Kailey Clifford - 3/12 Period 5


Aim: How does the setting of 1984 contribute to the mood and tone of the novel?

Do Now: What tone words would you use to describe Oceania? Why?

Words used to describe Oceania:

• Tragic
• Hostile
• Grim
• Uncomfortable
• Uneasy
• Despair
• Oppressive
• Dreary

What is tone? - Tone is how the SPEAKER feels, mood is how the READER feels.

The speaker is not always the author, it can be the narrator. 

Winston’s tone is the same as the reader’s mood, while the rest of Oceania is joyful about their situation.

Setting - the time, place, physical details, and circumstances in which a story occurs. Settings include the background, atmosphere, or environment in which characters live and move, and usually include physical characteristics of the surroundings. 

Why is setting important? How does it contribute to the meaning of the work as a whole? - Write a literary sentence explaining the importance of tone in 1984.

The importance of setting is shown on the first page where the clock strikes thirteen, which is seen as unlucky due to its biblical connotation, creating a feeling of uneasiness and distrust, while alienating the reader, as clocks don’t have the number thirteen.

“All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary” (36)

Palimpsest - noun

A manuscript or piece of writing material on which the original writing has been effaced to make room for later writing but of which traces remain.
Reflection:

We learned the importance of setting, mood, tone and how they all influence each other. Orwell’s use of setting allows for an easily detectable tone and mood continuously throughout the text. Learning about the connection between these literary devices will help us later on in our literature classes, in both analysis and our own writing.