Summary:
The book is set in a fictive future in the year 1984. The world is split into three totalitarian super-states: Oceania (North and South-America, Britain and Ireland, Australia and South-Africa), Eurasia (Europe and Russia) and Eastasia (China).These three super-states are constantly at war with each other, regularly forming different alliances. Each one of the super-states is too powerful and strong to be defeated by an alliance of the two other super-states and therefore it seems to be an endless war. Throughout the book, it becomes more and more clear that the war is an illusion, supported by the governments of the three states, because it is a way to keep their people brainwashed and under control. By the use of manipulated media and propaganda, the people of the super-states are convinced that there is a war going on and that they have to work hard, otherwise the war would be lost. Thus, the economy of the super-states is kept stable and the governments remain in power.
The story of the book takes place in London, Oceania. Oceania is controlled by a political organization called the "Party". The society of Oceania is split into different classes: The proletariat (also called "proles"), the Outer Party and the Inner Party. The proles, which make up the majority of the population, are the working class of the society. The proles are mostly uneducated and live in slums. The Outer Party makes up most of the members of the Party. The members of the Outer Party also mostly live in poverty, but unlike the proles, they are constantly brainwashed and monitored by so-called "telescreens" (devices used to keep everyone under surveillance) and the Thought Police. They have to work for the Party to keep the government of Oceania running. The third class of Oceania is the Inner Party, which consists of only a few people of the society. In contrast to the rest of the Party, the members of the Inner Party are powerful and privileged. At the