Modern Classics: Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nineteen Eighty-Four is a novel by George Orwell published in 1949. Like in Brave New World, we are confronted with a dystopic future. And like any dystopias, it is very much a product of its age: throughout the texts there are references the Nazi Germany and Communist China.

The setting of the novel is Oceania which is one of the three world powers - the others being Eurasia and Eastasia. Oceania is controlled by The Party whose leader Big Brother is worshipped. Oceanic society is a very rigid class-bound society where members of the Outer Party are controlled by those on the Inner Party and where citizens are systematically spied on to ensure to digression or unorthodoxy. History is permanently rewriting and generation after generation all knowledge of the past is being lost. The official language is Newspeak (a language designed to control its speakers) but English or Oldspeak is still the lingua franca. The country is permanently in war with either one of the other two world powers.

Winston Smith, the protagonist, is a rebellious man who falls in love with Julia and together they conspire for the end of The Party. Winston believes in a rebellion of the Proles who amount to 85 % of the population. However, both Winston and Julia are set up by Inner Party member O'Brien.

After their arrest they are subjected to tortures and interrogations. Any resistance is futile as the Inner Party has been spying on Winston for years and knows of all his crimes. Finally, he is taken to Room 101. In Room 101 each individual is confronted with his biggest fear. In Winston's case: rats. When at the room he shouts out that he'd rather they torture Julia instead of him, O'Brien returns Winston to his cell.

Once Winston is realised, he meets Julia who confesses she has been subjected to the same tortures and that she had also reacted in the same way. The novel ends with the sad realisation that the Party has successeded in controlling Winston's mind: he loves Big Brother.

Thanks to Orwell's wonderfully plain prose style and references to history and politics make this novel almost read like an essay. An very good essay on the politics of power. A must read.

Other books I have read by this author: Animal Farm.