Setting

A note on genre

Because Nineteen Eighty-Four is a story in the science-fiction genre, it is even more important than usual to pay close attention the book’s setting. Science-fiction stories typically depict some kind of future scenario - often featuring a future version of our own world, but sometimes taking place in entirely fictional locations.

Important questions to ask when looking at science-fiction settings are typically related to the political, social and economic situation of future society, as well as its level of technological advancement.

Utopia vs dystopia

When analysing the setting of science-fiction stories, it is first of all useful to know the terms utopia and dystopia.

A utopia is a perfect world. A typical utopia may be a society free of suf...