1984
The whole idea of the book is "Big Brother"--an omnipresent being that everyone hates to love. Winston Smith, the main character, describes Big Brother--the embodiment of the party--as having distinguishing mongolian features and a moustache. You never actually "meet" Big Brother, so it is left unresolved as to whether he actually exists, or if it is just a character that the "Party"--the rulling people of Oceania, the area in which the story takes place--uses to inflict fear into its citizens.
Oceania is rulled by the Party, a totalitarian government that dictates by mind control and complete, invasive survelience. Nothing you do is unwatched. Your thoughts, dreams, and even your slight eye-spasms are controlled and surveyed. You aren't safe anywhere--not even at home where your children may convict you to the Thought Police.
The government is split into three sectors:
1.) The Inner Party: The elite, ruling majority.
2.) The Outer Party: The middle class, of which Winston Smith is a part of.
3.) The Proles: The lower class.
I personally think that the Proles are the most interesting. Winston Smith says about them:
"If there was hope, it must lie in the proles, because only there, in those swarming disregarded masses, eighty-five percent of the population of Oceania, could the force to destroy the Party ever be generated." - George Orwell, 1984, Book 1, Chapter 7.
They are ruddy, red, fierce, to-themselves, sometimes fat and other times emaciated characters that are mostly disregarded and ignored by the Party. Throughtout the novel, though, it is evident that Winston is incorrect in his assumption that there is hope in them. The Proles are too content with their lackluster, ignored life of poverty to assume a role of overrulling the Party. Of course, why would they try such a thing if they are left to their own devices all of the time, where everyone else is constantly watched? Every member of the Party is so self-centered and introverted that they don't care for anyone else, really. Their lives are led by self-preservation. There is no hope in the Proles.
One thing that I have to mention in this review is Newspeak. Newspeak is the official language of Oceania, and is basically just a watered-down version of our English language. Instead of sayingcold, you say unhot. Rather than saying excellent, you would say doubleplusgood.
Another interesting part of the Party is doublethink. Since every citizen in Oceania is thoroughly controlled by the government, even your thoughts are monitored. Doublethink means that, though your heart may tell you one thing, say, as is a popular theme in 1984, 2 + 2 = 4, the government would like you to believe that 2 + 2 = 5. This is Doublethink. You must believe what the government tells you, even though you know that it is wrong. If you don't believe these things, then the government will, quite literally, make you disappear. They can change the past, alter records, muddle memories, and pave the future, so they can quite easily change and obliterate everything that was you.
Winston struggles with these things, and eventually joins the Brotherhood--a group of Party members meant to destroy the Party. I won't tell you what happens or what the results are, but trust me when I say that the Brotherhood isn't everything that Winston thinks it is.
1984 is almost as much of a love affair story as it is a dystopian novel. Winston and Julia are an interesting element in the book, as is their relationship, as hard and inpersonal as it is. Neither of them really love the other, and either would, and do, denounce the other if it is for their own personal safety. In Oceania, love is pretty much nonexistent. You marry to have children, and that is it. You don't have a personal relationship with your spouse. Though Winston's wife isn't in his life anymore, he must keep his relationship with Julia secret, because, though he can't divorce his wife, being with Julia would be considered adulterous and just plain sick to the Party. By their standards, a friendly relationship with someone is wrong and unaccepted. It's interesting to see the relationship progress, though you know that it can't have a happy ending.
1984 is wonderfully written and thought-up, and I can't imagine where Orwell formed all of his ideas. He was a man before his time with this manuscript, and it is chillingly realistic and plausible, especially for having been written nearly seventy years ago. The book is littered with denunciation, two-faced characters, suicides and political murder. It is a dark novel, and one that can't be taken lightly. I wouldn't consider it a fantastic read for entertainment, since there isn't the usual storytelling feel, but is more of something to consider. I probably won't read it again, because I prefer something that I can sit down with and enjoy, page after page, instead of a piece that has a somewhat unnatural feel to it. It isn't really an easy read, or a fun story. In comparison to today's dystopian novels like The Hunger Games and Divergent, it is astronomically different. But it also feels more realistic than the others. Even though, besides the interesting concepts, I didn't highlyenjoy it, I still think that it is a book that everyone, at some point in their life should sit down and read.
-Elysia Regina
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