My Take- 1984 by George Orwell
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face- FOREVER.
1984 by George Orwell plunges us into a bleak, horrifying society with a totalitarian government which is ruthless in its pursuit of power. It is a society with no place for individual. The novel depicts a future dystopian society to its last details and this is what makes it so terrifying. It will be a nightmare to be trapped in such a society because the totalitarian government controls not only the physical body of its subjects but also the psyche of the subjects. History is replete with examples of totalitarian regime but the one depicted in this novel outdoes everyone else in its atrocity, oppression, extracting abject self-submission from its subjects, and the ruthless pursuit of absolute power over matter and mind. The Party (the totalitarian government of Oceania) uses all possible means, such as omnipresent surveillance, fixed routine, etc. to keep its citizen under total control. But the most horrifying means is its use of psychological exercises to gain an absolute control over the mind of its citizens. A state which devises a new language to curtail the thoughts of its citizens doesn’t need to kill the heretics because it exterminates heresy itself by abolishing free and rational thinking. Though the Party has Thought Police to control the mind of its citizens yet it prefers to inculcate self-discipline among the people through the concepts of ‘doublethink’, ‘crimestop’, ‘goodthink’ etc. Big Brother who is the embodiment of the Party is an omniscient and omnipresent figure inducing fear and hatred among the citizen yet being revered by one and all.
The novel terrified me, not because it presents a monstrous, dystopian society but due to its close resemblance to the world which I live in. The Party envisages a society which is founded on fear and hatred. When Winston feebly protested that the Party will never succeed because the ‘Spirit of Man’ will forbid it, O’Brien with his logically contorted yet strongly framed arguments crushed him. The Party is invincible, the Party is immortal, it can never be relegated to history because it itself controls history. “History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”
The novel, in the conventional sense, doesn’t live up to the mark. The story in itself isn’t strong enough to hold attention for long. The plot meanders a lot, but I think it is because Orwell intends to bring forth the bleakness of the Oceanian society, with intensity and clarity. The characters including the protagonist are bland. However, the novel focuses mainly on the dystopian society of 1984 and does so brilliantly. The novel abounds in psychological and philosophical concepts which lend weight to the narration. It is replete with symbols to communicate a number of important ideas, the most important being the symbol of Big Brother which has created an indelible mark on consciousness of the modern readers.
Long after the year 1984 has passed into history, this iconic novel with its depiction of an all pervading, totalitarian regime that is both precise and terrifying, and which unfortunately bears a close semblance to the present society, has created for itself a permanent place in the cultural landscape of the 21st century.
I will end my review with my favourite line from the novel-
“We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.”
My rating - 4/5 Stars
1984 by George Orwell plunges us into a bleak, horrifying society with a totalitarian government which is ruthless in its pursuit of power. It is a society with no place for individual. The novel depicts a future dystopian society to its last details and this is what makes it so terrifying. It will be a nightmare to be trapped in such a society because the totalitarian government controls not only the physical body of its subjects but also the psyche of the subjects. History is replete with examples of totalitarian regime but the one depicted in this novel outdoes everyone else in its atrocity, oppression, extracting abject self-submission from its subjects, and the ruthless pursuit of absolute power over matter and mind. The Party (the totalitarian government of Oceania) uses all possible means, such as omnipresent surveillance, fixed routine, etc. to keep its citizen under total control. But the most horrifying means is its use of psychological exercises to gain an absolute control over the mind of its citizens. A state which devises a new language to curtail the thoughts of its citizens doesn’t need to kill the heretics because it exterminates heresy itself by abolishing free and rational thinking. Though the Party has Thought Police to control the mind of its citizens yet it prefers to inculcate self-discipline among the people through the concepts of ‘doublethink’, ‘crimestop’, ‘goodthink’ etc. Big Brother who is the embodiment of the Party is an omniscient and omnipresent figure inducing fear and hatred among the citizen yet being revered by one and all.
The novel terrified me, not because it presents a monstrous, dystopian society but due to its close resemblance to the world which I live in. The Party envisages a society which is founded on fear and hatred. When Winston feebly protested that the Party will never succeed because the ‘Spirit of Man’ will forbid it, O’Brien with his logically contorted yet strongly framed arguments crushed him. The Party is invincible, the Party is immortal, it can never be relegated to history because it itself controls history. “History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”
The novel, in the conventional sense, doesn’t live up to the mark. The story in itself isn’t strong enough to hold attention for long. The plot meanders a lot, but I think it is because Orwell intends to bring forth the bleakness of the Oceanian society, with intensity and clarity. The characters including the protagonist are bland. However, the novel focuses mainly on the dystopian society of 1984 and does so brilliantly. The novel abounds in psychological and philosophical concepts which lend weight to the narration. It is replete with symbols to communicate a number of important ideas, the most important being the symbol of Big Brother which has created an indelible mark on consciousness of the modern readers.
Long after the year 1984 has passed into history, this iconic novel with its depiction of an all pervading, totalitarian regime that is both precise and terrifying, and which unfortunately bears a close semblance to the present society, has created for itself a permanent place in the cultural landscape of the 21st century.
I will end my review with my favourite line from the novel-
“We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.”
My rating - 4/5 Stars
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