Having been written in the late 1940s, 1984 might have seemed so unrealistic and far-fetched as it depicts a world where all we do, think, or say is somehow tracked. The illusion of freedom would only exist so long as no attempt of going against the rules is made. The more I read it, the more I realized such world is in certain ways not that different from what it foresaw when it was written.

At times it made me feel hopeless, and reflect upon on how much resemblance there is with what's going on in the world, however, it really depends on us to change the path that makes us live a better ending.

In spite of it all, I really enjoyed the reading and would definitely recommend it. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

Update: 1984=2024. FULL DYSTOPIAN PARADIGM FULL STEAM AHEAD


Is Orwell turning in his grave? Does his epitaph read. "I fucking warned you! Don't say I never told you so! "

Did he have a crystal fucking ball?

***
If you want truth, go out and see

Not like in 1984, Richard Burton on TV

Orwell must have been psychic, or was he in the know

Cos' what's going on in the world clearly shows

That humanity is programmed through a TV screen

Since its conception, its all its ever been

News, films, dramas, sports, soaps and cartoons

Leaving the masses wide eyed, like Buffoons

All the rhetoric and propaganda, oozing about us, every place we look, and go

It is everywhere, embedded, enveloping, as people to and fro

Screens on buildings, bus stops, train stations, all over the place, fuelling our vices

PC's, laptops, google glass, tablets and mobile devices

Its in the ether, the air and the subconscious brain

Whether one is aware or not, the information leaves its stain

Orwell must have been psychic, or was he in the know

Perpetual war, a bogeyman, terrorists, must be real, its all a TV show

Censored press, hacking phones, spying on the masses

Every email, phone call, text message, and google eye glasses

Technocratic Dystopia, hunger games, people put into factions

Not allowed to speak, monitoring our actions

In the name of security, no person is free

Unless your blood is Royal, or have connections to the family

Or a valued member in Vatican State, purple robes, velvet glove, and iron fist

A Freemason, a congressman, senator, president, PM, you get the gist

Social engineering, eugenics, deep state, cabals and satanic cults

Lodges, temples, hail, thunder and lightening bolts

Rapture, ragnarok, jihad, ends of days TV

In dramas, films, cartoons, its all we ever see

Monsters and bogeymen, cold war, terrorism, and disease, and destruction

People trafficking, drug smuggling, arms deals, and child abduction

All entertainment, to keep the masses distracted

No freedom of information, cos the juicy bits are redacted

In the name of security, or for the security of a famous name

The whole thing is inverted, its all a game

Cos' rules are lures, and laws are walls

And all of the people are silly fools

Glued to a PC, Mob Phone or TV screen

Since its conception, its all its ever been

Was Orwell a psychic, or was he in the know

One things for certain, it won't be on a TV show

By Leo.

داستان های علمی تخیلی، معمولاً دو جورن:
علمی تخیلی سخت
علمی تخیلی نرم

داستان های علمی تخیلی سخت، به دقت به توصیف تکنولوژی پیشرفته یا ستاره ها و سیارات و قوانین فیزیکی پیرامونشون میپردازه. یعنی کفه ی سنگین داستان بیشتر به طرف علمه تا تخیل. این طور داستان ها به ندرت داستان قدرتمندی دارن. مثال خوب برای علمی تخیلی سخت، فیلم "بین ستاره ای" از کریستوفر نولانه که بیشتر میخواد قوانین کوانتوم و نسبیت راجع به سیاهچاله ها و کرمچاله ها رو نشون بده و داستان قدرتمندی نداره.

در مقابل، علمی تخیلی نرم، بیشتر حول داستان و شخصیت ها و مفاهیم انسانی میگرده و سنگینیش به طرف تخیله تا علم. نویسنده از بستر علمی تخیلی برای بیان حرف ها و اندیشه هاش استفاده کرده، و "علمی بودن" براش خیلی اهمیت نداره.

من بشخصه به علمی تخیلی نرم علاقه ی بیشتری دارم. به نظرم اصلاً داستان علمی تخیلی با��د همین طور باشه: نویسنده از امکانات بی نهایتی که علم و تخیل در اختیارش میذارن استفاده کنه تا مفاهیم انسانی رو نشون بده.

هزار و نهصد و هشتاد و چهار، از این نوعه.

n  n
(Throwback Review) This novel falls under the category of dystopian science fiction. This story takes place in the future, 1984 (this book was released in 1949), where the world is facing a war.

The prose in this book is simply spectacular that this would have been a best-seller even if Orwell would have released it as a non-fictional book by removing all the fictional elements from it.

This novel has so many embedded themes in it. The politics, nationalism, surveillance which Orwell is mentioning are all deeply debatable topics. This is an absolute must-read book for everyone.

n “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”

n  “War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.”n

In a world of constant war between three all-controlling superpowers, every single human being in Oceania is being ruled by the Party. All freedom is gone, all pleasures are forbidden, all information is propaganda, rebellion is unthinkable, and your relatives will not hesitate to betray you. Even thinking rebellious thoughts is a crime, bound to get the attention of the Thought Police and a harsh punishment. And the masses live in constant fear. For they know that Big Brother is watching them...

Just like The Lord of the Rings is the mother of all fantasy stories, 1984 is the mother of all dystopian stories. Neither of these books were the first in their respective genres, far from it, but both of them changed their genres into something more, and in many ways became the greatest works ever written.

This is as far as I can see an important book more than a good one. George Orwell is a much greater thinker than he is a writer. 1984 is not a spectacular book in any way. It’s not particularly well-written. It’s not particularly complex. But the ideas behind it are greater than any book.

Personally, I’ve always considered Orwell to be one of the most important thinkers of the modern era. He’s revolutionised the way we see the world. And while his is the way of the journalist, the political commentator and the social critic, his books are still enjoyable to read for what they are.

The thing I find the most interesting about this book is that it’s basically a critique of radical left-wing thought. Yes, you’ll find attacks on capitalism and different forms of authoritarianism. But Orwell’s main attacks are focused towards the dangers of revolution, communism and left-wing thought in general. As the man himself once stated, "So much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot."

Now that, however, is not interesting in itself, or special in any way. The interesting thing is that Orwell himself was a left-wing thinker. You might accuse him of hypocrisy, but that would miss the point entirely. The thing that fascinates me the most about Orwell is that he’s a left-wing thinker who manages to see the flaws and dangers of left-wing thought, and subsequently tries to develop his own views from that insight.

Since political terms mean different things to different people (although there are right and wrong definitions of most of them), I won’t showcase my own views in a public review. Ask me privately if you’re interested; I love discussing politics. Here and now, suffice it to say that Orwell and I agree on a great many things.

So much for the political analysis. For further reading I'd recommend having a look at Isaac Asimov's very critical review, which I found almost as interesting and important as the book itself.

“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever.”

More than anything, 1984 is the core of dystopia. It shows us everything that is wrong with our world, everything that has been wrong with it, and most importantly, everything that could go wrong in the future.

In addition to presenting the reader with a possible future that to most of us would seem like our worst nightmare, it has a philosophical core bound to enlighten just about anyone on a thing or two. Orwell teaches you the true meaning of power and fear, and of the most stable pillars of human society.

This is one of the most important books of our time. It inspired every single dystopian writer after it. It inspired V for Vendetta, one of my favourite movies. It inspired generations of political thinkers. And it’s a book everyone should read at least once.

“We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.”

If you're considering reading this book please note that it contains graphic thoughts of rape, self harm/suicide and torture.

You have almost certainly encountered some of the language invented in this book in your daily life and not realised it. It must have been a game changer on many fronts.
Unfortunately time dulls political satire; the use of the word comrade doesn't strike fear into my Russian-hating heart (note: I do not hate Russians), even when paired with communism that denies people such things as sugar and lemons.

At the beginning during HATE WEEK Winston fantasies about raping a young girl and then killing her, which is pretty fucked up. Seriously, what the fuck, Winston. He ends up dating her, which is illegal (because the party don't like people touching each other) and also fucked up because she reacted to the line "I wanted to rape and murder you" with "cool, let's get naked".

They faff about for a good while not really doing much more than talk about murder and how this girl (Julia; I'm surprised the younger generation doesn't have Russian sounding names) wants to get a real woman's dress and wear makeup, which makes me wonder if George Orwell was afraid of feminism as well and readily brought into the idea that all feminists are butch man haters, and that real women(tm) are unafraid of men who want to murder them.

It isn't until half-way through the book that someone comes in to give them a purpose. They get a book, which leads to an obscenely long chapter of them reading. This book mentions that there is no racial discrimination right before going on to describe people as "Jews, Negroes, South Americans of pure Indian blood" which, uh, doesn't strike me as post racial, per se.

It turns out that the book ruse was a distraction because, lo and behold, their purpose is ripped away from them before anything interesting happens. There's a lot in the way of torture scenes and I cared about none of it, because I couldn't forge the slightest connection to Winston.

The book on a desolate note - something I'm all for, especially in this type of story - but the only thing I cared about was that, in terms of the 1984 universe, absolutely nothing happened.

reading this book was just realising over and over again that something i have encountered before was a 1984 reference.

In George Orwell's 1984, Winston Smith is an open source developer who writes his code offline because his ISP has installed packet sniffers that are regulated by the government under the Patriot Act. It's really for his own protection, though. From, like, terrorists and DVD pirates and stuff. Like every good American, he drinks Coca-Cola and his processed food has desensitized his palate to all but four flavors: sweet, salty-so-that-you-will-drink-more-coca-cola, sweet, and Cooler Ranch!(tm). His benevolent overlords have provided him with some war happening somewhere for some reason so that he, and the rest of the population, can be sure that the government is really in his best interests. In fact, the news always has some story about Paris Hilton or yet another white girl who has been abducted by some evil bastard who is biologically wired by 200,000 years of human evolution to fuck 12-year-olds, but is socially conditioned to be obsessed with sex, yet also to feel guilty about it. This culminates into a distorted view of sexuality, and results in rape and murder, which both make for very good news topics. This, too, is in Winston's best interests because, while fear is healthy, thinking *too* much about his own mortality is strictly taboo, as it may lead to something dangerously insightful, and he might lose his taste for Coca Cola and breast implants. The television also plays on his fears of the unknown by exaggerating stereotypes of minorities and homosexuals, under the guise of celebrating "diversity", but even these images of being ghetto-fabulous and a lisping interior designer actually exist solely to promote racism and homophobia, which also prove to be efficient distractions.

For some reason, Winston gets tired of eating recycled Pop Tarts and eating happy pills and pretending to be interested in sports and manufactured news items. But, in the end, they fix him and he's happy again. Or something.

I believe I read this book in high school, because I was expected to do so. I have since reviewed it a few times, because it has re-visited my Little Free Library Shed. It has also been a topic of discussion amongst friends during the past administration.

I can't help but wonder...

Was this book a foretelling for us today?

This novel is a grim read that tells of a future. A society of oppression. Exploring technological mass surveillance.

Keep in mind that it was released in 1949 during the immediate aftermath of WWII as the Iron Curtain descended over Eastern Europe and Stalin tightened his grip on power.

If you have read anything about Orwell, (in my research I learned this), he was a disillusioned socialist, strongly opposed to communism - especially anything under Stalin. So it makes sense that his story was influenced by these global anxieties of the time.

Still...how real does 1984 feel today?

The true horror and genius of 1984 isn't so much the mass technological surveillance... (consider the evolution of CCTV that helps to solve crimes as they occur).

Rather it is a cautionary tale showing glimpses of a grotesque society that exists in a near and future society. One in which technology exploits humanity as opposed to benefits humanity. Obviously it is doing so in the book.

But, if we were discussing this book now and talking about it in today's world view, should we not be concerned? For example - how is technology being used to exploit humanity today?...

i.e., Social media - fake information?

The books message from the Ministry of Truth: War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength.

That message should be worrisome.

Our democracy is at risk today. Would people take the books message to heart and use it to hurt humanity? Or would they use it to pay attention and see what we need to do to save our world?

Or is this just a book?

“Everything faded into mist. The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth.” - George Orwell, 1984

It’s been over 5 years since I last read 1984 and I still find the storyline as horrific as ever. It's terrifying to think of a world in which your own children are spies for the government and can turn you in, where cameras are watching you 24/7, where one could be accused of committing a "facecrime" or having an "ownlife", a world in which we live nervously worrying about whether the sensitive machinery that is watching you will pick up an increase in heartbeat that may incriminate us.

When I first read this book I imagined a similar dystopic world taking place in a Communist country or perhaps in a dictatorship like the one so many of my relatives were raised in. Now I realize it could just as well take place in a so-called democracy under several guises, and that’s the scary part. My mind did wander quite a bit while I was reading this book, thinking of the eerie possibilities, trying to find parallels between what I was reading and what I was observing in society. We are witnessing so much propaganda which may not be as obvious as some of the hilarious pro-Stalin and pro-Mao posters that I’ve seen online and in history books, but it’s there in an often subtler form.

I think one of the scariest parts for me was seeing how language can be used to manipulate and control:

“All that was needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory.’ Reality control’, they called it: in Newspeak, ‘doublethink.’

Language is definitely becoming more simplified and some of the words that are making it into the dictionary are just laughable.

I kept thinking about the following Virginia Woolf quote while reading this book:

“Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.” - Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own

Freedom of mind is something I take for granted. We all want to believe we’re untouched by all this propaganda but are we really? Yes, this is definitely a cautionary tale. I wonder how many are listening.

“Los mejores libros son los que te cuentan lo que ya sabías.”
Este pensamiento de Winston Smith, el personaje principal de 1984 nos hace reflexionar, promediando el libro, que nada de lo que George Orwell nos cuenta en esta tremenda distopia es desconocida por nosotros.
A lo largo de la historia, la Humanidad ha pasado por todo tipo de calamidades de naturaleza política que impactan destructivamente en lo social y lo humano: guerras, dictaduras, nazismo, racismo, holocausto, totalitarismos, stalinismo, comunismo, censura, persecución, torturas y muerte. ¿Cuántas palabras duras, no? Pero es parte de lo que ha sucedido desde que este planeta conoció esa era que se llamó “Civilización”.
De la "Barbarie", se encargaron los hombres.
Vayamos primero a revisionar la definición de lo que significa “Distopía”: término opuesto a utopía. Como tal, designa un tipo de mundo imaginario, recreado en la literatura o el cine, que se considera indeseable. La palabra distopía se forma con las raíces griegas δυσ (dys), que significa ‘malo’, y τόπος (tópos), que puede traducirse como ‘lugar’.
La sociedad distópica de 1984 ideada por Orwell funciona dándole completo sentido al término, pero llevando la realidad que viven los ciudadanos a un extremo demasiado duro. El Gran Hermano controla todo en pos de un "bienestar" del pueblo que regentea con mano firme, dándo rienda suelta a todo tipo de las atrocidades conocidas dentro de un totalitarismo férreo. El sólo hecho de leer las presiones que la Policía del Pensamiento ejerce sobre la gente nos remite a la poderosa Gestapo nazi que luego de asumir Hitler se encargó de asesinar y devastar topa oposición al Führer en forma sistemática.
Orwell toma lo peor de los totalitarismos, del comunismo y las dictaduras más crueles para transformar a Oceanía en un infierno de cemento. Los Partidos Exterior e Interior le alcanzan al Gran Hermano para llevar a cabo ese control sin piedad basándose en la mentira y el castigo despiadado a los disidentes o rebeldes con utilización de torturas clandestinas a través de la Policía del Pensamiento o la utilización propagandística de los "Dos Minutos de Odio" para afianzar el lavado de cerebro de la gente mediante la proyección de películas clandestinas del odiado Goldstein (¿inspirado en Trotski?), el lider de la resistencia subversiva.
Orwell quien siempre estuvo en contra de todo totalitarismo (llegó a formar parte de la lucha en la Guerra Civil española, sobre la que escribió un libro) utiliza en forma inversa esa oposición para volcarla de lleno en la atmósfera pesimista de 1984 y lo logra con creces.
Winston Smith tiene para mí, cierta conexión (aunque un tanto lejana) con Guy Montag, de la novela Fahrenheit 451 de Ray Bradbury con la diferencia de que ambos mundos distopicos, si bien, sombríos, son diferentes. De hecho, la sociedad de Fahrenheit es más bien naiff y eso se percibe en el personaje de Clarice.
Aquí la situación es otra. Los ciudadanos de 1984 no están adormecidos con pantallas gigantes como en la otra novela, sino más bien forzados a ser simplemente engranajes de una gran maquinaria que los usa y los descarta (porque tarde o temprano serán "vaporizados" sin la menor contemplación) bajo un halo opresivo de violencia, que es observado por los megaposters con los ojos y los negros bigotes del Gran Hermano.
Winston comienza a querer revelarse contra el sistema a partir de cosas mínimas, como escribir un simple diario en el que vuelca sus pensamientos (porque "no pueden controlar lo que está dentro de tu cabeza", dice en un momento) de la misma manera que Montag es seducido por leer esos libros prohibidos que quema.
Pero Winston sabe que el resultado puede ser devastador. Aún así, se apoya en Julia, quien tiene pensamientos similares y de esta forma comienzan a pasar cosas que cambiarán radicalmente su vida. Su acercamiento a ese grueso y prohibido libro que le acerca O'Brien y relacionado a Goldstein, al enemigo número uno del Partido, será en cierto modo un viaje de ida para él. Pero no irá solo. Está Julia, esta chica de abundante cabellera morena y mucho más joven que él que es un soplo de aire fresco entre tanta podredumbre gris.
"Si queda alguna esperanza, está en lo proles", escribe Winston. Su equivocado anhelo recae en una clase marginada, sucia, olvidada y sin ningún tipo de reacción. Esos son los proles. Seres toscos, vacíos, espectrales. Una sub raza que me recuerda a los Morlocks del libro "La Máquina del Tiempo", de H. G. Wells quienes se encuentran viviendo en las mismas condiciones precarias. A Winston les atrae su forma de vida, de todos modos. Esto lo llevará a vivir experiencias muy importantes pasando la mitad del libro. Su vida se desarrolla entre la lúgubre atmósfera del mundo en que vive, las calles mugrientas de los barrios proles y los recuerdos de su vida pasada, de cuando era niño, con las reminiscencias idas de su madre y su pequeña hermanita.
Pero nada escapa semejante vida opresiva, a tanto pesimismo, algo que se mantiene a lo largo del libro, con muy cortos períodos de "luz". Nada está fuera de la vista del Gran Hermano. O´Brien lo explica con crudo fundamento:
"Somos los sacerdotes del poder - dijo -. El poder es Dios. Pero ahora el poder es sólo una palabra en lo que a ti respecta. Y ya es hora de que tengas una idea de lo que el poder significa. Primero debes darte cuenta de que el poder es colectivo. El Individuo sólo detenta poder en tanto deja de ser un individuo. Ya conoces la consigna del Partido: «La libertad es la esclavitud». ¿Se te ha ocurrido pensar que esta frase es reversible? Sí, la esclavitud es la libertad. El ser humano es derrotado siempre que está solo, siempre que es libre. Ha de ser así porque todo ser humano está condenado a morir irremisiblemente y la muerte es el mayor de todos los fracasos; pero si el hombre logra someterse plenamente, si puede escapar de su propia identidad, si es capaz de fundirse con el Partido de modo que él es el Partido, entonces será todopoderoso e inmortal. Lo segundo de que tienes que darte cuenta es que el poder es poder sobre seres humanos. Sobre el cuerpo, pero especialmente sobre el espíritu. El poder sobre la materia..., la realidad externa, como tú la llamarías..., carece de importancia. Nuestro control sobre la materia es, desde luego, absoluto."
Con esto no quiero desmoralizar a quien quiera leer 1984, pero sí establecer qué mensaje quiso dejar Orwell con esta historia.
“Llevo siete años sin escribir una novela, aunque espero redactar una muy pronto. Seguro que será un fracaso, como todos los libros, pero veo con bastante claridad el libro que quiero escribir.”
Parece mentira la poca confianza que se tienen algunos escritores a veces. Él no sabía que había escrito una obra maestra.
En un momento O'Brien y Winston concuerdan en ese slogan del partido que dice que "El que controla el pasado controla el futuro y quien controla el presente controla el pasado." Para mí este libro es una enseñanza y una advertencia. Es tener memoria y no olvidar todo lo malo que la Humanidad ha tenido que soportar.
Es apreciar que el hombre no olvide nunca que posee una de las cosas más preciadas que le da la vida: la libertad.

Time for a reread and a review.

Federico has just posted an excellent review on this novel