Notes

Eric Blair, better known by his pen name George Orwell, was a writer and journalist. His most famous novel ,1984, depicts a country called Oceania in what was once the future (the book was published in 1849). Oceania is one of the last three countries and a militaristic stratocracy. The entire focus of the country is ostensibly for warfare, but in reality to ensure that the top class stays in power. There are three kinds of people in this world: the Inner Circle, the Outer Circle, and the Proles. The Inner Circle live in comfort, relative to the rest of the world. They have rare commodities and the priviledge of a large residence, multiple personal servents- and are allowed to turn off the screen that is constantly watching them, ensuring they are completely orthodox in action and thought. The Outer Circle, despite being what we would consider second class in this grim universe, are arguably the worst off. They survive off of rations provided by the government, live in small, poorly managed apartments, and are constantly under watch by the government. The last class are the Proles, most likely a shorthand of the word proletarian, meaning those who are least well-off. They live to work, have the smallest rations, but are scarcly watched and live in ignorant bliss of the world around them.