George Orwell’s book, 1984 is a fictional look at what 1984 could look like in the future. The book was written in 1949, after World War 2 and during Stalin’s growing aggression. 1984 is a dystopian take on what communism could evolve into.
Winston Smith was a middle-class citizen of the very unsubtle allegory for communist Russia, Oceania. Oceania is governed by the party INGSOC, a horrifyingly evil organization. INGSOC, throughout the book, is shown to fabricate the news, and to erase words from the public’s vocabulary, restricting the way they can criticize the party. The party also makes sex illegal, “vaporizes” its citizens, and destroys every piece of evidence that they even existed. More importantly, they monitor every single individual at all times. The way they monitored them is a huge part of the book because the party can somehow see their citizens' thoughts and will vaporize them when they even think of going against the party. Winston eventually gets tired of his bleak existence and goes against the law by keeping a diary and writing his own thoughts down. Winston believes 2+2=4 and this becomes another central theme of the book because he, an individual, believes. This begins Winston’s ascent into his fight against the party, which could be seen as his descent in life.
My reaction to the true bleakness of the book was one of shock and awe. I was actually surprised by the twists and stunned by the ending. Overall, the book was very interesting and thought-provoking. George Orwell’s opinions and political views are very prominent in his work and really the crux of it. In 1984, Orwell made up a lot of the society's problems like “thought crimes” and “the thought police.” The book really is about totalitarianism based on the Soviet Union’s communism of the time. I really cannot think of another author quite like George Orwell. I could not have anticipated how much I actually enjoyed the book.
I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone looking to read a thought-provoking political commentary on the future. The reader will see how George Orwell’s creative mind has made up a whole array of new laws, groups, and crimes. These include “Newspeak” (the new restricted language of Oceania), “doublethink” (an example is “War is Peace,” and “Big Brother” (Big Brother is watching you, through his telescreens). In conclusion, 1984 is by far one of the best books I have ever read.
Comments