Taylorian

Creative

Satire

A Checkered Craze

Jai Elangovan (Divs)

irony of such a figure being called ‘Big Brother’ were it not for the grip of terror he held them in. Before SENSO – the widespread system of technological surveillance – he had been known as Mr Williams. Winston stepped into Mr Hale’s classroom. The telescreen on the back wall was glaringly out of place in Victory Mansions, which was otherwise filled with dusty books and white men. The boy sat at his desk, took out his tablet and opened OneNote, one of only three applications that remained on it; the others were Teams and Chrome, although the latter

The hallway smelt of smoke, lingering after the most recent clash in their ongoing feud with Geography. At one side of it a coloured poster had been tacked to the wall. It depicted the face of a man of about forty-five, round-headed, with a characteristic disturbing smile drawn across it, such as was often worn by well respected men like former staff member Mr Jenkin. His eyes swelled through thick, black-framed glasses, and his pupils were narrow and reptilian; his head shone like a polished trophy. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran. Pupils would have sniggered at the

2024 Chapter 1

It was a bright cold day in April and, if maintenance had bothered to replace the batteries, the clocks would have been striking thirteen. Winston Smith, a Fourth Former, nuzzled his chin into the breast of his coat (a North Face, of course) to escape the vile wind that swept through the Quad, and slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions – the History Department’s affectionate name for their block.

114

Taylorian 2023