REVIEW: 1984 by George Orwell

Title: 1984

Author: George Orwell

Genre: Science Fiction Fantasy

Blurb:

Written in 1948, 1984 was George Orwell's chilling prophecy about the future. And while the year 1984 has come and gone, Orwell's narrative is timelier than ever. 1984 presents a startling and haunting vision of the world, so powerful that it is completely convincing from start to finish. No one can deny the power of this novel, its hold on the imaginations of multiple generations of readers, or the resiliency of its admonitions. A legacy that seems only to grow with the passage of time.

Review:

The book 1984 was written by George Orwell and it depicts the future where the government is in complete control of all persons.

Eric Arthur Blair, better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist. His work is marked by keen intelligence and wit, a profound awareness of social injustice, an intense opposition to totalitarianism, a passion for clarity in language, and a belief in democratic socialism.

Considered perhaps the twentieth century's best chronicler of English culture, Orwell wrote fiction, polemical journalism, literary criticism and poetry. He is best known for the dystopian novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four" (published in 1949) and the satirical novella "Animal Farm" (1945)—they have together sold more copies than any two books by any other twentieth-century author. His 1938 book "Homage to Catalonia", an account of his experiences as a volunteer on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War, together with numerous essays on politics, literature, language, and culture, are widely acclaimed.

Orwell's influence on contemporary culture, popular and political, continues decades after his death. Several of his neologisms, along with the term "Orwellian" — now a byword for any oppressive or manipulative social phenomenon opposed to a free society — have entered the vernacular.

This book promises that your mind may be influenced by the prophecy that Orwell predicts. His take on the future is not unlike what we experience today, yet not to that degree.

There are a few debates that this book raises:

Does this book prophesize the war on terror? We know that this war did not start over terrorism but over oil; an idea in the book that all wars are started over oil.

Is science and technology growing every year? This is a true statement yet it is contradictory to what the book says:

               

"This failed to happen, partly because of the impoverishment caused by a long series of wars and revolutions, partly because scientific and technical progress depended on the empirical habit of thought, which could not survive in a strictly regimented society."

Look at Africa. Their science and technology doesn’t grow every year and they live in a strictly regimented society. Most of the country is impoverished because of this. So, this isn’t too far from the truth.

Do we live in a hierarchy society?

“In the long run, a hierarchical society was only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance.”

Is the government making us ignorant? Think about it. Every year we lose money in the Department of Education and teachers are being laid off. Coincidental? I think not.

               “The economy of many countries were allowed to stagnate, land went without cultivation, capital equipment was not added to, great blocks of the population were prevented from working and kept half alive by State charity.”

This couldn’t be any closer to the truth. In 1929, the stock market crashed leading to the Great Depression. During this time, land went uncultivated, the economy went stagnant, and people were prevented from working; relying on welfare. The problem is, yes, we did come back from this, but welfare is still here. I have always believed that if you keep a country poor and uneducated, you can control them.

              “And even technological progress today only happens when its products can in some way be used for the diminution of human liberty.”

This is a really scary thought when it comes to all the technological advances that come out every year; TV’s and cell phones. They have GPS on them not and webcams to see your face. If your friends can see you, who else can see you?

                “But none of these projects ever comes anywhere near realization, and none of these super-states ever gains significant lead on the others.”

Has it ever occurred to you that none of the larger countries ever get ahead of each other? We all seem to have the same technology no matter what comes out.

This book is very important. Maybe some people thought in 1948 that these things that happen in this book are just not possible. Unfortunately, Orwell saw different. And even more importantly he was right.

I believe everyone should read this book. Some people don’t pay attention to the things around them or they believe that the government is only doing what is best for everyone. This may not be the truth and you should be armed with the knowledge beforehand.

I got a lot of good ideas from this book. I was with the general population that the government is going to do what is best for us and we should stand behind them in their decisions. But I realize now that this isn’t the case. We should stand up for ourselves against all enemies both foreign and domestic.

Conclusion:

I couldn’t tie this book up if I tried without giving too much away. But I have included these quotes to give you an idea of where I stand:

                

                

“The invention of print, however, made it easier to manipulate the public opinion, and the film and the radio carried the progress further.”

"If human equality is to be forever averted-if the High, as we called them, are to keep their places permanently-then the prevailing mental condition must be controlled insanity,"

“There was a truth and there was an untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.”

“Reality exists in the human mind and nowhere else.”