1984 Book Review

A detailed Summary of 1984 Book Review

Through chilling glimpses of a future that could have been, and bleak outlooks at life, George Orwell conveys a message of warning, and of hope, for all the people of the world. 1984 is a perfect example of a negative look at society. It serves as not only a warning to what the future may become, but also as a constant reminder that everything is relative, and when one is left with no comparisons, any situation can seem normal.

"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face -- forever"

The protagonist in the story is a man by the name of Winston Smith. Starting with his name, it is clear the author planned his character out to the last detail. Take the last name Smith, for example, which is one of the most popular last names in America - this allows the reader to relate more to the character. In addition, if you look at his first name, Winston, you would notice that it happens to be the name of a key person from Orwell's time, Winston Churchill. When combined with his last name, the readers are left with the impression of a sort of hero, with a vague relation to themselves. Winston is a sad man, in that he takes things as they come, and does not extract joy or excitement out of any situ

I picked this book not knowing what to expect, since no person I knew had even read it. When I finally put it down, I was left in a state of shock. I would not quite describe myself as angry, but I was definitely frustrated and at the same time worried. The whole time I was reading, I hadn't realized that what Orwell had wrote was coming true more and more every day, just not as drastically as in his novel. In 1984, every house is equipped with a device called a telescreen, which feeds audio and video of you to the government, and allows them to broadcast any message they want to you. This seems to be ridiculous, with no way of becoming reality, but look around. Policemen are already using cameras and microphones so small you cannot detect them, and although it is very limited right now, one day it is possible that it will be widespread. Throughout the book, Orwell depicted a very negative life (a negative utopia, I found out through research) with very few good things in it. The people lived, worked, and died, all for the advancement of the Party. They really were machines working for a bigger machine. I guess what shocked me the most was how much the people's personal freedoms were violated. Not only were they not allowed to do anything they wanted, they could not even think about doing those things. This book leaves the reader with a picture of pure horror. This was definitely one of the best books I have ever read. It had many parallels to Fahrenheit 451, since the past was not allowed in that book either. I have a positive view on this book because I believe it carries a very important message for all of humanity. It is a message of freedom, freedom to think what you want, freedom to act out on those thoughts, and freedom to know that 2 + 2 = 4. The Party's philosophy was that by controlling the mind, one controlled everything, because everything that existed, existed in the mind. They slowly, but surely, took out all thoughts of evil from the people, the most drastic means by reducing the number of words in their language to make negative thought impossible. I could go on for many pages about the ideas presented in this book; there is literally dozens of messages to be had. In the end, Winston Smith became exactly what he fought against, and he could care less. He was no longer a human being in the traditional sense, but a slave.

Winston Smith becomes a Thought Criminal. An Outer Party member, his job is to actually rewrite the archives of the London Times so that they match current Ingsoc (English Socialism) policy. When Ingsoc changes

Some common words found in the essay are:
Julia Winston, America's European, Party Julia, Winston Churchill, Winston Smith, George Orwell, Physically Winston, English Socialism, Inner Party, Smith Julia, winston smith, freedom freedom, name winston,

Approximate Word count = 1743
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English