1984 (Brendon Beaver)

Title of Book: 1984
Author: George Orwell
# of Pages 312
Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

 Why This Book has Value:

 1984 by George Orwell is a thought-provoking book written with fear of the future. Published in 1949, Orwell wrote this book based on how he saw the world to be in 1984. It’s a cruel, ugly place filled with fear, control, and war. Winston Smith is the main character, and also a low ranking member of the government in London. Throughout the story, he rebels against the government by thought and else wise. The all controlling government watches over everything, and leaves no freedom for the citizens. He eventually finds a person he looks up to named O’Brien, who he thinks is part of a rebel group trying to overthrow the government called the Brotherhood. They meet up and and read the book of the Brotherhood. They are on the same side and hate the government. But sometimes things aren’t always as they seem.

Orwell puts the pieces together by having the setting in London, while the country is called Airstrip One, which is then apart of the super-country: Oceania. This place is always at war. It’s just the way it is there. As for inside the city, the buildings are close to ruins, and the people are extremely poor. Living conditions are terrible, and there is no privacy. Cameras and microphones are hidden all throughout the city and monitored by government officials. In basically every room, there are cameras, leaving the people on display at all times.

This book relates to real world issues all over the world, and even in the U.S. Today, the U.S. has been monitoring our calls, posts on the internet, as well as other ways. The NSA has revealed that they monitored 125 billion phone calls in just one month. The fourth amendment protects our security, however based on probable cause, the U.S. have overpowered the fourth amendment to some extent in order to be able to monitor communications. This is getting closer and closer to how the government monitored the people’s every doing with cameras and microphones.

One ingenious way the government in London was able to limit the actions of the people was by creating a new language. In order to keep total control over the people, they controlled history, clothing, haircuts, and many other factors. However, I think one of the best ways to stop a rebellion was creating the new language. It’s very difficult for someone to describe something going on if there aren’t any words to do so. This obstructs the rebellion process greatly, if it even ever gets to that point.

One main theme in the book is psychological control. The government has so much power over the citizens that they are even able to control their minds. There is no independence between people, so nobody is able to feel important. This puts a burden on people because they can’t feel loved or needed. They’re just kinda there. The government also controls the history books, so they are able to control the past. This way they can take out all rebellions of the past so that the people don’t even understand the concept of rebellion. The government controls everything, even the people’s mind.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in philosophy or government, as well as people interested in the future.