Nineteen Eighty Four, by George Orwell is a dystopian book set in a fake country called Oceania, ruled over by the “Ingsoc” or just the leading party. War, hunger and poverty are common in Oceania with many of its residents living in dire conditions while having no say in government. Winston Smith the novel’s main character starts out as just a regular citizen of Oceania, whose job is to rewrite historical documents to match how Ingsoc wishes to present it. On the outside Winston appears to be a regular citizen of Oceania hopeless and desolate, but inside he deeply resents Ingsoc and especially Big Brother. Throughout the story readers are unsure if Big Brother is a real human or just a personification of Ingsocs grip over the masses. Since citizens of Oceania are constantly being watched over via telescreens they have no way of rising up over the totalitarian regime they are forced to live under. With these grim circumstances Winston decides to do something that could possibly get him arrested or at worst, murdered. He starts to write a diary that journals all his deepest and most innermost thoughts about his life and the people surrounding him. As the story continues Winston grows more dissatisfied with Ingsoc and even plans on doing something extreme and dangerous, overthrowing the party and Big Brother. Nineteen eighty four, even though published in 1949 gives readers a chilling prediction of what the future of politics lies ahead.
I highly recommend this book. Orwell’s writing style and motifs given throughout the story gives readers a haunting perspective of his view on what a post WWII world would look like. However I did find myself getting bored at the start of the book since it’s a bit slow. But when the story started to pick up and we got more information about Oceania and Big Brother I couldn’t stop reading. The similarities of Ingsoc and the authoritarian regimes of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union are very telling and interesting to look into. With things such as the thought police that try to limit what citizens think in their very heads about the party. In all, I thoroughly enjoyed the story of Nineteen Eighty Four, which proves to us that even under the worst circumstances possibly people will still find ways to persevere.
-Anonymous
