1984

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Summary: Oh (Big) Where art thou?
Review: In today's technologically oriented world, people still seem shocked when movies come out that portray governmental security that seemingly invades on the public's privacy, which makes George Orwell's 1984 even more of a masterpiece. This thought-provoking novel, written in 1949, well before computers, surveillance cameras and hidden microphones, depicts a world in which the government controls everything, knows everything and has no feasible opposition.
Winston Smith, our connection to Airstrip One, lives under the oppressive leader Big Brother. Big Brother has set up an undefeatable party that monitors its citizens with telescreens, Thought Police, Newspeak, and Doublethink. Newspeak is a language that the party has created, eliminating all words that might bring
negative feelings toward the party, and doublethink is the party's control over its citizens' minds that makes them believe anything (ex: 2 + 2 = 5). Winston strives toward defeating the party, but is constantly met with another layer of Big Brother control. Orwell constructed the book to have a gloomy feel over it, one that creates "negative utopia" for which it is famous. The reader will never get fully emotionally involved with any characters, yet will be engrossed in the plot. This book is one that leaves readers thinking 'What If?' days later, and exercises the mind in the meantime. Orwell crafted the book precisely, evoking certain feelings and certain times, which I think makes this book a must-read for anyone interested in expanding their imagination while reading a classic. But remember, once you pick this book up, don't stop before the end. Big Brother might be watching, and you
certainly don't want to be on his bad side.

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Summary: Hopefully not another Jules Verne...
Review: Read this book! It's not only at once convincing and absorbing, but its also a reflection and an analogy to many things are in our society today. The novel it's hunting not only in the sense that the regime described could become reality (although it seems it would work I refuse to believe it) but because we can see a lot of it taking place today; in a much lessen degree off course. Things such as the lack of reasoning of the majority of people; the destruction of language by slang and the lack of reading; the dictatorship of ideas, dogmas and parameters of life by the "telescreen" (TV); the absent-mind of the people, where everyone is too absorbed in their day-to-day activities to know any better...
The novel is also a lot of fun because we can virtually immerse ourselves in it, seeing it all to the least detail, to such an extent that we can breath the air, and feel in our skin even things that are not explicitly described in the book. Orwell's power is truly amazing, and this novel should be read by everyone, either for entertainment or deeper thoughts (ideally both). The only problem is you might have trouble sleeping at night, scared of having to wake up speaking "Newspeak!"

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Summary: Manipulation in "1984"
Review: How easily can humans be influenced and manipulated?
This question has to be considered to decide whether the novel "1984" written by George Orwell in 1949 as a "negative utopia" is realistic or not.
The protagonist Winston Smith lives in London, the capital of Oceania which is one of the three existing superstates. As an outer party member he is constantly controlled and observed by the "English Socialist Party" (Ingsoc) and its imaginary leader, Big Brother. The country is always in the state of war with some other state to prevent an increase in the living standards to keep the power over the population.
The plot of the novel is divided into three parts that reflect Winston's development in the totalitarian system that requires full orthodoxy. In part 1 he secretly starts to rebel against the horrible circumstances, the emptiness and loneliness of his life while he works in the Propaganda Ministry of the state. The second part describes Winston's relationship to Julia, an uncomplicated, optimistic woman. When the two are arrested because of unorthodoxy and so-called "thoughtcrime" Winston is tortured and brainwashed in part 3.
The novel describes the experiences and reactions to a cruel suppression of individuality. The continuous control body and mind (emotions and thoughts) by the Thought Police and the punishment Winston is afraid of, force him to look expressionless to the telescreens while his doubts and emotions whelm up inside him. He tries to express himself in a diary (thoughtcrime) though his feelings are manipulated by indoctrination to hatred towards a virtual enemy. In his work Winston has to manipulate himself: he has to alter the past by rectifying newspaper articles the party needs to prove their correctness. One has to learn to believe in two contradictory aspects simultaneously (doublethink). In his love affair with Julia Winston experiences peace and trust, but, at the same time, he knows the cruel end that must come. As expected, the two are discovered after Winston tired to understand the sense and intention of Ingsoc. In his torture, that is carried out by O'Brien who has a sort of father role, Winston has to learn that nothing exists than through human consciousness, that truth is what the party claims to be true and that the individual is only a biological cell. Winston finally accepts what is required after he has given up his hope and starts to love Big Brother in the belief that it is an authentic feeling.
You see in part 1 a common manipulation of the party members through the everyday recurring "Two-Minutes-Hate" and information given on the telescreen. After Winston' s search for his authentic feelings in part 2 he is individually manipulated by O'Brien the way of brainwashing "to make him sane".
As the story is conveyed through Winston' s perception and written in an eloquent style, you can be easily involved, so while reading you get almost always the same opinion as Winston even if they are sometimes contradictory. When finally the party uses Winston' s counter-strategies against himself I got confused what happened to "me".
The manipulation of emotions and thoughts is quite obvious in the novel. Even the reader can be partly manipulated by the imaginative and convincing expression.
In our time the technical methods to manipulate are numerous. For example in the advertising. But I think, because of Orwell's intention to make ways of influence obvious we shall be critical to search for our own thoughts and authentic feelings.
This is what I think we can learn out of this novel.

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Summary: Instant paranoia!
Review: 1984 is a classic and rightfully so! It does not matter that the year has come and passed without such a world but there are subtelties that resemble such a world. In the wake of recent events the atmosphere (in the U.S.) is begining to strikingly resemble some of the aspects of Orwell's nightmarish world.

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Summary: 2+2=5, 2+2 has always been 5, and 2+2 isn't anything but 5
Review: ...you don't only believe this, you know this. History is irradiated, because everything has always been the way things are now. 2 and 2 has always been 5.

The characters don't matter. It's the content. There are hardly any characters in the book, and Winston, the main character, doesn't go on an epic quest of rebellion. And the "good guy" (by our standards), doesn't win. Government does. Brainwashing, corruption, win -- his own mind doesn't.

You believe what they tell you. 2 + 2 is 5. 2 + 2 has always been five, and 2 + 2 never was anything other than five. You don't only accept that, you don't only do what they tell you, you yourself believe it. You KNOW that 2 + 2 is 5.

1984 is a warning of what we could become. "Negative-Utopia."

A society where everything depends on the fact that everyone believes, understands, and knows the way things are. And everyone believes, understands, and knows that things have always been that way.

Anything against this doesn't live ... not literally but figuratively. If someone goes against this they are not killed, they are taught to believe this. Anything against this doesn't exist and isn't allowed to exist, even in death. Everything is altered to comply to this.

1984 - what we could become.

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Summary: Wow, so true to life.....Love this Book!
Review: I read this book in High School and once more since then. Ive also seen the movie which is very well done, almost exactly like the book.... Everyone here says its prophetic and that it is still in the future...is it? or has 1984 been with us well before the actual 1984? Anyways when I read it in High School I got most of it, but some of it went over my head...untill I entered the working world/college and the ranks or society with all the expectations that go along with these situations and experiences....Now it mirrors everyday life....I already distrust the government and most authority figures, religious and non religious. I dont believe in their wars...even after the WTC attacks...and I really dont believe in thier advertising and or media.....If you want a book that will change your outlook and open your eyes and show you the truth of the present and past plus a warning about the possibilities of a future traveling the wrong path...read this! not because I told you to...but because you need to know :)

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Summary: the best book ever written
Review: There are things .which can be felt but can`t be explained . This book is one of them . If you haven`t read it yet , read it and if you`ve read it , read it once again and then one more time , one more time . Then you`ll see that Orwell`s prediction is everywhere in our lives . i HOPE you`ll see it and if you see it once , you won`t be able to throw it away from your mind !
if you`re brave enough , read it and CHANGE it .
PS: big brother was everything in the book . There wouldn`t be anything without him . Like the God in our lives . We want to play "the god" and "big brother" (the society) so we create games from book ..
I think this book has more things than orwell wanted to say ..

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Summary: One of the scariest books you'll ever read
Review: To sum it up, this book scared me to death. No, there are no monsters, serial killers, or anything else like that. 1984 is about an extreme communist society and how one man tries to break free from it. The book may seem like a bit of a love story, but that's not the point. The frightening thing about this book is that our hero fails. With most books, the hero is triumphant at the end, or at least there is a glimmer of hope. Not with this book. Our hero, Winston, falls in love with Julia and together they want to break free from the hell they live in. But they are caught, tortured, and eventually betray each other. Since they have betrayed each other (something they thought they would never do), they no longer love each other. The idea that a society can make you stop loving somebody and change who you are in a realistic manner is frightening. This book had me paranoid for about a week. Even still, not all lessons are happy and this book is well worth the paranoia you might feel because of the lesson it gives you. Although this book was written in the 1940's, it is still hauntingly relevant today.

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Summary: a concentrated narrative . . .
Review: 1984 is a lovely book. In it we find bland descriptions choreographed with a rhythmic, powerful force of language and an internalized graphic depiction of a mind on the brink of rebellion.

It is false to claim that this is a 'probable future', as many of the issues and threats of the time of the prophecy have come and gone and been resolved by the evolution of society. But the meaning is lasting, regardless of your meaning of oppression.

There tends to come a time in life when everyone feels oppressed, trapped by the state of the world and angered over their perceived restrictions. In the case of this novel the specifics of the dictatorship are agonizingly detailed, the interest maintained by Orewell's natural story-telling abilities and spectacular wit. But the meaning is meant to go deeper, filtering away the extremist exaggeration of the satirist and searching for clues in the muck of human nature.

These issues are timeless and therefore the threat of 1984 will never likely go away. There will always be either a real or perceived oppressor and there will always be a basic human instinct to rebell. Nowhere is this principle more lucidly articulated than in 1984.

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Summary: Depressing, but enlightening.
Review: As an American, I enjoy freedoms that are alien to the majority of the world. If this had any effect on my life, it made me appreciate where and how I live my life. The book itself was very well written and entertaining. The beginning of the book was depressing to the point where I didn't want to read it, but as I progressed, I started to enjoy it. It was very difficult to emphasize with Winston because I cannot imagine the world he lives in. As I reflect on the book as a whole, I realize that it was more than worth my time to read. Every person who reads this book gets something different out of it, but I can guarentee if you read with interest you will get something out of it.