, 1984 has worn a wide variety of cover art. Some publications keep it simple and display little more than the title in a bold font and a giant eyeball. Other 1984 covers are packed with ideas and elements expressed in inspired ways.
Have the students analyze examples of 1984 cover art. How does the art illuminate or even expand upon key elements of the novel? Does it accurately reflect the novel’s tone and themes? Does the artwork succeed in terms of aesthetics and expression?
Finally, challenge students to create original cover art for the novel in the medium of their choice.
Thanks for visiting 1984 Activities for the Classroom.
These 1984 activities will get students discussing, analyzing, performing, creating, and debating. The activities and worksheets come from the TeachNovels.com 1984 Unit and Teacher Guide and are intended for the high school classroom. If you found any of these activities / worksheets helpful, consider using the comprehensive resource.