This summary
and review of 1984 serves as an overview of the social, psychological and
political aspects covered and might be useful for scholars.
George
Orwell’s 1984 is a story of Winston Smith who lives in a dystopian society
ruled by a totalitarian government. The government represents a hierarchical
structure with the supposed leader “Big Brother” at the top followed by the
Inner party a secretive minority, the Outer party which Winston is a member of
his job being to help falsify every recorded occurrence published and rest of
society i.e. the Proles. The story is set in Oceania, a super power who
seems to be in an ongoing battle against a mortal enemy labeled as Eurasia and
the internal hated separatist group known as the Brotherhood. The Oceanic
government is adamant that it knows what’s best for each individual and has to
be obeyed without question. Most of the city is dilapidated with the great
majority of people living in utter squalor and unable to get even the smallest
of luxuries. Included in this back drop are the parties’ headquarters which are
huge pyramid-like structures. What was most terrifying about all of this was
the implication of a thought crime. People weren't only banned from
having relationships, falling in love or having sex but they could be arrested
and executed for what was known as a thought crime! The surroundings seemed
really hopeless and I felt that the characters and society portrayed began to
embody a sense of emptiness and numbness which was almost animal like.
The way this
society was structured, the distribution of wealth and Ingsoc (short for
English Socialism) was clearly based on Marxist ideologies. However, I could
not help but relate much of how the media is controlled today, along with the
labeling of an external threat to civil order (seen in the “war on terror”) to
our very own contemporary society. Everything was monitored in each household
and all locations via a telescreen, something akin to our televisions and
modern day computers, but these could never be turned off. We are drawn into
the internal thought dialogue of Winston who desperately tries to break out of
this mundane existence. He does so through introspection, examining his
surroundings, recalling his childhood memories and starting his own journal
where he expresses his own ideas, dreams and imagination. I was really inspired
by this character and placed a lot of faith in the hope that he would help
topple this cruel regime in some surprising fashion.
The
ending will of course remain a mystery until you've read it for yourself.
If you
are looking for an almost prophetic and eerie tale of the grimmer parts of our
present day and age, this is definitely the book for you!
