Book Review: 1984: Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

Contains spoilers

I kept wondering if I should write this review or not. This book is analyzed to the bone. But the book didn’t leave me alone. I kept playing back to the time when I first read it and comparing what I think about it now. There is this disjoint between the past and present, more so because I realized that this type of dystopia has been revisited so many times and better after Orwell that this reading experience couldn’t compare to the first time’s aha-revelation. 1984 is not a great book story-wise, especially compared to the newer, flashier repeats of the story. But nothing can compare to it as it is more of a warning, an argument, a thought experience that Orwell set free on the world to be read and repeat. Orwell had always been interested in dystopias and was strongly influenced by his Russian counterparts when writing 1984, but I kept thinking with the last scenes how much Orwell’s time serving Her Majesty in India played a role. He fought the war of the elites, pictured in his book. At that time, the British Empire had already drawn its last breath decades ago; before that, its navy had dominated the world, waging its forever war. Now, we can draw parallels to the fall of the British Empire with the USA and its wars around the globe and wonder if their time is coming to an end. Maybe Orwell was wrong that all the Winstons will always succumb, and there is no winning the system. All we can only hope for is that the elite will run their course with their cyclical pursuit of power, and something new will rise after they have destroyed the cohesion of a nation/community, rendering people mindless, numb, and distraught. “So it goes,” to quote Vonnegut.

So what Orwell shows us is that there has always been an elite who does everything to stay in power, a middle class that tones the line in pursuit of becoming elite, and proletarians who are there to work themselves to their deaths, dreaming about a lottery to escape the hell created for them. But we cannot escape the system; the elite enforces it with TV shows, organizing our free time, and by erasing/altering the past. What makes the book revolutionary at its time is how Orwell makes the elite survey you through the telescreen. However, the parallel was always there; when the TV came, it was argued that it made the watcher passive and corrupted their mind. So it was no wonder Orwell used the contraption, which had taken over homes on a massive scale. Now, we all “know” that our phones are listening, our data is sold to companies, and we freely give it away through social platforms. So, instead of isolation, as was the case with 1984, they got us because by the need to connect. Of course, so, if you think there is an elite conspiracy out there to get us. Nevertheless, 1984 exists to make us think and consider if there is such a thing or not.

The story is bleak; there’s no escape. Winston shows that to us. He shows how weak we are and that they always get us. What I couldn’t get out of my head was how Winston repeated over and over again that proletarians would set us free. Why? Why would Orwell give us this line? He made the proletarians dumb, only interested in triviality: pubs, lottery, coarse TV shows, and the elite fed all that to them to keep them passive. Still, Orwell didn’t say that the middle class, with their taste, would set us free. No. He made them fearful, timid, and willing to betray each other to save themselves. But Orwell never gave a good reason why Winston would think so. All he did show was that the proletarians already lived a separate life from the system as far as the extent to which they were monitored. Still, they were trapped as much as the next fellow. Maybe Orwell was trying to give hope even when he didn’t believe himself there to be one. Or am I missing something between the lines? Whatever it is, I can’t figure it out. He doesn’t propose unity or revolution. He leaves us with rats, terror, and Big Brother’s victory.

Thank you for reading the review! I have a wonderful weekend ❤