Your essay topic is up to you, but you should offer an insightful, complex response in the form of a very narrow thesis that is thoroughly and thoughtfully developed. Some topics that students have approached in the past include surveillance and social media and its connection to the novel, Winston’s conceptualization of beauty, Julia’s political ideology, the inherent malleability of human beings, and the use of hate and deflection as propaganda. Or, you might make a connection between the novel and something that is happening in the United States right now. It is easy to think about the practices in the novel as methods that might occur somewhere else in the world (i.e. North Korea, China, etc), but think about current events in our culture (i.e. hate and division, surveillance, Covid, elections, misinformation and disinformation, social media, and fake news, etc.) and then comment on the connection and its significance. But, you must also remember that you must offer support from the text and other reliable/verifiable sources if necessary. Remember that, ultimately, the essay is about the book, and you must stay close to the text.
