Smartphones, smartwatches, TVs, laptops, computers, and even doorbells all nowadays use cameras and microphones to make human lives easier, more convenient. But imagine if all this technology was used against the people, spying on them, tracking one’s actions and what they say. Imagine the government using technology against society as a tool to rule over the country. Welcome to 1984.
About author:
Eric Arthur Blair, also known as George Orwell, is one of history’s most influential and praised writers. He is most known for his fiction pieces, Animal Farm and 1984, where he attacks and criticizes certain political views, illustrating the potential dangers of power and educating readers, leaving a lasting imprint on one’s thoughts of the political spectrum.
Born in 1904, in the rural streets of Bengal, India, Orwell temporarily lived with his dad, who was serving there as a British Imperial officer. For the most part, however, he lived with his mother in Britain, where he grew up with a love for poetry and writing. Excelling in school, he was praised for his work and even received two scholarships for some of England’s best schools, where he studied to become an author. In his life he served in multiple wars, acted as a police officer in Burma, worked as a dishwasher and lived in the slums of Paris and England, was a bookstore clerk, and even a literary editor. He was someone who lived through many tough experiences and in many different environments, grasping an excellent understanding of the world and reality, which he reflected in his work.
His books are inspired by his experience and the real-world events that he lived through. This gave his books a completely different edge, which is eventually what raised him to fame. Having published several books/essays before 1984, he gained the experience and maturity to create the last book, making it his best piece of work and one of history’s most sought-after pieces of literature.
“Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it” – George Orwell
Overview of book:
As the title suggests, the book is indeed set in the year 1984. However, being published in 1949, the book portrays the year 1984 in a dystopian futuristic setting, emphasizing certain leaps in technology. in the book, the world has been split into three super-states: Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia. These countries are in constant war with each other and have been for quite some time.
The book follows the events of Oceania, where there is a single political party who rules over the country with an iron fist. Simply known as “The Party”, the government in charge enforces a totalitarian regime, submitting its population to total and ultimate control. In every nook and cranny, there are microphones and telescreens, watching over civilians like a hawk, waiting for any slight sign of rebellion. Everyone is constantly being watched and heard, making rebelling against the controlling government impossible.
The head of The Party is simply known as “Big Brother”, who strikes citizens into submission through propaganda and fear. All around you can find the infamous posters, saying:
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
An important figure of the story is the Thought Police, a branch of the government that has one sole purpose; to monitor and catch anyone who commits “thought crime”, which is the act of committing a crime against the government in thought alone. They are the enforcers of the government, ones who are feared by simple civilians. In this world, people are vaporized, deleting them along with all evidence that they ever existed.
The main character, Winston Smith, is a 39-year-old man who works for The Party, acting as a worker in the Records Department. Working in the outside skirts of the government, Winston lives in great poverty, with rations being small and money earned proved not to be much. Frail and getting older, he simply works away and lives a mainly solitary life, living to the ideal standards of the party. However, his hate for the party and his boring, dreadful life grows and pushes him towards the idea of rebellion.
Review:
The book 1984 by George Orwell is an extremely well-written piece of literature that dives into the idea of totalitarianism like no other book, exploring the dangers and drawbacks of such a harsh political viewpoint. Taking inspiration from Nazi Germany which was shaking the world at the time of writing, the book has real-world references and has experience from Orwell’s personal life itself, making it an extremely based book.
This book was way ahead of its time and predicted future technology that would not be developed and widespread for many decades. When reading this book one has to think about the implications it has today, as when it was written the setting of constant surveillance was pure fiction, whereas today it has become a reality.
Every day hundreds of millions, even billions of people have access to a smartphone or mobile phone, which typically rests somewhere close to the body. Almost everywhere there are cameras, constantly feeding live footage. The age of technology has come, and just as Orwell predicted, we could be monitored at any time practically anywhere.
This is not to say we are being watched and controlled by the government, but that the setting of 1984 has turned from fiction to real life, and that it is important to read this book to learn from it. As time goes on, it only becomes more influential, and there is a reason why it has been commended for over 74 years.
Final Recommendation:
In summary, 1984 is a fantastic book which takes radical political ideas and applies them in a fictional world, illustrating the potential dangers and hardships of totalitarianism while exploring themes of rebellion, technology, and control.
The findings of the book can be applied today for a better understanding of politics and how the world works. Paired with the brilliant writing skills of Orwell, 1984 makes for one of history’s finest literature ever that everyone should read.