1984

No One is Safe or Free.

1984 is a dystopian novel and cautionary tale by George Orwell. The book was published on Jun 8, 1949 as Orwell’s ninth and final book completed in his lifetime. Thematically, it centers on the consequences of totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and repressive regimentation of people and behaviors within society. More broadly, it examines the role of truth and facts within societies and the ways in which they can be manipulated. This book is a timeless piece of literature that transcends specific interests and appeals to a broad audience.

1984 has had a profound impact on literature and popular culture. Phrases like “Big Brother”1, “Double Think”2, “Thought Police”3, “Thoughtcrime”4, “Newspeak”5, and “2 + 2 = 5”6 have become part of the global lexicon.

The story takes place in an imagined future. The current year is uncertain, but believed to be 1984. Much of the world is in perpetual war. Great Britain, now known as Airstrip One, has become a province of the totalitarian superstate Oceania, which is led by Big Brother, a dictatorial leader supported by an intense cult of personality manufactured by the Party’s Thought Police. The Party engages in omnipresent government surveillance and, through the Ministry of Truth, historical negationism and constant propaganda to persecute individuality and independent thinking.

The protagonist, Winston Smith, is a 39-year old mid-level worker at the Ministry of Truth who secretly hates the Party and dreams of rebellion. He keeps a forbidden diary. He begins a relationship with a colleague, Julia, and they learn about a shadowy resistance group called the Brotherhood. However, their contact within the Brotherhood turns out to be a party agent, and Smith and Julia are arrested. He is subjected to months of psychological manipulation and torture by the Ministry of Love.

“Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past.”

Winston, after being released, continues to frequent the Chestnut Tree café. He encounters Julia, and both reveal that they have betrayed the other. Back in the café, a news alert celebrates Oceania’s supposed massive victory over Eurasian armies in Africa. Winston finally accepts that he loves Big Brother.

There are enough movies that are akin to the settings of the 1984 book. Some interesting ones are Hunger Games, Equilibrium, V for Vendetta, Brazil, etc. Of course, there is the Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) movie adaptation of the book.

Notes

  1. Big Brother is a character and symbol in the book - 1984. He is ostensibly the leader of Oceania, a totalitarian state wherein the ruling party, Ingsoc, wields total power “for its own sake” over the inhabitants. The ubiquitous slogan “Big Brother is watching you” serves as a constant reminder that Party members are not entitled to privacy. They are subject to constant surveillance to ensure their ideological purity. This is primarily through omnipresent telescreens that provide two-way video communication and constantly blare propaganda. ↩

  2. Doublethink is a process of indoctrination in which subjects are expected to simultaneously accept two conflicting beliefs as truth, often at odds with their own memory or sense of reality. ↩

  3. Thought Police are the secret police of the superstate of Oceania, who discover and punish thoughtcrime. Using criminal psychology and omnipresent surveillance the Thinkpol monitor the citizens of Oceania and arrest all those who have committed thoughtcrime in challenge to the status quo authority of the Party and of the régime of Big Brother. ↩

  4. Thoughtcrime is the offense of thinking in ways not approved by the ruling Ingsoc party. In the official language of Newspeak, the word crimethink describes the intellectual actions of a person who entertains and holds politically unacceptable thoughts; thus the government of The Party controls the speech, the actions, and the thoughts of the citizens of Oceania. ↩

  5. Newspeak is the fictional language of Oceania, a totalitarian superstate. To meet the ideological requirements of Ingsoc (English Socialism) in Oceania, the Party created Newspeak, which is a controlled language of simplified grammar and limited vocabulary designed to limit a person’s ability for critical thinking. The Newspeak language thus limits the person’s ability to articulate and communicate abstract concepts, such as personal identity, self-expression, and free will, which are thoughtcrimes, acts of personal independence that contradict the ideological orthodoxy of Ingsoc collectivism. ↩

  6. 2 + 2 = 5 or two plus two equals five is a mathematical falsehood which is used as an example of a simple logical error that is obvious to anyone familiar with basic arithmetic. ↩