1984 By George Orwell. Story Review
1984 By George Orwell
1984 is the story of Winston, a middle aged man living in London in a futuristic country known as Oceania . The story was projected from when it was written in 1948. Central to 1984 is "The Party", the head of Oceania who run everything and has everybody under constant surveillance through "telescreens". The Party censors everybody's behaviour, even their thoughts. Winston secretly hates The Party and the story introduces Winston carrying out his job at "The Ministry of Truth" destroying past evidence. After he and a fellow worker, Julia develop a secret love, he becomes to understand what it is like to be more of a "normal" person. He eventually falls into a trap laid by O'Brien, a member of the party and is tortured in a wide variety methods to alter his mind and force him to betray all his rebellious beliefs and his love for Julia. Once he is "cured" he is thrown back into society as a brain-dead, "Party Loving" citizen.
The main idea of Winston trying to rebel against authority really engaged me. Orwell's writing showed the frustration and anger felt by Winston as he disagreed about so many things that the party believed in, and was always trying to find out if life was better "before." I found it fascinating that Winston realised, even though he could not speak out or outwardly rebel against the system, he could actually retain his own state of mind, keep his head low and work around the system.
Another strong imagery in the novel, was how Orwell communicated a clear impression of Winston's colleagues as "Beetle like creatures" who worked in the Ministry of Truth. It painted a clear picture, of how these people kept to themselves, were insular, rarely worrying or considering anybody else. I can imagine that by the end of the novel after suffering under O'Brien's torture, Winston would have been just like these "beetle like creatures." The concept of these characters engaged me.
One of the key scenes that strongly appealed to me in
1984 is the story of Winston, a middle aged man living in London in a futuristic country known as Oceania . The story was projected from when it was written in 1948. Central to 1984 is "The Party", the head of Oceania who run everything and has everybody under constant surveillance through "telescreens". The Party censors everybody's behaviour, even their thoughts. Winston secretly hates The Party and the story introduces Winston carrying out his job at "The Ministry of Truth" destroying past evidence. After he and a fellow worker, Julia develop a secret love, he becomes to understand what it is like to be more of a "normal" person. He eventually falls into a trap laid by O'Brien, a member of the party and is tortured in a wide variety methods to alter his mind and force him to betray all his rebellious beliefs and his love for Julia. Once he is "cured" he is thrown back into society as a brain-dead, "Party Loving" citizen.
The main idea of Winston trying to rebel against authority really engaged me. Orwell's writing showed the frustration and anger felt by Winston as he disagreed about so many things that the party believed in, and was always trying to find out if life was better "before." I found it fascinating that Winston realised, even though he could not speak out or outwardly rebel against the system, he could actually retain his own state of mind, keep his head low and work around the system.
Another strong imagery in the novel, was how Orwell communicated a clear impression of Winston's colleagues as "Beetle like creatures" who worked in the Ministry of Truth. It painted a clear picture, of how these people kept to themselves, were insular, rarely worrying or considering anybody else. I can imagine that by the end of the novel after suffering under O'Brien's torture, Winston would have been just like these "beetle like creatures." The concept of these characters engaged me.
One of the key scenes that strongly appealed to me in