Fan-Lit: Review of 1984

Review of "1984" by George Orwell

George Orwell's “1984” is known as a classic dystopian novel with heavy social commentary. Even though the book takes place in 1984, but the story was written in 1949. It's a futuristic look at 1984, and now that the year has passed, it really could be set at any time in the future. For a while, people would tell me that I needed to read this book, but I never got around to it. So, I finally read it! I'll be honest, at first I found the story to be a bit of a slog with lots of terminologies that I did not understand.

About a third of the way into the book, I started to become more invested. The story is about a middle-aged man named Winston, who is a middle-class member of the ruling Party of London in the nation of Oceania. He slowly starts to oppose the ruling Party and meets a woman, Julia, that also feels that way. They have a secret affair, and Winston's hatred for the controlling Party grows. Winston becomes obsessed with party leader O'Brien, whom he thinks is a private member of the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood is a rumored secret organization that wants to overthrow the ruling party. When Winston does get close to O'Brien, it is revealed that O'Brien is a party spy. Because Winston has committed crimes against the party, O'Brien tortures him, trying to get Winston to break. Winston gives up Julia, no longer loves her and learns that he can never defeat the party, and has succumbed to the idea of Big Brother.

Before it was a television show, Big Brother meant the oppressive government in “1984”. The phrase “Big Brother is watching you” is plastered on buildings, reminding the government party always watching them (Orwell, 2007). In the book, the party controls the television, only playing what they want to be shown and requiring exercise in the morning. The telescreen also acts as a camera and can view people. The party watches the behavior of people to ensure that they are not going against the government. Because of this, Winston writes in his journal just out of sight of the telescreen to conceal his actions and thoughts against the government party. The telescreen can't even be turned off, just dimmed.

Winston's conflict between his essential humanity and the dehumanizing policies of the Party starts when he decides to write in a journal his subversive thoughts (Sparknotes, 2021). Orwell wrote the book as a cautionary tale about the oppression and dangers of a totalitarian government. Winston works at the Ministry of Truth, where he literally alters documents from the actual truth to whatever the party wants the people to believe is true. The party literally rewrites history in its favor to control the political agenda. The party's slogan is “who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past” (Orwell, 2007, p. 204). Winston says that since the past exists in memories, Big Brother seeks to control the memories of its subjects. This brings an interesting philosophy about whether we can trust our memories to be the truth. If no one has a memory of something, did it ever exist? That is just one form of psychological control that the party uses to dominate its people. Another recurring example of this is the idea that if the party determines that 2+2=5, then it must be true. Even if a person knows it's not, they must accept it as the truth.

Orwell presents such a bleak and depressing setting that represents the party's deadening effect on its people (Sparknotes, 2021). This allows the reader to sympathize with Winston against the party and show the possible real-world effects a totalitarian government could have on society. In the book, Orwell creates the language of “Newspeak,” which is a simplistic and abbreviated way of speaking. This is done to demonstrate the control the party has over how people communicate with each other.

“1984” is a thought-provoking novel and explores the world of politics in a totalitarian government. However, I didn't get into this novel until the love affair between Winston and Julia. For me, the most exciting part of this dystopian world was how it affected romantic relationships and marriages. While I had some trouble adjusting to the language used in the book, it only adds to the effect that George Orwell was trying to achieve from readers. I've been told to read this book more than once to absorb and understand the politics and themes. So, I may read it in audiobook form at some point.

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