Hi there 🙂
This is the second segment in my favorite books series, the first being this post discussing Battle Royale. I don’t have a single favorite book, rather a list of them. This series is not an in-depth analysis of the book’s contents, but rather commentary on why I like them and what I took away from them.
The second book to be featured is 1984 by George Orwell. Published in 1949, this book is a literary classic and notorious for its uncanny and prolific commentary on the future. The novel coined many famous terms such as Big Brother, Newspeak, Doublethink, and 2+2=5.
(above: screenshot from the film adaptation of the novel)
Summary (no spoilers!)
The story focuses on the life a man named Winston Smith. He is a worker for the totalitarian government (named Ingsoc) of a dystopian Britain named Airstrip One, part of a bigger superstate named Oceania. His job involves rewriting history to correspond with the propaganda the government sees best fits their agenda. This is where the term memory hole originated, as Winston changes the text, then discards the evidence of the truth down a tube called the memory hole in order for it to be incinerated.
Winston becomes deviant and starts to develop ideas outside the acceptable party values. He becomes a thought criminal when he decides to journal his ideas in blank notebook, thus committing a thought crime. The novel chronicles Winston’s day-to-day life as he “wakes up” to what’s really going on and starts acting out and pursuing things outside the realm of acceptability.
(This is a very, very short and vague summary, if you’re interested in a better one, check out Sparknotes or Wikipedia.)
Thoughts
1984 is by far the most terrifying piece of media I’ve consumed. It’s scarier than any horror film, video game, or book with the boogeyman lurking in the woods. What makes 1984 terrifying, yet fascinating and intriguing, is the way it shows the reader how easy it is to fall into totalitarianism and mob mentality. Higher powers can strip away citizens’ autonomy bit by bit, so the populace doesn’t realize it and thus complies. This is shown in the novel by Oceania’s invented language Newspeak, which works to break down the English language piece by piece to narrow how articulate speakers can be with their words. It doesn’t happen overnight, rather worked through the generations so by the time the youngest citizens are grown, they would speak it completely.
Another striking moment in the novel is its depiction of mob mentality. This comes through early in the novel with the Two Minutes Hate, where the government encourages mass anger towards what they’re told is the enemy. This includes throwing things, screaming, yelling hatred, and so on. Mob mentality has always been present in human history, but it’s more prevalent than ever with the presence of the internet. I equate the modern Two Minutes Hate with the mob mentality of social media, where status is garnered by likes, clicks, comments, and follows. Hate can easily go viral, and users glob onto a specific issue for a very short amount of time, then see the next bit of hatred, then move on. The very nature of going viral encompasses the term Two Minutes Hate figuratively, as users will rush a sentiment posted by another in the height of popularity. While some input thoughtful commentary to modern issues through the internet, many will spread bigotry, ignorance, and hate because like counts and follow counts give the sentiment a perceived sense of credibility. Similarly, in 1984, where others are validated to scream and shout because others are, likes and shares on social media do the same by saying, “others agree, so it can’t be that bad to agree too”. This is the essence of mob mentality.
The novel is also the origins of much thoughtful commentary on society and government, with famous quotes such as:
“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”
and the also infamous,
“War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.”
These quotes are timeless, concepts present throughout the trials of human history, and perfectly articulated in this book. As long as there is the human lust for power and wealth, these quotes will always be relevant. They are the manifestation of the dictator’s climb to power through blinding the populace with fear, ignorance, and passive acceptance of that which they think they cannot change.
I plan to fully analyze this book in depth (possibly in many posts), but I decided to keep these few points to feature here. There a great many take-aways and parallels to the modern day in this novel, which makes it eerie and uncanny, and certainly portrays the talent and foresight of George Orwell himself.
After finishing the book, it gives you the sense that someone is watching you, and with the prevalence of technology, many have questioned the possibly of people watching and listening to them through their computers, phones, televisions, etc.
1984 has recently come back in the public eye through revelations about technology as well as political and current events interpretations. This blog is purely apolitical and will always stay that way, so any parallels to modern day politics are free to be drawn by the individual, this blog will not feature commentary in that regard.
Geroge Orwell is one of my favorite authors. This being said, I’m a fan of his other works as well. I may discuss some of his other writings in the future as well.
Thank you for reading!
-Cordelia Rhein
Cordelia Rhein 