Let's Talk About Books- 1984 by George Orwell

Hey everyone! Today I will be talking about a book that’s a classic- 1984 by George Orwell. I was very excited to read this book, and the book did not disappoint. Many of you may already have read it, so I would love to hear your opinions about it.

One of the things that really piqued my interest was that this book was written in 1949, about the future which is 1984. Reading this in 2020, both these years feel like way too much in the past, but yet the story, the ideas, still apply in today’s world.

This book is set in a dystopian future, where the world is divided in three continents- Oceania, Eastasia and Eurasia. Our protagonist Winston Smith is a citizen of Oceania, which is ruled by a totalitarian government called Ingsoc. The face of the party is a fictional person called Big Brother. The society of Oceania is divided into three classes- Inner party, Outer Party and the proles. The Inner Party is the top 2% which rule the country. The Outer Party is people like Winston Smith which work for the government. The proles are the proletariat or the working class.

In Oceania, everyone is under strict surveillance all the time. There are “telescreens” which are used to keep an eye on the people. These “telescreens” are able to pick up sound in the room, and also able to see the person in the room. The people in Oceania are brought up with rigid guidelines, they are brainwashed to think a certain way. Hate is encouraged in Oceania. The government is built on lies, the past is changed continuously to fit the narrative of the Party. Which means there is no real history as such, no record of what really happened. The details are changed over and over again as and when necessary. It does not seem like a lot at first, but it is very scary when you really think about it.

Their version of law authorities is the “Thought police” which are trained to catch small things in people’s posture and faces like a twitch, or a furtive glance etc. which is a sign of “thought crime” i.e. having illegal thoughts.

Family and love is discouraged in Oceania. The children are trained to be spies, and tell on their parents for “thought crimes”. The Party workers are not supposed to have any time alone unless they are sleeping. The principles of Ingsoc are- “War is peace, Freedom is slavery and Ignorance is strength”.

One other thing that intrigued me was that the Party was developing a new language “Newspeak”, solely for the cause of better controlling the thoughts of the people. The idea of the new language was to eliminate any independent opposite words or multiple words with same meanings (synonyms) from existence. The reason for this being that the citizens should not have to think or exert their brains over it. So basically, the Party wanted the people to blindly follow and quite literally put an end to free thought.

The flow of the story is arresting, it keeps you on the edge of your seat, it is very difficult to put the book down once you have dived into it. The story continues to hold your attention until the last page. When I read the last two pages I legit felt a ball of dread in my stomach.

The takeaway from this book is to expose yourself to as many different opinions as you can, keep absorbing knowledge and to hold the government responsible. This book is a perfect example of why freedom of thought and expression, and the freedom of speech is a necessity. If you take those away from people, the people slowly cease to be people and become machines. Ending this review with my favorite quote from the book-

"The best books… are those that tell you what you know already."