1984 - George Orwell
George Orwell's "1984" is a book about Winston Smith, a low-ranking member of "The Party" which rules the nation of Oceania. The Party watches him everywhere through devices, which are seemingly a combination of televisions, spewing mind-numbing propaganda twenty-four hours a day, and security cameras, which watch the populace constantly. These are known as telescreens and are never able to be turned off, only down, except for special models possessed only by members of the "Inner Party". He is surrounded on all sides by images of the leader of "The Party", the seemingly omnipresent Big Brother. "The Party" is the ruling power of a supposedly communist state, but in reality is more if a dictatorship in the form of an oligarchy. It is against all expressions of individuality and in fact seeks to remove the possibility of revolution by removing those words that pertain to such affairs from the official language. In short, the society in which Winston Smith fines himself in (run down and dilapidated London in the year 1984) is a prime example of the Science Fiction dystopia. Orwell's book has had so much influence that it would not be inappropriate to describe other
Rationing being the primary means of civilian food distribution during World War TwoMany of the methods that the Party in 1984 uses to sustain its absolute power, such as the rewriting of history and the use of political icons, were actually employed in Communist nations around the world (Big Brother is similar to Lenin in the Soviet Union and Mao in China). He was also given a common last name in the for of Smith. It is then the job of the main character/characters (usually human) to adapt to those changes, customarily with as little character development as possible due to the Science Fiction tradition of plot over character development. Orwell's experience of writing "Down and out in Paris and London", in which he integrated himself with the proletariat of the day, gave him a healthy respect for the working class. His way of life would have been very much affected by the war and as such the war was a very important part of his experiences and values. While Winston was not successful in his endeavour, it gives the reader hope that there are others in the world of "1984" who will see that something is wrong and adapt, just as Winston did. After falling in love and briefly experiencing happiness they attempt to join what is known as "The Brotherhood". It works supremely on both Smith and Julia with both being arrested and taken to "The Ministry of Love" (ironically responsible for torture) for punishment and brainwashing. Technology as a tool of observation is nothing new, eg security cameras and the like, but when taken to such oppressive extremes the results can be frightening. In 1984, while there was some character development present, the majority of the story focused on how the proliferation of surveillance technology allowed the Inner party complete control over the rest of the population in conjunction with propaganda and mind control techniques. Orwell managed to envisage privacy issues concerning technology that had not even began to be contemplated at the time the book was written. This is realistic, as words that we take for granted today, such as Internet, did not exist forty years ago. Orwell would have seen these advances and realised that technology being an ever-changing entity, almost anything is possible. England, still harboured good feelings towards the Communists due to their involvement in World War Two.
Common topics in this essay:
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World War,
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