George Orwell had many true and sad things to say about American society. He managed to write the most unsettling book I have read in a long time. Reading this novel reminds me why I trust so few people. There are people like O'Brien who collect information about you and then use it against you later. He baited Julia and Winston into telling him the depth of their loyalty to one another. With this information he was able to see what he would have to break to completely destroy them. He knew that if he got them to betray one another that then they would love big brother. But what kind of love is it that is motivated by such fear?
1984 is highly predictive of where we are now. The veneration that big brother receives is created and on page 208 it explains why they use that cover. "His function is to act as a focusing point for love, fear, and reverence, emotions which are more easily felt toward an individual than toward an organization." This is the same pretense through which America votes. They vote for the person and not the party. It amazes me that a book written this many years ago can still have this level of relevance in modern day society.
The hardest part of this book to swallow was the many chapters of torture. I cannot imagine the level of heinous pain you have to reach in order to denounce all truth in favor of lies. The worst part about this was when he was describing the rats that were going to be released to eat Winston. There are not many people I would not sacrifice to avoid this. What is more strange is that once the party got Winston to betray Julia they let them both free. Their entire motivation was to obtain absolute control and power. They were not going to kill them, they just wanted to be in complete control. This is Orwell's warning. When you give up the control of your life to someone or something else, you cease to be conscious and one loses their humanity.
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14 years ago
I thought it was interesting that Orwell could write this in a time that was very different from today and still see somewhat what the world would be like. I thought it was very scary when Winston was being tortured. Not only did they get him to admit everything he did, they got him to admit things he did not do just so they would stop the pain, such as killing his wife, when O'Brien and the other party members knew that she was probably still alive and he had to harmed her at all. This book reminded me of one flew over the cuckoo's nest when the doctors try to use elctroshock therapy to make the people sane. O'Brien was causing pain for Winston in order to convince him that two plus two equals five and in the end he actually believed it.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is very interesting that Orwell was able to write a book in a very different time then it is today and have the book somewhat mirror some things that go on today. Also it is very distrubing how O'Brian was able to make Winston believe anything and how the party was able to control everyone with fear.
ReplyDeleteI like the points you have made. You definitely have some deep thoughts there. I like how you said although this book was took place over twenty years ago, it's still relevant today. That was something I didn't realize until I read your blog. I kept forgetting that this book took place to us, a long time ago. And I also agree with your opinions on the torture session at the end and the quote, "This is Orwell's warning. When you give up the control of your life to someone or something else, you cease to be conscious and one loses their humanity.", which I think is very true
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on how Orwell while he wrote 1984 long before the present it still relates to how our world is today. I really thought it was scarry in the torture portion when Winston was being tortured. I was surprised how O'Brien was able to tell and make Winston believe anything once he found his true weakness.
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