After a while, I decided to try reading banned or controversial books because why the heck not. This is the first banned/controversial book I picked up (aside "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair which, as of 5/2/2021, I still haven't finished reading).
This is a book review for "Nineteen Eighty-Four" (aka "1984"), released 1949. I read the Everyman Library's version, including the foreword. I did not, however, read the appendix regarding Newspeak because it seemed like a lot of drivel/ extemporaneous words.
"Nineteen Eighty-Four"
Author: George Orwell
Language Read: English
Published: 1949
Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopia, Politics
Finished reading this book: May 3, 2021
Plot
In a world ruled by 3 totalitarian powers (Oceania, Eastasia, Eurasia), one must find a place in society. Whether you are Inner Party, Outer Party or proletarian, there are rules and regulations that you must follow. For Winston Smith, the rules are simple: get up, do your exercises, go to work, do your job without asking, eat, live, participate in society, go home, and go to bed, all while under the watch of telescreens that can hear and see whatever is in the earshot/view of the screens. The telescreens simultaneously broadcast information (news, propaganda, etc) while keeping tabs on the citizens.
Winston realizes that there is something wrong with the Party and how the government is set up so he debates on taking a stand against the Party. With the help of his lover Julia, he takes the step to join the Brotherhood (an anti-Party group). What will happen? When will he be captured? What will happen when he is captured? Can the Party be overturned? Can Oceania be defeated?
Review
3/5 - *SPOILERS* This book comes in 3 parts. Part 1 - showing how miserable the conditions of life are under the totalitarian rule of the Party in Oceania. Part 2 - Winston experiencing life (on the edge) with his lover Julia and the struggle of trying to have a "normal" life despite Big Brother and the telescreens always watching. Part 3 - Winston and Julia are captured; what follows after being captured.
Part 1 is absolutely dreadful. It took me many months to get through this part. Everything is pure depression and grey atmosphere. Why would you want to live in a society like this? Dystopia to the nth degree, to say the least.
Part 2 is better than Part 1 because finally Winston has something to live for or look forward to. He fell in love with a younger gal named Julia that has some intelligence in her mind. They, together, agree that the Party and Big Brother must be taken down. To do so, they must join the Brotherhood which is a group against the Party. When they pledge to join the Brotherhood, they agree that they will do whatever it takes to bring the Party down, including throwing acid in the faces of children, murder, etc. Life continues on for a bit but then Winston and Julia are captured.
Part 3 was pretty interesting and I was wondering if Winston would be able to stand the torture and come out on top, but I was very much disappointed in the ending. Instead of being able to stand up against the Party, he breaks down. I don't blame him because they used electroshock therapy (which really messes up a brain, it has been proven) and other methods of torture. Starvation, beating, emotional and mental abuse (gaslighting!!) - you name it, they do it to Winston. We find out that Julia had also been tortured (we get a glimpse at her facial scarring) and that she caved in and sold him out. He admitted to her at the same time that he sold her out too. The question that remains in my mind is did they send the rats after her or did they change the torture to a different torture that would have been modified to her fears, as rats was Winston's fear. We'll never know if they did or didn't because Winston never sees her again. He continues on his life, playing along with the new life that he has received - a new job (better pay, less demanding work [honestly, seems like the Party is merely paying him and watching over him to make sure he doesn't defect after his re-education], better living conditions, etc. One day, he hears news about the war front where Oceania is fighting to keep their land in Africa. Part of Winston wants the Party to be defeated at the war front but, when the news of victory comes in, he rejoices with everyone around him. He finally realizes that he has been completely re-educated and "liberated" from himself: "He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. ... But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother."
What bothered me the most about the ending was the fact that he himself had said in Part 1 that everything the Party did and Big Brother stood for was depressing and dark. Life as a human has been repressed/oppressed. With Julia, he saw how life could be good. But with this re-education by the Party, he has given up all of the hope for a better life. I guess it is a question regarding what humans really want. Would you rather freedom or happiness? If you are a kept pet with all the perks, is it worth giving up all of the freedoms? Or would you rather be free from political control and unhappy?
"Freedom is Slavery" is one of the phrases in this book. This is a huge conversation piece. It takes work to gain freedom but it is free to be controlled by others. By being enslaved by the ruling class, it gives one freedom to do what he/she wishes to do (within the rules/regulations). As long as someone is happy, usually freedom can be swept aside. Totalitarian governments exemplify this thought by controlling everything that the citizen can/can't do - where to work, what to wear, what to eat/drink, what people to talk with / hang out with, how/whom to marry, how many children to reproduce, curfews, etc. Changing into a totalitarian government may start off as a socialistic way to gain "equality" amongst people but those in power can change the socialism into totalitarian, especially if it is "for the greater good". At one point, the book says that true equality will never be established because there will always be those that want power and those that are troddened upon by those grasping for power. The three classes of society (high, middle, and low) will always be there to some extent. The high class will always want power and a way to secure it. The middle class will be envious of the power of the high class and will try to use the force of the low class to try overturning the high class, then establishing themselves (the former middle class) as the new high class. The way that the Party has secured their power is through totalitarian forces and, instead of progeny, raising individuals to the high class [aka Inner Party] when they are deemed worthy. With Big Brother being "immortal" (for most purposes), he would never die and the head of the Party would never need to be replaced. With replaceable individuals making up the Inner Party, the Inner Party could flow with the times and never need to be replaced, as long as they keep the power over the Outer Party and the proletarians. The Inner Party would continue to keep that power with the aid of the Thought Police (an organization designed/designated to monitor all citizens at all times for crimes that start with thoughts), the neighborhood watch {aka everyone being able to snitch on another for things they do/say}, and The Tower of Love. The Tower of Love is where they torture their citizens that have been found in the wrong, so it seems odd that it is named that. Of course, from a different perspective, they are doing these acts of torture and re-education because they "love" the citizens [which is a backwards way to view their actions but can be viewed as such in the way that they are educated]. The reason for wanting control over thoughts is that a human's everything is in their mind.
When the Party tortures Winston Smith for the treasonous crime of wanting to overturn the Party, they work on him for a long time to make sure that they break his spirit. When he dreams of Julia and says out loud her name, they realize that they haven't broken his will. Without being able to break him of Julia and the hope for something better, the Party would not have full control over him. They bring him to Room 101 and, through making him face his biggest fear and the danger of death from his fear, he breaks his vow of loyalty to Julia. If only it will save him, he thinks in the heat of the moment. Once he does make this decision, with the pressure of the re-education/torture, his connection to Julia is strained. He realized he loved her but couldn't stand being with her after realizing that he had betrayed her in the worst bit of torture. He pushes his guilt away with alcohol and moves on with his life. Would it have been better if he hadn't betrayed her and died instead? (This wouldn't have happened because the Party makes sure that there are no martyrs because martyrs can change the minds of other people after the fact.) How could he have saved his self and feelings when faced with his biggest fear? This is a major question for everyone because, even if you want to stand up for whatever it is you want to stand for, will you break in the end? How will you break? How can you be broken?
I could analyze this book longer but I think all of this is good enough for a book review. Feel free to ask questions and send me comments.
In summary, I wouldn't re-read this book personally but I think it is a decent conversation starter. I wouldn't like to assume that just because the author was a socialist makes the book pro-socialist. In my personal opinion, this book seems like an anti-socialist story because the socialist/totalitarian atmosphere in the story is pretty depressing. Why would a terrible political atmosphere in a science fiction story be something to promote as real-life political view? I don't understand it personally but I definitely don't like totalitarian governments. That's my view.
Thanks for reading my review! More to come eventually.
~ Gracie
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