1984 is George Orwell's most famous and important book released back in 1949 after having previously done another release called Animal Farm, which is also recommendable. This dystopian is about a man and woman who fall in love and rebel during the reign of an extreme totalitarian regime.
With so much propaganda and control surrounding personal and private lives, Big Brother is always watching you, and it is uncertain if he exists, or even the Party's enemies in the form of Eastasia and Eurasia. The language of Old Speak is getting replaced with New Speak in every new edition so that communication in the future will only be limited by the Party's desires.
The Thought Police is making sure that there are no thought criminals, saboteurs or other defected ones left in Oceania. As Winston Smith, a propagandist, has had enough with the ruling party, he gets to meet Julia, who is similarily rebelling.
As I went towards a real totalitarian regime on vacation in August, I rewatched the movie adaptation and also brought along the original book, and easily could see similarities between fiction and real life. But this particular regime is just one of many organizations today that try to control people's lives, as the book is still just as relevant as when it was first released.
O'Brian, a fellow colleague of Winston of whom the two have never spoken to in seven years but are aware of each other, decides to approach him after Julia and Winston have been secretly enjoying their rebellion, love and new perspectives.
Introducing himself as a member of the secret Brotherhood, an organization with Emmanuel Goldstein as their leader, who is proclaiming the Inner Party, Big Brother and the lower ranks to be all working with lies and deceit.
Soon after, Winston and Julia get caught by the Thought Police, and it is O'Brian who has betrayed them, for he is a member of the Thought Police instead of the Brotherhood. A series of physical, mental and psychological tortures follow, and Winston is consequently defeated by the insane procedures.
Argumenting that he is simply curing them from their individual truth, O'Brian announces that the only way worth living is to join the collective mind of the Party, which is immortal. And any other political ideologies, religious practices and miscellanous ways of wisdom are all inferior, irrelevant and must be erased or rewritten from history.
Such is the way of converting, brainwashing and implementing doctrines onward the Middle and Lower classes in the Party, thus making it a very effective totalitarian regime. Big Brother is watching you, and you must love him for that.
The United States and other nations are watching you. Religion is watching you. Corporations are watching you. Is your moral compass content with them? Will you love them, or hate them in return?
Rating: ***(out of 4)
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