# 1984

**Author:** George Orwell
**Lexile:** 1090L
**Grade range:** Grades 9–12
**Age range:** 14–18
**First published:** 1949
**Page count:** 328
**Genre:** Dystopian Fiction
**ISBN-13:** `9780451524935`
**ISBN-10:** `0451524934`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/1984
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

Winston Smith, a low-level bureaucrat in a totalitarian super-state called Oceania, secretly resents the regime of Big Brother and begins a forbidden love affair. Orwell's novel introduces doublethink, Newspeak, and the surveillance language that shapes how Western readers talk about authoritarianism. Widely assigned in AP Literature, AP Government, and high school English.

## Themes

- totalitarianism
- surveillance
- language and thought
- propaganda
- rebellion
- individual vs state

## Content notes

- torture
- sexual content
- political violence
- psychological abuse

Common Sense Media age recommendation: 14+

## Where this book is assigned

### AP English Literature & Composition

- **required** · 12th grade — [source: AP Lit — frequently cited in free-response questions](https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-english-literature-and-composition)

### AP US Government & Politics

- **supplementary** · 12th grade — [source: AP US Government — supplementary reading on authoritarianism](https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-united-states-government-and-politics)

### Cambridge AS & A-Level English Literature (9695)

- **required** · 12th grade — [source: Cambridge AS/A-Level Literature set text (current cycle)](https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/programmes-and-qualifications/cambridge-international-as-and-a-level-literature-in-english-9695/)

### Common Core State Standards (ELA)

- **recommended** · 11th grade — [source: CCSS ELA Appendix B, grades 11-CCR exemplar](https://achievethecore.org/page/2699)
- **recommended** · 11th grade · Maryland — [source: MCPS grade 11 ELA core text](https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/englishla/)

---

_Generated from primary-source citations indexed on ReadingList.school. For the full HTML view with reading-list cross-references, see https://readinglist.school/book/1984._