Pages: 328
Genre: Political Fiction
Imagine living in a place where all your actions are observed , there is a constant fear of someone watching you, where privacy is invaded, there is no freedom of speech or no freedom at all, a place where even the basic rights are threatened and people who raise their voice are vaporized. Even the slightest change in behavior could be regarded as a “thought crime”. A dystopian society where even history is altered.
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
1984 by George Orwell is a futuristic novel which revolves around the concept of a dystopian form of government. Winston, who lives in Oceania, lives in a similar kind of society, where each action is watched closely . The country of Oceania is controlled by Big Brother, who is said to be the protector of the country and controls every aspect of society. There is no such thing as privacy or freedom. The party invented a new language known as NEWSPEAK to control the thoughts of people; THOUGHT CRIME—anything that you do for your own happiness is considered a crime; and THOUGHT POLICE—people who keep an eye on you day and night. History and the facts are altered to suit the party that rules the country. Society is being manipulated into believing that the world they are living in is perfectly normal and has been that way in the past too. As compared to the past, the level of comfort is rising continuously.
who controls the past controls the present, who controls the present controls the history
Winston is a minor party official who works in the ministry of truth department. He commits a “Thoughtcrime” by writing a diary, and the punishment for such a crime is death. Somehow he knew that before the big brother revolution, the world was different, but he could prove nothing as there was no record of the past and no evidence to prove him correct. Even though he knew he might be vaporized one day and that no change would happen in his lifetime, he still wanted to fight for himself and for freedom in society.
I absolutely loved the way the author imagined and narrated every aspect of the dystopian society and also gave a view of what can happen if the country falls under the wrong hands and is led by a person who would not be interested in the good of others but only in power. People will have to live under constant fear of death. I literally got goosebumps while reading about the kind of torture society faced, but that’s not the most scary part. The scary part about the novel is that it is not just another fictional story; the events narrated by the author might come true in the future. There is the possibility that a dystopian kind of society could exist in the future.
🌻🌻🌻
Leisure & Life 