1984

i think it's an important book to read, not an enjoyable one.

Actually extremely relatable to today’s society but I won’t be picking it up again because I’ve had enough of Winston’s mind. 🙃

Probably one of the most impactful dystopian novel I've read

I surprisingly am satisfied with how this book ended! it felt well rounded with lots of backstory to explain what’s going on. i dreaded reading the long ass chapter of “the book” but it’s definitely worth it to understand someone in the story. overall i can see why this is a classic piece of literature.

To put it shortly, it lives up to its expectation. It has 3 acts, The final act being just phenomenal. If

there is one thing i can say about this book, then it is one of few stories in all medium (movies, tv series, anime, manga, comics, books, web novels) which has changed the I think.

Two sinners can't atone from a lone prayer

Souls tied, intertwined by our pride and guilt

There's darkness in the distance

From the way that I've been livin'

But I know I can't resist it

Oh, I love it and I hate it at the same time

You and I drink the poison from the same vine

Oh, I love it and I hate it at the same time

Hidin' all of our sins from the daylight

— David Kushner, “Daylight”, in a stanza reminiscent of both doublethink and the love affair between temptation and faith

There are many disparate elements to “1984” that make a terrifying whole, one that has cemented Orwell as a prescient thinker and has, at least for the time being, kept his name from being memoryholed. (How long that will last, who knows—few are reviled more than prophets) From the brilliant invention of newspeak in a horror-inducing inversion of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis to the omnipresent telescreens and the rewriting of history from the Ministry of Truth, the future seems bleak indeed. Reflecting on all of these threads, I had a hard time putting my finger on the connecting pattern, until I thought about the actual plot and not the political messaging. At its heart, “1984” is a love story, between Winston who loves truth for its own sake and Julia who loves pleasure for its own sake (incidentally, ‘Julia’ does have an etymological root that means ‘youthful', but also to 'Jove,' which is associated with 'dyeus' or 'daylight'). The central rebellion here is the union of Truth and Joy; the Party’s victory is over both.

The strongest parts of the novel are those that emphasize deontology. There is an objective reality outside of our minds; the Party may seem to win, they may even convince US they have won, but eventually they will fall apart, even if we do not live to see it. There is Good in and of itself, and that is why we get an extended passage of a thrush when Winston and Julia first meet as lovers:

A thrush had alighted on a bough not five meters away, almost at the level of their faces. Perhaps it had not seen them. It was in the sun, they in the shade. It spread out its wings, fitted them carefully into place again, ducked its head for a moment, as though making a sort of obeisance to the sun, and then began to pour forth a torrent of song. In the afternoon hush the volume of sound was startling. Winston and Julia clung together, fascinated. The music went on and on, minute after minute, with astonishing variations, never once repeating itself, almost as though the bird were deliberately showing off its virtuosity. Sometimes it stopped for a few seconds, spread out and resettled its wings, then swelled its speckled breast and again burst into song. Winston watched it with a sort of vague reverence. For whom, for what, was that bird singing? No mate, no rival was watching it. What made it sit at the edge of the lonely wood and pour its music into nothingness?

Freedom to enjoy beauty, freedom to be, freedom to pursue truth—this is what mankind will always seek.

And yet the rebellion is doomed. It was doomed from the start, not only because of Big Brother, but because of the lovers themselves:

“I hate purity, I hate goodness! I don’t want any virtue to exist anywhere. I want everyone to be corrupt to the bones.”

“Well then, I ought to suit you, dear. I’m corrupt to the bones.”

“You like doing this? I don’t mean simply me; I mean the thing in itself?”

“I adore it.”

Pleasure lasts but moments. Rebellion should have something it loves, more than something it hates. The Party and Big Brother cannot be defeated by embodying its negative; that already concedes the version of reality they demand. (That is not getting into the weird Freudian sexual politics in this book)

Moments of clarity hit the characters: Winston’s deontological admiration for the futile nobility of certain Proles; Julia’s decision that, actually, she DOES love Winston more than she cares for rebellion itself (see what she tells O’Brien when they join the Brotherhood); the chilling ending that reinforces relativism inevitably ends in solipsism and oppression. Throw away deontological reality and what is left is clay for one’s shaping—the Party imagines a world without ‘beauty’ or ‘ugliness,’ and it will get one, because those are deontological categories that have no meaning in the relative.

Could I say more on how AI eerily resembles the fiction-writing machines? How soft censorship of published works, smoothing over problematic aspects, has been happening for years? How politics driven by hate rather than love is the state of public discourse seemingly all around the world? Of course. All of those things are in this book and make it worth reading. But there is no need to expound on specifics. Orwell, as a secular socialist, reckons in this book with a frightening future that he recognizes becomes all the more possible because of ideals beginning to sketch themselves out in his day. His conclusion is bleak, and frankly inevitable--IF he was right about everything.

Orwell said of C.S. Lewis’ underrated dystopian novel “That Hideous Strength” the following: “When one is told that God and the Devil are in conflict one always knows which side is going to win. The whole drama of the struggle against evil lies in the fact that one does not have supernatural aid.” The same is true in “1984”, though I think Orwell did not recognize it. The Party separated Winston and Julia, and made him love (as much as any Party member can be said to love) Big Brother. But 2 and 2 still make 4; when deontology and relativism are in conflict, one always knows which side is going to win. Winston lost in the bright lamps of Room 101; he gave into human nature. But say something more than human gives a final meaning to all that is said and done--then, like the veil splitting, like the cry of “tear down this wall!”, the daylight enters Room 101, and Truth and Joy are married.

tl;dr: "1984" ends the way it does because Winston's rebellion reaches for, but ultimately falls short of, a metaphysical grounding; even if I disagree with the novel's bleak end, it unintentionally reveals the need mankind has for something More. Orwell meant to subvert "veritas vos liberabit." I believe he did not.

On a reread, I still enjoy this book but it has a lot of problems. First off there was way too much exposition. Specifically the beginning and a chapter towards the end which is all exposition. I feel like those parts could have been rewritten and cut down immensely.

Second, there are some ideas that sound like bs to me. Like most of the parties' motivations, this idea that you control every aspect of society is ludicrous. People are going to do things regardless if you try to control them or not. And the fact the whole world ends up being this way is impossible. All over the world people act differently, think differently, and view things differently. There is no way you could create this consensus in such a short amount of time or ever really. Think about all the disagreements in the world big and small. Now suddenly, for no reason, everyone is on the same page. I'm not buying it.

Also, the whole concept of destroying the past so that people have nothing to compare to the present is a nice idea in theory, but pointless in practice. You don't need something to compare things to in order to be dissatisfied with your situation. In fact, I would say the human condition mostly consists of being unsatisfied with things in life, that is why we all have desires. People will desire to better their situation even if they have it better than anyone else.

This brings me to the inner party, what is their motivation for obtaining and maintaining power? The reason given? Power itself. This is juvenile at best. If a group of people has the power they're going to want to live like kings not slightly better peasants.

I get this book is satire but some of it was shaking my suspension of disbelief. To believe that a government or country or anything for that matter will last forever is lunacy. Nothing lasts forever in this world, not a damn thing.

4.25

Even though this is of course still relevant and thought provoking I did not really enjoy it. Fascinating, but not my thing.

A great classic written by George Orwell.

Eventhough it was written in 8 decades ago in 1940's, its still relatable to the present day.

Author takes us to the unimaginable dystopian world where people are not even allowed to think different from the party's interest. All people are watched being watched and heard always. Even a slightest hint of facial expression or gesture which shows that you are thinking against the party or despise the party will be liable to more than mere death.

Everything in history was recreated and the past is regularly falsified to suit the party needs. No data existed to falsify the claims of party.Not even in minds of anyone. Even children were brought up with the blind lunacy of party's agenda. They were trained to report and denounce their parents for thought crime.

Anyone caught working against party were not merely punished. They were completely humiliated and punished to a level that they will forget who they were. They will break down one's idea of free will and freedom. They won't leave or kill heresy until they themselves accept that party is infallible and will always exist.

Can't even able to imagine a world like in Oceania. But can't deny the fact that this kind of dystopian future is not possible.

A thought provoking classics.