Nineteen Eighty Four - 1949
Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, often published as 1984, is a dystopian novel by English novelist George Orwell. It was published in June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final book completed in his lifetime. Thematically, Nineteen Eighty-Four centres on the consequences of government over-reach, totalitarianism, and repressive regimentation of all persons and behaviors within society.
The story takes place in an imagined future, the year 1984, when much of the world has fallen victim to perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance, historical negationism and propaganda. Great Britain, known as Airstrip One, has become a province of a superstate named Oceania that is ruled by the Party who employ the Thought Police to persecute individuality and independent thinking.[Big Brother, the leader of the Party, enjoys an intense cult of personality despite the fact that he may not exist. The protagonist, Winston Smith, is a diligent and skillful rank-and-file worker and Party member who secretly hates the Party and dreams of rebellion. He enters a forbidden relationship with a co-worker, Julia.
Nineteen Eighty-Four has become a classic literary example of political and dystopian fiction. Many terms used in the novel have entered common usage, including Big Brother, doublethink, thoughtcrime, Newspeak, Room 101, telescreen, 2 + 2 = 5, prole, and memory hole. Nineteen Eighty-Four also popularized the adjective "Orwellian", connoting things such as official deception, secret surveillance, brazenly misleading terminology, and manipulation of recorded history by a totalitarian or authoritarian state. Time included it on its 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005. It was placed on the Modern Library's 100 Best Novels, reaching No. 13 on the editors' list and No. 6 on the readers' list.In 2003, the novel was listed at No. 8 on The Big Read survey by the BBC.
This was a slog of a read for me over a month, as I could only absorb a couple short nightmarish chapters before bed. It would be terrifying and depressing as fiction, but its warning signs are recognizable today. Secretary of State Pompeo said this week that “1984 is coming to life in China” where Uighur Muslims are being detained and abused in remote “vocational training centers.”
ReplyDeleteAlthough Orwell’s concern was for Nazi Germany and Soviet Russian taking away rights and freedoms in his WWII time, his dystopian novel is an important warning for what our world can yet become. The seeds of similarity are present in our own country.
ReplyDelete.. Love Big Brother (Incompetent self-serving President who uses fear and resentment
to promote tribalism, which divides and brings forth hate for others while promoting
blind adoration for himself)
.. Thought police listen in (NSA, Alexa)
.. Doublespeak (distortion of language)
.. Lies repeated until they are accepted as truth (same)
.. Distortion and deletion of history (ignorance of and disregard for history)
.. Made-up reality (same)
.. Elimination of any democratic principles & due process ( erosion of checks which
balance government & make possible rule of law)
Not only the power of those in charge is frightening but also the ease with which people
ReplyDeletesubmit to mind altering. Winston tries to resist, but as the last man standing, he loses. It is a crushing blow to hope. It isn’t overstating to say much rests on 2020 to right our ship while there is something left to save. Big Brother may have been but a symbol, but evil was real.
I am going out to weep and rend my clothes now. Truth can be painful.
When I read the novel again, I wasn’t prepared for its power. I did have to read it in high school along with nearly every other American teenager. Along with "A Brave New World," these is little room to wonder why disenfranchisement with the American ideal became the norm. Looking at it with some time and distance as well as being able to read it by my own volition, I found that I had to clear away what I thought you knew about it, all the terminology and iconography and cultural spin-offs, to grasp the original genius and lasting greatness of 1984. It is both a profound political essay and a shocking, heartbreaking work of art. Not surprisingly, the sales of this book soared between 2016-2020 and it continues to be more prophetic with time.
ReplyDeleteThere was a generational gap between when the book was relevant to recent world events and when it became relevant again in recent times where the message didn't hit home. Given the warnings and lessons continued within it, it makes more sense that the cycle of history came back to make this book ring as true as it ever did.
ReplyDeleteGiven that the book was largely inspired by Orwell's time in Spain during the Spanish Civil War and the Soviet and German interference in those politics, it is eerie how timeless it seems upon re-reading. Given that the left tried to appropriate his backstory and that he himself had to distance himself from the solid support base probably gave him a more complete experience of both sides of the political coin than any other event. One can see why it would be more impactful in Europe since the events of his life boiled over into WWII but the Nostradamsian quality of the book almost makes it required reading for those well out of school. Much like fear of the pandemic, it is almost passé to connect past mistakes and warnings to current actions. All of this ensures the book's message will continue to be timeless.
ReplyDeleteThe argument from disgruntled teenagers and forward looking booklist makers re-occurs regularly. Orwell was wrong and things aren't as bad as his said. 1984 has come and gone. Technology is liberating. The problem was that despite its accuracy in recent years. Orwell never intended his novel to be a prediction, only a warning. It is a timeless, relevant warning. According to the New York Times booklist archive, the week of Donald Trump’s inauguration, when the president’s adviser Kellyanne Conway justified his false crowd estimate by using the phrase alternative facts, the novel returned to the best-seller lists. Interest in the stage version soared. The vocabulary of Newspeak went viral on Twitter, arguably the perfect platform for disseminating that type of language. An authoritarian president who stood the term fake news on its head, who once said, “What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening,” has gave 1984 a new life. That is a good thing if it is not taken as a reactionary sign of protest or status symbol and good thing if it is a call to action that motivates future generations to not just speak up but act using their status as citizens.
ReplyDeletePerhaps most alarming is that the truth as enforced by the Party in the book through terror and control is not just the common truth of the land(s) but it is now so nebulous that it only exists to support pre-conceived notions or as support for actions based on the self and not the whole. While information was controlled and manipulated in the book, now there are so many sources of news and information that control is impossible and sifting through the pile tiresome. As such many choose what they know or what comforts them which works in a similar manner to keep the masses from refusing unjust governance. Doublethink is now the norm. Newspeak comes from everywhere; Party to media to individuals repeating what is told to them all in the name of "protesting." People protest just to protest. Slacktivism is the the main social engagement. What is really be protested against? Is it fair to compare the activism of older generations to now? Newspeak is what we are going to as it is the only way to not offend someone or some group. But who will define Newspeak when there are divided loyalties?
ReplyDeletePerhaps not the most uplifting book but masterful in its layers and its construction. It is a shame it had the reputation of required school reading for so long that we lost sight of the lessons to be learned and perhaps now wasted as a badge for those who speaking loudly but act timidly. Maybe one day, we Winstons will translate thought into action.
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