1984
- 2 mins
The book 1984 is one of the best pieces in its genre. The novel is set in a dystopian world ruled by totalitarian regime, monitoring every move and thoughts of people. The ideas depicted throughout, with Winston Smith as protagonist are incredible.
BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU!
The “Party” led by the colossus, THE BIG BROTHER, forms the central pivot for all the good, the fear, the obedience that can be attributed to. Anything past happened in this world is either recorded inside a person as thoughts and outside, in the forms of words. An appealing idea to me was that if the words are altered to change the past and if the large mass of people collude to make one grow doubtful of ones thoughts, you can change the past itself. Not only this, the Party also controlled every content that is ever read and distributed to the lower class, proles they call them. Four divisions of the Party, Ministry of Love, Ministry of Truth, Ministry of Peace, Ministry of Plenty dealt quite an opposite aspect of the society. The Telescreens painstakingly observes the Party members to check if any Party member derails from the propaganda, if one did, it was a Thoughtcrime. Ironically, even a small kid betrays his own family to the Thoughtpolice and the family is proud of it. A language, called Newspeak is invented to restrict the ideas that one can present by limiting its vocabulary.
Winston Smith, who worked in the Truth department, where he worked on modifying contents from newspapers and articles, to alter the past, always believed that a better world existed and it was much different from the current world of fear, violence and slavery. He follows his ideas, finding evidences, falling in love, surprisingly finding a place with no telescreen, only to realize later that he was being played all along and all that he met and cultivated in his mind was planned. After being caught, he undergoes a harsh treatment in a cell with no light to gauge the time. The interrogations and punishment are intended to cure him and remove his false thoughts, until he starts to belive that -
Two plus Two makes Five.
Even after a great physical and mental torture, Winston still believed in his heart that they could not tear his inner self apart and that he was true to her love, Julia. Eventually, his words betray him in a dream. The book conceptualizes that most even the most loyal and honest can never tolerate a level of physical pain and that he would betray when it comes to certain aspects in his life that is most afraid of. He is released with a thought that he would love Big Brother one day. In the end, Winston no longer feels the connection to Julia and dreams of looking at the Big Brother and his thoughts suggesting that he loved him, that in a way illustrates the Victory of the Party over individuality.
The object of power is power. Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation - George Orwell, 1984
