1984 is about totalitarianism. A totalitarian state is trying to control every aspect of life. How
people spend their free time- even in private-people who they can associate
with, even the things you are allowed to say. A totalitarian government is
even trying to control our thoughts, what people believe.
George Orwell
wrote 1984 in the late 1940´s. What he knew about totalitarianism
was based on the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Those regimes were not fully
understood at that time. What George Orwell is trying to do with 1984 is to
give his readers a clear picture if a free country like England fell under a
totalitarian rule.
1984 takes
place in London- The capital in the book is a depressing place.
There is never enough to eat. The food
is disgusting. There are not enough clothes or anything to go around. The city
looks sad and gloomy except for a huge pyramid that rises about the landscape.
Mysteriously some rockets explode in the streets. The worst part is that the
government is always watching. There are posters of big brother- supposedly the
leader of the government. There are hidden cameras everywhere and you are not
allowed to turn your TV off ever. There
are a lot of things you are not allowed to do in the society, and if you do
them the police can take you away and throw you into a concentration camp. You
are not allowed to have close friends. You are not allowed to fall in love, to
date or have sex with the persons you like. You need to save all your energies
for the party- The party is of course the government.
Then there
are things you have to do: you have to watch the government programs on TV. You
have to attend political rallies. As a result of that it is
hard to have time to think for yourself, to have your own thoughts. The government is filing your head with
propaganda.
The main character of 1984 is Winston Smith. He´s 39 years old- He has a job in the
government and He lives a dreadful existence without friends or relatives. At
the beginning of the book he starts to write a journal to talk about how much
he hates life in the society, even though writing a diary is one of those
things he would be killed for doing it if he is caught. The diary is his place for thinking. It’s a place where he can be
different. He does not know if things were the same before because the
government has rewritten all the history books.
At the beginning of the novel there are some other
people- One of them is Julia, an
attractive woman who works in the same building as him. She is some sort of
mechanic. Winston basically hates her.
He hates her because Julia is pretty and he can´t have her. But he also thinks
she is the sort of person who would turn him to the police. So he is afraid of
her but he is also fascinated. The other person he is interested in is a guy
called O´Brien who is a member of the inner party. That means he is a
boss. Winston should be afraid of him
but he gets the sense that O´Brien is intelligent. He feels O´Brien would understand
the way he feels about society and life.
The book
takes a turn when one day Julia sends Winston a note that says I love you. The
message rocks Winston life. Of course he is interested. He
can´t wait to be in touch with her but it´s quite to say two words to each
other in private with all this cameras spying on them. Finally they manage to get out to the country
where they start a madly love affair.
They feel very happy. At last Winston has somebody to understand him.
But Winston needs to take an extra step. He is rebelling against the party
privately by having a love affair. Now he wants to go to the next level. He feels like being an active rebel against
the government. He gets his chance one
day when O´Brien invites him to his apartment. Winston feels O´Brien must be part of the rebellion. So he and Julia go to O´Brien house. There
they confess their rebellious attitude
to O´Brian. He admits to be a rebel too. After this, the police arrest Winston
and Julia. So we know that O´Brien was not
a rebel after all, he just wanted to catch Winston
In the
Ministry of love they torture Winston. They break
his bones and teeth. He is electrified.
They starve him on and on. Winston tells them everything they need to
know. He confesses to everything they ask him and he tells everything he knows
about Julia. After torturing him, O´Brien tells Winston what the government
really wants; to have total power over rebellious people. They want people like
Winston to say 2 plus 2 equal 5 and really believe it. Not just to avoid the
beatings. For the government is just an exercise of power.
They finally
break Winston completely in the room 101- the chamber of horrors- Then they
release Winton and Julia. The police don´t care about them anymore. The couple
is not longer a threat. The two of them meet outside but they can´t love each
other. They are broken people. Winston has changed to the point he does not
want to think for himself anymore. He
just sits listening to the news. The last words of the novel are: he loves big
brother. Does this sound familiar?
If you are looking for a guilty in the current
situation, you only need to look into a mirror.
Sergio Calle Llorens
