1984

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Summary: 1984
Review: At the time this book was written, in the 1950's, this book was feared as a posssible future for the world. This story is a bleak prediction of the future of man. Whatever they say is the rule, whatever they you think is ungaurdable, and even the smallest change in your apperence is subject for search. The biggest question of all though, is not how you can escapes, but who can you escape from. They know everthing that you are doing because of the telescreens located in every room and any thought of treason is picked up. This is the story about a man in this world, all alone, trying to figure out which is which. He knows the Party lies, and can even alter the past, but in a world where alliances wavor, and there is no certainty about who you are, how does he know he is fighting against the right people. Even if he can trust someone, there is another problem, "Big Brother is Watching"

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Summary: Bedford High School
Review: nineteen eighty-four was definitely a book with a storyline that fit my interests. Politics, psychology, love, sex, and unexpected twists of plot make it an interesting read. As one is reading, it's almost as if the reader is stuck in the same kind of darkness and ignorance that is imposed upon the characters. Will the next page be another mundane day in the live of Winston or will there be exciting happenings as the characters defy the absolute authority of the party? The reader must feel around in the dark so to speak, and the chronological jumps only make it more unpredictable.

The predominating theme of the novel is the organization known as Ingsoc, or the english socialism movement-usually referred to as "the party." The party rules over one of the three superstates-Oceania. Oceania is constantly at war with one of the other two superstates, which are Eastasia and Eurasia. This war becomes significant later in the book as a vital contributing factor to the success of the party's absolute rule. In Oceania there are three classes. The inner party (approx. 1% of the population) is at the topmost rung of society-afforded all the luxuries one could ask for to live comfortably. They also have the privilege of being allowed to turn off the hated telescreens, through which the "thought police" constantly watch the activities of every party member. The outer party (of which Winston Smith is a member-approx. 18% of the population) are the group of people who are the most psychologically controlled. Most are assigned jobs which involve the changing of historical records and falsifying the media. They are poorly provided for and closely controlled. Anyone smart or ambitious enough to be a danger to the power of the party is eliminated, and through psychological control, even their closest friends (or more appropriately "comrades," as the party has abolished the concept of friendship) can be made to forget that the eliminated person ever existed. The party throughout the book is even hard at work creating a new language that will drastically narrow the ability of its speakers to think. All concepts which might be considered "thoughcrime" (i.e. ideas that might threaten the party) are destroyed by means of their removal from language-no words to describe them exist, and therefore the concepts cannot be grasped. The outer party is the cornerstone of Ingsoc. Third, there are the "proles," or proletariats. They make up the other 81% of the population. The proles are more or less free to do as they please, considered to be harmless, and happy enough to live very simple lives in blissful ignorance.

Winston Smith works for the Ministry of Truth, which ironically is in the business of fabricating intricate lies. Through the haze and stupor created by the psychological vice imposed upon him by the party, Winston occasionally has memories that the past was somehow better before the revolution that brought the party to power. Very early on in the book he has thoughts of escaping the watchful eyes of the thought police and living more freely. This eventually leads him to create a hiding place, and to fall in love with the secretly rebellious Julia. From here, Winston's adventure as a member of the secret "brotherhood" begins.

For the most part, I had a wonderful time reading this book. I had a lot of trouble putting it down at times. The detailed descriptions, deep ideological explanations and very powerful overall moods that Orwell creates not only make the story realistic, but makes you feel as if you are part of the story-you can feel the misery and quiet outrage under the party's oppression. You can taste the freshness and novelty of the freedom when Winston and Julia hide in their apartment in the prole neighborhood. The ending is rather depressing and disappointing, but getting there is definitely a fun head trip. One final word of advice-don't pick this book up with the intention of only reading for a little while...it's quite impossible to do so.

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Summary: 1984--a look into the future
Review: George Orwell's 1984 shows us what he believed the future would be like if mankind did not change and socialism increased. This dark tale tells of a world where Big Brother is constantly watching you, and any act that could come even close to disobeying the Party, meant you were eliminated--which meant, not only were you never heard from again, but you were actually being erased from all records and memories, so that you never even existed.

The Party has absolute control over all types of media and print, and in effect, the lives of everyone. Their slogan is "Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past." Anything historically that shows that the Party is wrong, is changed in every history book and record and eventually the minds of the people and thus, never happened.

This book is in three main sections. It was a bit slow at first, but I forced my way through it. Further through, the book dramatically picks up in excitement. By the time I got to the third part, I could barely put the book down.

I am rating this book 5-stars because it has become a modern classic that captivates the reader's attention, not only in the story, but also on the philisophical level above it.

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Summary: "Perception Is Reality"--taken to its logical extremes.
Review: 1984 is a novel about a futuristic society in London where every one and every thing is totally controlled by the government. An entity known as "Big Brother" embodies the state and commands absoloute obedience and religious devotion from the populace; he is considered to be all-powerful and all-knowing. This represents the worst possible outcome for future, technocratic, materialistic and relativistic society: whatever benefits the masses and keeps the ruling Party in power is acceptable and there must be no deviation from the Party line. Population control is maintained through rationing, propaganda, mind-control, executions of POWS, unpleasant sensory distractions, total repression of sexuality and familial bonds, 24-7 work loads, pointless wars against forign enemies, destroying words so people cannot express themselves and erasing any knowledge people have of the past before the Party's "Revoloution."

No privacy for individuals is allowed. TV "telescreen" cameras are everywhere, watching everyone around the clock. Their motive is not to deter crime in the general sense but to deter "thought crime," cases where individuals seem to be manifesting symptoms of political dissent or nervousness about their existance. This is especially scary, given that 1984 was published in 1949 after the fall of Nazi Germany and the ascendancy of the Soviet Union over Eastern Europe. Today telvision cameras are everywhere watching people's movements, and some new ones can even identify facial features and match them to a name and personal history on a computer database. 1984's "telescreens" are double trouble--not only can they monitor citizens but they constantly barrage them with government propaganda. Today everyone who has electricity can now voluntarily turn on their TV and inject their minds full of whatever the government and the corperate media conglomerates want you to hear. If someone watching you through your TV screen bothers you, think about what it would be like if you were never allowed to turn your MTV or the FACTOR with Bill O'Reilly off!

The government also uses torture on specific "thought-criminals" in order to destroy their resistance to Party dogmatics. The objective is to cause so much physical, mental and emotional stress that the subject is unable to reason for themselves and accepts whatever the Party says is true. In the novel this is justified by the notion that "Perception is reality." Whatever a human brain thinks is true is true. The stars are not flaming balls of hydrogen fusion millions of light years away, no, we can stretch out our hands and touch them if we want. We are not bound by the law of gravity--we can float into the air if we want to. Even 2+2=5 if we so desire. The only problem is making everyone think exactly the same as everyone else. According to this there is no truth except what the person in charge says is truth and whatever they can do to make you believe it, then it is true. This is happening all around our world today--the rule of relativism. If there are no concepts of right and wrong, then Anarchy and/or Totalitarianism take over and the world is ruled by Might Makes Right. It nearly happened in the 1940's, and could happen (and is happening) again. The American people may not be controlled by the use of brute force and sexual repression now, but they are directed by government and media propaganda in the same way as described in Orwell's 1884.

Rating:
Summary: 1984
Review: This was a decent book it was written well, there was times when I did not want to put down the book becuase it had some interesting parts in it. But the down side is that I thought that these were to few and far inbetween becuase it was kinda of slow paced and I would lose interest and want to do something else. I found myself forcing myself to read it (becuase I had to for school) rather than read for enjoyment. another negative about the book is that 1984 has pasted and it was nothing like this and it just kind of ruins it for me I would have given this book a 4-5 stars if I had read it sometime between 1950-1965 which I bet was a very good book back then. But I think that some people would really enjoy it and I can understand why alot of people rated the book higher than I did but I personally didnt feel the book.

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Summary: INTELLIGENT, THOUGHT PROVOKING, MOVING AND SCARY!
Review: I can add little to the numerous compliments already expressed for this classic fiction except to say the following:

1. It is more than science fiction - it held relevance back in 1948 and has political relevance in 2003. It is a story that explains with the utmost clarity how people can be corrupted and controlled by their political leaders.

2, If you find the political elements a tad boring then try the following abridged audio version. I very highly recommend the absolutely brilliant reading by an English Actor John Nettles. This audio version will persuade any doubter of the absolute genius of George Orwell.This audio version is so brilliant that even those who are familiar with the story will be in for a treat.

3. This novel gets better and better with each reading - reading it not only makes you more poliically aware but tackles the philosophical question 'what is human?'/ 'what is real?'

Worth every one of it 5 stars - one of the few 'must reads'.

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Summary: What a grim future!
Review: Long before I read 1984, I read Brave New World and Anthem. All three have similar subject matter: the bleak future. Both Brave New World and 1984 depict technology run rampant and used to further de-humanize the populous. 1984 is a bleak book, but in parts very powerful. I would say, however, that at times Orwell lost my interest. He is in love with narrative, which is fine, but occasionally it drones on. I would say that Brave New World is a better book to read about how the future CAN go wrong, mainly because it is much more entertaining. But 1984 has a ton of integrity, especially in the ending.

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Summary: A True Classic
Review: George Orwell's 1984 is a true classic. Orwell's megastate Oceania is a truly frightening dystopia. Winston Smith and his girlfriend, Julia, rebel against a monsterous police state bent on controlling the very thoughts a person may have. Thoughtcrime,doublespeak, and Big Brother are terms we have come to use to describe our real life governments attack on our own liberties. Smith rebels against the maddness and oppression of Oceania by having a secret love affair with Julia, a woman sworn to celibacy for the "Party". After being arrested by the Thought Police they are brought to the "Ministry of Love" where Winston is submitted to unremmitting torture and brutality at the hands of his torturer, O' Brien. O'Brien is the consumate collectivist.He loves and worships pure power and enjoys "destroying minds". He informs Winston that the Party determines ultimate truth and that truth is whatever the Party says it is. He chillingly tells Winston " Here is a picture of humanity, a boot stamping on a human face, forever." a truly wonderful, frightening, but appropriate classic in these tmes of assaults on our liberties. A truly great book.

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Summary: Timeless and provocative
Review: My city, Bloomington, Indiana, chose "1984" to read this year for its One City One Book event this spring. In 2002 we read "A Lesson Before Dying," also a wonderful book, but this year, the organizing committee let the citizens vote from a list of nominees. We selected "1984." As part of the National Library Week celebration last week the Indiana University librarians sponsored a discussion "1984" at our Lilly Library, which houses our rare books and special collections, including some Orwell material. The discussion was led by an emeritus English professor; he introduced the discussion with three themes/questions he found to be interesting. The discussion took off from his excellent introduction. I urge other communities to select this book to read and discuss. It is a darkly compelling novel that lends itself to many approaches and interpretations. Thus, it is a fabulous book to read and discuss with others. In fact, as I read, I couldn't wait to hear what other people thought about the book. It's a love story and a thriller. It's a political treatise and a rumination on totalitarianism. As other reviewers have said, against the backdrop of the war with Iraq, it is timely. But it is also timeless. The themes and issues explored "1984" will be relevant every year. I couldn't put it down!

Rating:
Summary: 1984
Review: This book was a blend of horror, mystery, sci fi and real-world polictal irony. It was masterfully writeen, with all the right words in the right places. I would highly suggest this book to anyone who enjoys the "future" (which is really the present, in Orwell's case). It is ver interesting to see how things were predicted to happen: which came true and which didn't?