When this novel was written, as a reflection of the society of the 1940's, both the domestic and international issues that were being confronted by all countries were put under the Orwellian microscope. Orwell tapped into the contemporary readers' fears of technology and retribution and perception of government to create the ultimate example of government supervision "for our own good", negative utopia if you will, gone awry. It is still relevant today, a full 55 years later, having spawned, through several leaps of commercialist imagination, an internationally reality TV show with the name of "Big Brother", and also as a starting point for the critics of what is perceived as government intrusion into citizens' private lives through excessive surveillance mechanisms. The latest controversy arises at many governments' wish to be able to view private communication for clues of international terrorist or other criminal acts and override encryption designed to prevent interpretation by anyone other than the intended recipient. This is of course outside the scope of this essay but shows that 1984 is still relevant now as a study into political power and methods.
             To arrive to the political outlook of 1984, it is necessary to describe very briefly Orwell's, or rather Eric Blair's (his real name – Orwell was a pseudonym), life and the development of his political ideology. At the start of his career, he hobnobbed with left-wing politicians. By December 1936 his political ideology was so strongly founded that he left for Spain shortly after getting married and at the onset of his writing career, to fight for a Marxist group in the Spanish Civil War against the future Generalísimo Franco. In the fighting, he was famously shot through the throat but survived to write Homage to Catalonia which marked Orwell's decisive break with Stalinism and the enhancement of his reputation as moral consci...