Title: In what city, province, and super-state does Winston Smith live in 1984?  - eNotes.com
Headings: In what city, province, and super-state does Winston Smith live in 1984?
1984
In what city, province, and super-state does Winston Smith live in 1984?
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Content: In 1984, Oceania is one of three super states, the other two being Eurasia and Eastasia. What is most striking about this setting is how it differs from the reality of London, during Orwell's lifetime and today. In this dystopian vision, London is a dilapidated and crumbling city where people are constantly monitored, food is rationed, and war is ever-present. There are, perhaps, some parallels here to the London in which George Orwell lived and worked: 1984 was published only a few years after the end of World War Two, when London was still recovering from the physical and mental damage inflicted by the Nazis and rationing was still in full-swing. Here, however, the parallels end. The London of 1984 feels far more claustrophobic and oppressive than the real place and, perhaps, this is done deliberately by Orwell. By using London as the setting of 1984, he gives the reader a stark and frightening glimpse of what fate could befall the city, if communism became a reality. Approved by eNotes Editorial Team
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Winston Smith lives in London, the chief city of Airstrip One (formerly known as England) which is part of the superstate Oceania. The world is divided into three superstates: