Book #90: 1984

Book #90: 1984 by George Orwell

June 7, 2014


This book is one that many claim started the dystopian genre, one that I gravitate to, so reading this book was inevitable. Having recently taught my history class about World War II and totalitarianism (a word they found difficult to pronounce) helped to put this book (published in 1949) into context. Orwell imagines a world where totalitarianism, in the guise or under the name of communism, has taken over completely. The English-speaking world and South America make up Oceania, where Big Brother is the symbolic head of the superstate, which is constantly at war with either Eurasia (the rest of Europe and Russia) or Eastasia. Because of being constantly at war, common stuff is hard to come by. Everything pretty much sucks, and yet it is claimed that the Party (the English Socialist party, or Ingsoc) has improved life for the citizens of Oceania. Citizens (especially Party members) are constantly monitored by the government through the telescreens that are everywhere, to the point where every action or expression or word is scrutinized. And because of this, there's nothing that anybody can do about it.

The motives and methods of the Party seem a bit dated to me. The closest I can think would be the government of North Korea, where people live in constant fear, where their lives are strictly controlled, and where they are expected to worship their leader as a god, in place of religion. For most of the population, life is barren, they are overworked and undereducated and worse. But here's the difference. Kim Jong-Un is an actual person, and like his psychotic father, he enjoys the luxury and privilege that comes with his power. He lives it up as his people slave and starve; he does what he can to keep hold of his power in order to enjoy it. As far as I could tell, nobody was enjoying power in Orwell's imagined world. The system itself had all the power, that's the scary but ultimately strange thing. I mean, I could follow the philosophy of Ingsoc well enough as it was laid out, and I could understand how someone born into such a system would buy into it, but surely so many people around Winston's age or older would have the same kind of recollections and doubts, in spite of the efforts of the Ministry of Truth or the purges of human life.

The tone of the "Appendix" seems to suggest that the system does break down at some point. It does not explain how, but I think that human desire would ultimately overpower the mind-fuck tricks that the Party played with its members. Nowadays, it's not political ideologies going awry that we have to fear, but those same desires. The deadly ones, of course, especially greed. Today, a piece of dystopian literature would ring true if it were corporations, not governments, that ran things. The 'pure power' that Orwell describes does not exist. Everybody likes perks.

I did not like the characters in this book. Winston was kind of meh, but I guess that's what his world molded him into. I hated him when he swiftly agreed to do anything to have done tiny part in taking down the Party, including killing or maiming children. I felt bad for him later, especially when he was threatened with having his face eaten off by rats, but I didn't respect him. And everyone he trusted betrayed him; he had a feeling that he was doomed and he was right.

Julia was interesting at first. I could forgive the stupidity and disinterest she often displayed when Winston made important discoveries about the nature of the Party, but one scene killed her for me. She talks about defying the Party by wearing a dress and heels and makeup for Winston, rather than the Party regulation overalls. Essentially she's a vehicle for sexism and antifeminism; in rebelling, she's actually conforming to what (in the "real" world) is the standard for women. So, no real rebellion for women, then. I'll try to bear in mind that this book was published in the forties...

Overall I'd say this was an interesting book, even if the ideas inspiring it are mostly politically antiquated. However, the ideas of the public being lied to, watched, and subject to propaganda are very real, even in the "land of the free." Again, though, it's all driven by greed and money...there's certainly nothing pure about it.