Choose at least one lesson you have learned while reading the story. Explain fully, citing specific examples from the text.
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Individuals should understand that statements made in the press at large are made for a reason, sometimes, and do not represent a firm, certain, absolute truth. This is one, rather paranoiac lesson to take away from 1984.
Another lesson might be that one person's truth might lead him/her to disagree with the community, but that doesn't make his/her truth less true.
The lesson people generally come away with is don't trust the government. If you want something more sophisticated, I would say the lesson is that we should not be so quick to give up rights to privacy in order for more security, because once a right is given up it is almost impossible to take back.
Probably the most significant is that information in any form is not to be trusted without verification. The most significant text illustrating this is the famous who controls the present controls the past, who controls the past controls the future. In 1984, when the "facts" of the past don't support the wishes/positions of the present authorities, they just change it. If years ago they had promised to deliver 50 ounces of chocolate to everyone a month, but have only been able to deliver 30, they simply rewrite the past, indicated that they promised 25 ounces and then brag how they have been able to exceed their goal ... how wonderful they are! Since the past is infinitely malleable, they can make it a tool for creating their vision of the future.
This is most significant because it's going on now ... and probably always has gone on. We get our information from sources that tell us what they want us to know. All information is "editorialized" --- at least insofar as choices are made about what we are told and what we are not. It's almost impossible to know what is "real" --- with all the information available on the internet, who knows what to believe? Be vigilant!
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