1984 in Never too Late to Read Classics

Nov 07, 2017 Shirley (stampartiste) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-classics, golden-girls-book-club, challenge-back-to-the-classics-2018, challenge-bingo-2018

What more can be said of one of the greatest dystopian novels ever written? It is as somber and disturbing today as it probably was when it was written in 1949.

I first read 1984 in the 1970s when I was young, ignorant and impressionable. I remember how much this book disturbed me then, and the feelings it generated have stayed with me through the years. Now, being older and wiser, I was not hit with the same kind of intense fear of such a future envisioned by Orwell. I believe the changes in our What more can be said of one of the greatest dystopian novels ever written? It is as somber and disturbing today as it probably was when it was written in 1949.

I first read 1984 in the 1970s when I was young, ignorant and impressionable. I remember how much this book disturbed me then, and the feelings it generated have stayed with me through the years. Now, being older and wiser, I was not hit with the same kind of intense fear of such a future envisioned by Orwell. I believe the changes in our society over the past 50 years have conditioned us to accept more governmental control and less freedom of being, thought and expression. We have been conditioned that some words are bad and should never be used, some words have had their original meanings altered to make cultural changes more acceptable, and some words have been invented to promote the new ideologies. In so many ways, Newspeak has been here all along.

A few years ago, a famous person said that we're going to have to change our traditions, our history;.... At the time, I did not understand what was meant by this. How does one change history? Isn't history, by its very nature, dead and gone? How can you change the past? But Orwell showed in 1984 that groups or governments often have and will continue to alter history to promote ideologies.

When I first read this book in the 1970s, I was so disturbed by the indoctrination that Winston Smith was forced to undergo to "see the light" of the wonderful world of Big Brother and totalitarianism. But how far have we come when people are fired or sued or shunned for holding to beliefs that are not acceptable to outspoken groups who wish to have everyone conform to their beliefs? Are these people's lives also not destroyed?

I still find it astonishing that Orwell, a Democratic socialist, could have written such a disturbing book on the dangers of socialism and totalitarianism. He even understood the dangers inherent in socialism when he said, "It cannot be said too often – at any rate, it is not being said nearly often enough – that collectivism is not inherently democratic, but, on the contrary, gives to a tyrannical minority such powers as the Spanish Inquisitors never dreamed of." (As I Please: 1943-1945).

I believe that 1984 should be required reading in all high school or college history class. ...more

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Aug 15, 2017 Josh Caporale rated it really liked it

The two novels that I am hearing people talking about these days are The Handmaid's Tale and 1984. Dystopians have a reputation of picking up a lot of attention among "the classics" when readers do not have the urge for something light-hearted like Pride & Prejudice. By no means are dystopians meant to be light-hearted and 1984 is among the most intense and honest among them. Dystopians are meant to be warnings and our job as readers is to point out the tyrannical horrors that are taking place i The two novels that I am hearing people talking about these days are The Handmaid's Tale and 1984. Dystopians have a reputation of picking up a lot of attention among "the classics" when readers do not have the urge for something light-hearted like Pride & Prejudice. By no means are dystopians meant to be light-hearted and 1984 is among the most intense and honest among them. Dystopians are meant to be warnings and our job as readers is to point out the tyrannical horrors that are taking place in these world, connect it to what is going on in ours, and take action into preventing this sense of tyranny from becoming a reality. 1984, which was George Orwell's very last novel, seems to silently ask the question of "what if Joseph Stalin's reign as Soviet ruler lasted decades longer than the present day (for when the book was written and published) of 1949?" "Big Brother," the ruler of this dystopia, was described as having "the face of a man of about forty-five, with a heavy black mustache and ruggedly handsome features" (page 1). These are all attributes that can be placed on Stalin, including the fact that he was roughly forty-five years old when his rise to power began (following Vladimir Lenin's death in 1924). If it was not for the response from The Doctors Plot and declining health that took Stalin's life in 1953, this could have been a view of what was to be expected in a Stalin-esque society. However, the figure of Big Brother himself was like Sauron from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings in which he was nothing more than a watchful eye, never seen, but ever seeing.

Winston Smith is the central character in this piece. He is as much as an everyman as one could be, almost to the point that his structure was somewhat wooden, but we are still able to possess a sense of sympathy for him, just because we need to latch it onto someone in these cruel situations. Winston works for the Ministry of Truth, which is in charge of Oceania's media and entertainment, aka. their propaganda. He interacts with those around him, but there is no way that one can trust those they are surrounded by. Anyone is willing to report anybody for any crime, but specifically that of Thoughtcrime, also known as anything that poses a threat to the Inner Party. Spouses are willing to report one another and most commonly children are active in and encouraged to report their parents. Winston is taking steps to rebel against Big Brother, with the assistant of rebel leader O'Brien, antique shop owner Mr. Charrington, and Julia, who oversees the novel writing in Winston's ministry and randomly forms a bond with him. However, in a world of this nature, it is truly every person for themselves.

The strongest part about this novel is its message and the development of this world. In lighter doses, there is a great sense where established governments create laws so that they can control those below them and the theories that are mentioned in Emmanuel Goldstein's book (Goldstein is a known rebel that is highly unpopular among the general, obedient population of this dystopia) really create a sense of thought and comparison to any ruling force that is looking to obtain power for power's sake. I think that the means of punishment were haunting and fearful and that the tactics were so brutal that these horrors can seriously be felt by the reader and perhaps a reason why Winston Smith was made out to be so vague. My criticism lies in the sense of vague detail. I am not sure if people in this world are supposed to be as robotic and as wooden in their personalities, but I felt that this was how things were, especially between Winston and Julia. There are crucial details that were left out as well, but on the contrary, it may have been part of a strategy on the author's part that would require the reader to imagine the situation. Many of the punishments seem to take on escalated versions of what took place during Stalin's reign in the Soviet Union, which would definitely intensify the situation for a particular reader at that time. This novel has absolutely no issue with engaging in mind games.

I find this book as being necessary reading and feel that people would get a great sense of what is bound to happen if the government acquires too much power and an ability to control more and more aspects of those that they are serving. THIS is why I feel that as an American, the ability to vote in a general election is extremely important and that the ability to vote in a primary for who represents your (typically) preferred party is even more important. 1984 is not perfect, but it is everlasting in its lingering, ever so timeless message.

You can find the discussion I had about this book on Literary Gladiators (containing spoilers) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSb0_... ...more

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