1984 by George Orwell
1949/236pgs

The dystopian world, that makes many in the world scared of where their government is going in today’s political environment. It can also be seen as a warning of we, as a citizen should watch for to prevent this from happening in our own nations. Orwell, a Democratic Socialist, was a staunch anti-communist when this book was written at the beginning of the Cold War. It was his way of saying we don’t want to become what the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics were heading towards in his eyes.

First, “Big Brother”. This is the term for the Supreme Being that everyone in the nation must follow because Big Brother is watching you. In Oceania, Big Brother monitors everyone in the Party at home, walking to work, at work…everywhere. They record everything you say and monitor your every move including your facial expressions. If you don’t look right, you can be taken away and vaporized.

Big Brother controls everything, media, papers, books, etc…they even have a Ministry of Plenty set up to write everything and also edit every book so they say what Big Brother wants them to say. They also change older books and even take words out to prevent people from having their own view because that means they could think independently of big brother and possibly over through the party. They were creating NEWSPEAK and removing many words from OLDSPEAK which is what we speak today. Big Brother wanted to control what you said and also what you read.

It is understood that anyone could be vaporized and all known papers, notes, records of your existence is removed as though you never existed.

There is a clear class system in the book, the Inner Party (Upper Class), Outer Party (Middle Class), and Proles (lower class). At times, the Party members even say that the Proles (workers/laborers) are not even human. Yet, ironically, in the book, the people with the most freedom are the Proles since Big Brother doesn’t monitor them. Also, in proportion to the current world, the Inner Party is less than 2% of the population, the Outer Party is roughly 12%, and the Proles are 85%. Similar to today’s breakup of classes in many nations.

The sad part is marriage is only for producing kids for the service to the party. Sex is viewed as bad because it takes away the positive energy that should be focused on the betterment of the party. Most of the time, the kids, after they are born are taken to government facilities to be raised by the party to make them better followers.

This is the tip of the iceberg. Orwell goes into details on the different types of governments and also the reason for war.

There are a great many lessons in the story of 1984. Although I can say, just like the world that Winston lives in, sad, the book at the finale doesn’t end on the greatest note. I would recommend this book. It’s on my top 10 books list. This is definitely a book that you would have to read again to catch all the many details that Orwell put into the story. The story is good and gripes you. You want to cheer for Winston, however, that is not what Orwell wants you to understand what Big Brother is doing to everyone.

Happy Reading,

Lopaka