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Book Review of 1984 (5/97)
One year before his death in 1950, George Orwell published a book entitled 1984. Since then, the novel has become a bible to people all over the world. The enthusiasm is not only due to the fact that the novel is written so eloquently, and with such foresight, but also because it makes a bold statement about humanity.
1984’s main character is Winston Smith, a man who doubts the righteousness of the totalitarian government (Big Brother) that rules Oceania, one of three superstates in the world of 1984. We begin the book with Winston, and learn that Big Brother is quite fictional. The government has developed its own language, is at constant war with the other two superstates, and watches its citizens at all times. As Winston’s rebellion progresses, we notice that Big Brother is not as unrealistic as we think.
Oceania, Eastasia, and Eurasia are the three battling superstates. Each has an identical government—one that is at perpetual war in order to gain complete power over its inhabitants. The process used to gain absolute power is one used by past, present, and future dictators, such as Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler. Big Brother manipulates its citizens into convenient modes of thinking. However, instead of only using propaganda techniques, Big Brother also uses Newspeak and telescreens. Newspeak is the official language of Oceania, and has its sole purpose in abolishing all unorthodox thought. (Example: the word bad is replaced by the word ‘ungood.’) The telescreens monitor each citizen that is allowed to be educated, at all times, watching for any action, word, or possible thought that could be unorthodox.
These two Orwell inventions were foretelling—we see the equivalent of Newspeak every day in present day society when we are "politically correct." Telescreens are present in nearly every commercial institution, and sometimes in our own homes. Orwell was obviously warning America and all other countries about the control of totalitarian governments.
When Winston is secretly approached by a coworker, he learns that he is not alone in his belief that Big Brother is ‘ungood.’ Winston and Julia become lovers and eventually confess their feelings of rebelliousness to O’Brien, a fellow coworker who is believed to be a member of a rebel group, the Brotherhood.
Two weeks later comes the shocking and disturbing climax. It is here that the reader is definitely introduced to the metaphysical philosophy behind 1984. Orwell brings terror into the story when he shows us what is really behind Big Brother; Oceania’s government sends a representative into the plot. A government not unlike ones in present-day society is at the head of Oceania, and that is where the stark reality of 1984 becomes evident. The sole manipulative technique used by Big Brother is one that is virtually unrecognizable—mental manipulation. Metaphysics, or the belief that there is existence beyond our comprehension, is represented by Big Brother when the reader learns about doublethink, the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously and fully accepting both. Doublethink and metaphysics are the engines behind the three world governments, and is defined by O’Brien.
"Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else," says O’Brien. " . . . In the mind of the Party, which is collective and immortal. Whatever the Party holds to be truth is truth."
Political tragedies, such as this, are published constantly, but 1984 is one of the few that has remained timeless and will always be regarded as not only historical, but also prophetic. The book reminds us of what has gone wrong, what can go wrong, and what will go wrong when government becomes all-powerful. It is because of this political and social insight that 1984
is one of the best books of all time.
• Synopsis
Winston Smith is a low-ranking member of the ruling Party in London, in the nation of Oceania. Everywhere Winston goes, even his own home, the Party watches him through telescreens; everywhere he looks he sees the face of the Party's seemingly omniscient leader, a figure known only as Big Brother. The Party controls everything in Oceania, even the people's history and language. Currently, the Party is forcing the implementation of an invented language called Newspeak, which attempts to prevent political rebellion by eliminating all words related to it. Even thinking rebellious thoughts is illegal. Such thoughtcrime is, in fact, the worst of all crimes.
As the novel opens, Winston feels frustrated by the oppression and rigid control of the Party, which prohibits free thought, sex, and any expression of individuality. Winston dislikes the party and has illegally purchased a diary in which to write his criminal thoughts. He has also become fixated on a powerful Party member named O'Brien, whom Winston believes is a secret member of the Brotherhood—the mysterious, legendary group that works to overthrow the Party.
Winston works in the Ministry of Truth, where he alters historical records to fit the needs of the Party. He notices a coworker, a beautiful dark-haired girl, staring at him, and worries that she is an informant who will turn him in for his thoughtcrime. He is troubled by the Party's control of history: the Party claims that Oceania has always been allied with Eastasia in a war against Eurasia, but Winston seems to recall a time when this was not true. The Party also claims that Emmanuel Goldstein, the alleged leader of the Brotherhood, is the most dangerous man alive, but this does not seem plausible to Winston. Winston spends his evenings wandering through the poorest neighborhoods in London, where the proletarians, or proles, live squalid lives, relatively free of Party monitoring.
One day, Winston receives a note from the dark-haired girl that reads "I love you." She tells him her name, Julia, and they begin a covert affair, always on the lookout for signs of Party monitoring. Eventually they rent a room above the secondhand store in the prole district where Winston bought the diary. This relationship lasts for some time. Winston is sure that they will be caught and punished sooner or later (the fatalistic Winston knows that he has been doomed since he wrote his first diary entry), while Julia is more pragmatic and optimistic. As Winston's affair with Julia progresses, his hatred for the Party grows more and more intense. At last, he receives the message that he has been waiting for: O'Brien wants to see him.
Winston and Julia travel to O'Brien's luxurious apartment. As a member of the powerful Inner Party (Winston belongs to the Outer Party), O'Brien leads a life of luxury that Winston can only imagine. O'Brien confirms to Winston and Julia that, like them, he hates the Party, and says that he works against it as a member of the Brotherhood. He indoctrinates Winston and Julia into the Brotherhood, and gives Winston a copy of Emmanuel Goldstein's book, the manifesto of the Brotherhood. Winston reads the book—an amalgam of several forms of class-based twentieth-century social theory—to Julia in the room above the store. Suddenly, soldiers barge in and seize them. Mr. Charrington, the proprietor of the store, is revealed as having been a member of the Thought Police all along.
Torn away from Julia and taken to a place called the Ministry of Love, Winston finds that O'Brien, too, is a Party spy who simply pretended to be a member of the Brotherhood in order to trap Winston into committing an open act of rebellion against the Party. O'Brien spends months torturing and brainwashing Winston, who struggles to resist. At last, O'Brien sends him to the dreaded Room 101, the final destination for anyone who opposes the Party. Here, O'Brien tells Winston that he will be forced to confront his worst fear. Throughout the novel, Winston has had recurring nightmares about rats; O'Brien now straps a cage full of rats onto Winston's head and prepares to allow the rats to eat his face. Winston snaps, pleading with O'Brien to do it to Julia, not to him.
Giving up Julia is what O'Brien wanted from Winston all along. His spirit broken, Winston is released to the outside world. He meets Julia, but no longer feels anything for her. He has accepted the Party entirely and has learned to love Big Brother.
Copyright 1999-2001 SparkNotes LLC
From The Critics
Mark Schorer - Books of the Century; New York Times review, June 1949
It is probable that no other work of this generation has made us desire freedom more earnestly or loathe tyranny with such fullness. 1984, the most contemporary novel of the year and who knows of now many past and to come, is a great examination into and dramatization of Lord Acton's famous apothegm, " power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrups absolutely. "
Customer Reviews
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Anna, High School Student, 11/07/2006
A Must Read Book for Teenagers
After reading 1984, I felt that I knew the deeper meaning of my own freedom and felt more grateful towards my government. Reading about the totalitarian government, made made me wonder, what if our government controlled us, like they did in the novel? We would not have any individual freedom. I highly recommend that teenagers read this novel. Not just because it is a well written novel but to understand that living in America is a freedom that we should cherish.
anne, A reviewer, 11/07/2006
very great read
1984 is a great book. It deals with great topics and is a very easy read. It shows how everyone can be manipulated to believe things by using their greatest fear or using pain. At some times, I was confused as to what was going on but I caught on very quickly.
Corbin, A reviewer, 11/06/2006
a unique take on what our society could have become
1984 was a very disterbing novel, yet it was so shocking that it was hard to put down. George Orwell creates a graphic picture of what he thought the future would be like.1984 shows human nature in its most cowardly form. The charactors in this book are like children who are being bullied but will never stand up for themselves. It is a good read, though it can be a bit confusing and frustrating at times.
Laura, a student, 11/06/2006
Amazing
1984 is an amazing novel and truly thought-provoking. I absolutely love this book and I recommend it to anyone who not only wants to read a book, but think about it as well.
Also recommended: Animal Farm Pride and Prejudice Lord of the Flies
A reviewer, A reviewer, 11/06/2006
The inclination to fight back
This renowned story takes aim at the idea of communism as Orwell foreshadows the possible fate of our country. Paralleling many concepts in our present day, this story emphasizes our need to stop oppression. Winston, a member of society, struggles to suppress his thoughts of freedom and goes on a conquest to overthrow the oppressive government in the country of Oceania. As Winston continues to disobey the laws, he comes across a beautiful young girl named Julia who accompanies him in their silent protest of the government. Together they begin a love affair which represents the defiance of the government, as Oceania looks down upon sex, and restricts it outside of marriage. However, everything changes as they are caught and given cruel physical punishments to change their mindset. After fighting the persisting pain for a good amount of time, both Julia and Winston give into the government and become ‘good’ members of society. Winton and Julia end up unable to stand up to immense power of communism, as the controlling government has achieved too much power and continue to abuse it upon its civilians. Orwell indicates the immediate need to overthrow oppressive powers before they can band together and rule unjustly. 1984 continues to serve as an important piece of literature, as readers can become aware of the growing threat of communism surrounding us. Humans have a natural inclination to learn 1984 serves to teach mankind of many important lessons readers need in life. Making the readers aware of their possible fate, this story will continue to inspire readers to stand up for what they believe in and fight against what is ethically wrong.
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What People Are Saying
1984 is a fantasy about disaffected journalists, novelists, poets, professors, and schoolmasters imposing an idealistic philosophy on the countries of the West — amalgamated into the superpower Oceania — which is no more than a notion of the nature of reality forged in an Oxford or Cambridge common room. (Anthony Burgess, from One Man's Chorus)
- Anthony Burgess
1984 has been an extraordinary experience for me. It is...overwhelming in its keenness and prophetic power. I hardly know which to praise more -- Orwell's insight into the fate of man and its totalitarianism or his compassion for him.
- Alfred Kazin
The most solid, the most brilliant thing George Orwell has done.
- V. S. Pritchett
1984 is a fantasy about disaffected journalists, novelists, poets, professors, and schoolmasters imposing an idealistic philosophy on the countries of the West — amalgamated into the superpower Oceania — which is no more than a notion of the nature of reality forged in an Oxford or Cambridge common room.
- Anthony Burgess
(First published in 1949)
In 1984, Winston Smith lives in London which is part of the country Oceania. The world is divided into three countries that include the entire globe: Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia. Oceania is a totalitarian society led by Big Brother, which censors everyone�s behavior, even their thoughts. Winston is disgusted with his oppressed life and secretly longs to join the fabled Brotherhood, a supposed group of underground rebels intent on overthrowing the government. Winston meets Julia and they secretly fall in love and have an affair, something which is considered a crime. One day, while walking home, Winston encounters O'Brien, an inner party member, who gives Winston his address. Winston had exchanged glances with O'Brien before and had dreams about him giving him the impression that O'Brien was a member of the Brotherhood. Since Julia hated the party as much as Winston did, they went to O'Brien�s house together where they were introduced into the Brotherhood. O'Brien is actually a faithful member of the Inner-Party and this is actually a trap for Winston, a trap that O'Brien has been cleverly setting for seven years. Winston and Julia are sent to the Ministry of Love which is a sort of rehabilitation center for criminals accused of thoughtcrime. There, Winston was separated from Julia, and tortured until his beliefs coincided with those of the Party. Winston denounces everything he believed him, even his love for Julia, and was released back into the public where he wastes his days at the Chestnut Tree drinking gin.
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Characters
Winston Smith – The main protagonist of Orwell’s 1984. He resents the authoritarian regime of the Party and tries to rebel, but is finally crushed in body and soul.
Julia – Winston’s girlfriend. She also starts out with a strident anti-party stand and is suppressed in the same way as Winston is.
O’Brien – a prominent member of the Inner Circle of the Party. He traps Winstoninto betraying his unorthodox views and presides over his torture and degradation.
Mr. Charrington – a member of the powerful thought police, who disguises himself as a “prole” and entraps Winston.
Ampleforth – One of Winston’s colleagues at the Ministry of Truth, whose job is to “rewrite” old poems in keeping with Party ideology. He is arrested for thoughtcrimes.
Parsons – Another colleague of Winston’s who despite stupid and unquestioning adherence to the Party line is still arrested.
Symes – Colleague of Winston’s who is executed.
Jones, Aaronson and Rutherford – three original leaders of the Party who were later denouncedas traitors and executed.
Emmanuel Goldstein – The number One Enemy of the People according to the Party. He is believed to have written a subversive book and to head a mysterious anti-party organization called The Brotherhood.
Big Brother – the symbol of Party dominance. Big Brother’s precence is everywhere on posters, on cigarette covers, on coins and on telescreens.
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Part I
Chapter 1
Orwell’s 1984 opens in London, now a part of the country Oceania. The whole globe is divided into three countries, Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia all perpetually at war with each other. The leading protagonist Winston Smith enters his flat in the dingy building ironically named Victory Mansions and is immediately conscious of the poster of “Big Brother” with the inscription “Big Brother is Watching You.” The “Party” has taken over all aspects of life and is intent on eradicating individuality. Winston is painfully aware of the telescreen, which is both a receiver and transmitter at the same time. It incessantly relays messages from the Party and simultaneously allows the dreaded “thought police” to tune into the activities of any individual at any given time. The administration is divided among four Ministries- the Ministry of Truth, which deals with news, entertainment, education and fine arts, the Ministry of Love which maintains law and order, the Ministry of Peace which wages war and the Ministry of Plenty which handles economic affairs. The very vocabulary of the people was under Party Control; a system called “newspeak” was encouraged. One of the most dreaded words in the arsenal of Newspeak was the most heinous offence according to the Party – that of “thoughtcrime” which was sure to be punished by the Thought police. The slogans of Newspeak are “War is Peace” Freedom is Slavery” and “Ignorance is Strength.”
Winston pretended to toe the official line so as to dodge the thought police but terrifyingly, the pretence often spilled over into reality, so that he did not always know if he actually hated or adored Big Brother. On this particular day, Winston was planning to indulge in a clandestine activity which would mean at least a concentration camp if discovered- he was going to keep a diary. He enters the date – April 4, 1984 and then realizes that he was completely stuck for words. He finally puts down a long monologue about the film he had watched the day before, a war propaganda film positively encouraging the audience to delight in sights of macabre, mindless slaughter.
From his memories of the film, Winston’s thoughts move on to a daily ritual, which was conducted in each office, the “two minute Hate.” During this process, the telescreens broadcast pictures of Emmanuel Goldstein, the Number One “Enemy of the People” according to the Party. Goldstein had originally been a founding member of the Party and was supposed to have later betrayed the Party’s ideals and joined up with Eurasia or Eastasia to overthrow Oceania. He was rumored to have written an inflammatory work, usually referred to just as “the book” and to be the Head of a dangerous subversive group called “The Brotherhood”. During the “Hate” people watched the speeches of Goldstein and reacted in violent anger. Winston himself often started out by dissembling his emotions, but the effect of the collective frenzy was such that after about thirty seconds, he found himself actually feeling the power of Hate.
However, sometimes Winston felt that he sympathized with Goldstein and hated Big Brother. During that morning’s Hate, he had been especially attracted to two individuals, one, a girl who worked in the Fiction Department, operating a “novel writing machine” about whom he had both sexual and violent fantasies. She was a member of the Ant-Sex league, sex also being something not much encouraged by the Party. The other person was O’Brien, a high official in the Party, but with whom Winston felt a shared complicity of anti-party sentiment. He had the feeling that he and O’Brien had the same dislike towards the party, which neither of them dared to express openly. As he recollected the ritual of Hate, Winston almost automatically writes “Down with Big Brother” repeatedly in his diary. He does this with the fatalistic conviction that even if he did not write it down, he had already committed thoughtcrime and the thought police would get him sooner or later. As if in confirmation of this, there is a knock at the door, which Winston is convinced heralds the arrival of the thought police.
Literature Network » George Orwell » 1984 » Summary Pt. 1 Chp. 1
Summary Pt. 1 Chp. 2
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Chapter 2
When Winston opens the door, he is relieved to see that it is not the thought police, but Mrs. Parsons, the wife of a neighbor who had come to ask for help in unblocking the kitchen sink. Mr. Parsons, Winston reflects was the kind of dull unquestioning adherent who ensured the survival of the Party even more than the thought police. Whatever the Party said was accepted with dog like obedience by Mr. Parsons and his kind.
Winston follows the woman into her flat and tries to unblock the sink. This flat, like Winston’s own is dingy and miserable, clearly indicating the appalling living conditions under the Party’s regime. While in the Parson’s flat, Winston is horrified by the behavior of their two children. Both the boy and the girl have been indoctrinated by Party organizations like The Spies and the Youth League. They play with toy weapons of war and dance around Winston calling him “Eurasian”, traitor, “thoughtcriminal” etc. Winston reflects that within a few years they would not be playing, they would be holding real weapons instead of toys and would turn in their own parents to the thought police if they displayed any signs of unorthodoxy or nonconformity. These children who turned in their own parents as traitors were regularly lauded in the newspapers, the term used to refer to them was “child-hero”.
The children are furious because their father has not been able to take them to see the “hanging”. Occurring about once a month, it was a ritual in which war prisoners were hung as a public spectacle and was a popular entertainment among schoolchildren.
Winston manages to fix the sink and while leaving is hit on the neck with a catapult fired by the boy. He ponders on the fact that the Party training, on the one hand makes children into ungovernable savages while on the other hand it also makes them devoted, fanatical and disciplined adherents of the Party.
On the way back to his own flat, Winston sees the inscriptions announcing INGSOC or English Socialism of which Newspeak was the vocabulary. He remembers an event, which happened nearly seven years ago – an unknown voice had told him “We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness”. He had later become convinced that it was O’Brien who had spoken to him, though he had no way of confirming this.
From the telescreen in his flat there comes an announcement about a great victory in the battle with Eurasia, which as Winston correctly anticipates, is the prelude to an announcement of further food rationing. This is followed by the National Song “Oceania, ‘tis of thee” during which one was supposed to stand at attention, but which Winston does not do.
He looks at his diary, in which he has repeatedly written “Down with Big Brother” and thinks that he is already a dead man. Once he has committed thoughtcrime, the only question is how long it would take the thought police to catch up with him. But once he has resigned himself to being practically already dead, staying alive as long as possible and rebelling in however small a way become matters of immensely significant proportions.
He wanted to communicate with a different age, whether of the past or the future where men were individual or free. He wanted to carry on in some small measure, the human heritage. As a beginning of this communication, he writes in his diary addressing that unknown age “from the age of doublethink, from the age of solitude, of Big brother, of uniformity – Greetings.”
Literature Network » George Orwell » 1984 » Summary Pt. 1 Chp. 2
Summary Pt. 1 Chp. 3
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Chapter3
Winston dreamt of his mother that night. He dreamt of his mother and sister who along with his father whom he remembered more vaguely had been exterminated in one of the famous Party “purges”. He realized that in some unfathomable way, his mother and sister had died for him; they had died so that he could go on living. Always in his dreams, he saw them in a deep grave or well and he felt that they were there so that he could be up on the surface.
He also felt that his mother’s love for him and his awareness of her death as a tragedy belonged to a bygone age when words like love and tragedy had some real meaning just as human individuals possessed some real dignity. Then it was natural for members of a family to stand together and love one another, now there was only fear, selfishness and suspicion.
Another landscape entered Winston’s dream, a sunny pastoral land with a brook which he always felt he had seen somewhere in childhood but could ever place accurately. The girl he had noticed at work during yesterdays’ Hate came into the landscape and flung off her clothes in a grand gesture. Her body was beautiful, but it was not her body that Winston looked at in his dream, it was the symbolism of the gesture that attracted him. He felt that in flinging away her clothes like that, she was also throwing away all the shackles imposed by the Party and by Big Brother. He woke up from his dream with the word “Shakespeare” on his lips, symbolizing human potential.
But the reality to which he woke up was a very grim one. He had to join in compulsory exercises following the instructions given by a woman from the telescreen. As he mechanically went through the routine, his mind went back to the past; trying to remember something of the childhood he had dreamt about.
He vaguely remembered that the Area where he lived which was now called Airstrip One was once called England though London had always been called London. And there were memories of a time when there was no war, when the first bomb had fallen and his family had taken shelter in a cellar.
Oceania was at war with Eurasia now, but just four years ago, these two had formed an alliance against Eastasia. Winston remembered this clearly, but it made no difference what he or any other individual remembered, for the Party said that Eurasia had always been the Enemy and what the Party said was the Truth. This, thought Winston, was the most frightening aspect of the party regime-that it could obliterate memory, turn lies into Truth and alter the Past. The Party slogan was “Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past.” This was where “doublethink” came into play, minds were trained to hold contradictory positions simultaneously and unquestioningly- for example you had to believe at one and the same time that Democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy. Winston could remember a time when the Party did not rule, when Big Brother had not become all-powerful; but according to the Party they had always existed and this lie was repeated ad infinitum until it “became” the truth. This, Winston thought was a far more terrible weapon in the hands of the Party than torture or execution.
While he was lost in his thoughts, Winston’s body had been performing the exercises routinely. Now he is suddenly startled out of his reverie by the instructress from the telescreen addressing him directly. Shouting at him as “6079 Smith W” the woman tells him to pay more attention and recalls him to the regimented present where each man is a coded number and the telescreens spy on every activity.
Literature Network » George Orwell » 1984 » Summary Pt. 1 Chp. 3
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