29/10/2023
George Orwell's 1984 protagonist Winston Smith lives in Oceania where everyone is under constant surveillance (the telescreens) and even the smallest twitch or ‘Bad Thought’ could alert the ‘Thought Police’ and you’d be evaporated (executed)
The ruling party is headed by ‘The Big Brother’ the irony here is that the party encourages people to be devoted to the party and not to one’s family (turning children against their parents, husbands against wives, friends against each other etc.) on the other hand the leader is called "Big Brother" signifying warm, familial ties.
They have 4 ministries namely Ministry of Peace dealing with stuff related to war, Ministry of love vested with the work of inciting hatred, Ministry of Plenty (economics) when people are starving. wild irony.
George Orwell displays such an orchestrated prediction of the future full of telescreens and memory holes. strangely prophetic and although it was published in 1949, it, for the most part, reads like a modern novel.
1984 is a tale of the past, the present and a warning for what the world could be like if we don't play our cards right.
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George Orwell's book, 1984, was published in 1949. Here's a scary excerpt. "Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right."
