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1984, 1984 Book Review, Art, Big Brother, Book Reviews, Books, Christian Blogs, Christian culture, Christian Living, Christianity, Culture, Dystopia, Film, George Orwell, Government
WAR IS PEACE.
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY.
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.
Those are the words that still haunt me after reading George Orwell’s 1984. In fact 1984 just might be the most haunting, frightening, horrific books I’ve ever read. It includes one of the most horrific torture and interrogation scenes I have ever read in a novel. It’s a relatively short book, yet it’s taken me forever to finish. It’s a daunting beast to get through. If you’re looking for a joyous uplifting novel, this is not the novel. If you suffer from depression right now I would wait before you read this book and if you’re not depressed be prepared to be depressed.
Despite those initial reactions you probably think I hated the book or would advise you not to read it…and you would be wrong. I loved this book for several odd reasons. I also think this is a book that everyone should read at least once in their life. It’s a prophetic social commentary on the future.
1984 was written by George Orwell and was published back in 1949. The world takes place in a dystopian style world. It’s a dark, gritty, soulless world. Imagine a nation with leaders that are so totalitarian that it would make even Hitler and Stalin blush.
The world of 1984 is a world controlled by a socialistic/communistic party called INGSOC. It’s a place where Individualism is a crime. Every existence of your being is monitored, analyzed and controlled: Working, eating, drinking, talking, sleeping, children, procreating and thinking all are controlled by the state party; if you show any sign of disobedience it can be detected by the Thought Police through the telescreen (T.V.). Even children are taught and controlled by the government to report their parents to the authorities if they feel like a thought crime has occurred.
When it comes to history, the past is rewritten, controlled and turned into something that will strengthen the people’s love for the government. As the line goes in the book, “Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present, controls the past.” There is no real “truth”. The truth is what the state government says it is. “Black is white, 2+2=5, if the state says so.”
The world is divided into three governments:
Oceania: British Isles, the Americas, Pacific, Australia
Eurasia: Europe & Russia
Eastasia: The rest of the world
One of the main mind programs of the government is what they called “double think”, “the act of simultaneously accepting two mutually contradictory beliefs as correct, often in distinct social contexts.”
War is Peace:
There is unending war between the governments. The people are made to believe each government holds opposing values and ideologies but they do not. Big oppressive governments and constant war is required to keep society in order and peace.
Freedom is Slavery:
Simply the only way to be free is by letting go of your individuality, to become just like everyone else in society, to become nothing more than a cog in the machine of the government.
Ignorance is Strength:
If society is ignorant enough to believe anything the government says, then the Government now has the power to manipulate the ignorant. The reason why Big Brother was able to destroy the past and create it’s own was only because people were ignorant enough to believe him and couldn’t think for themselves.
In the book we follow Winston Smith, Winston is a low ranking member of the Government Party in Oceania (London). Everywhere Winston goes the government watches him in his own home through telescreens (TVs). Everywhere he goes he sees the face of the Party’s leader called “Big Brother.” During the time of the novel the Party is creating a new language called “Newspeak”, this is created to prevent political rebellion by wiping out all words related to the thought of rebellion. This is called “Thought Crime” and is punishable by death.
As the novel continues, Winston becomes frustrated and discouraged by the oppression of not being allowed to have free thought or any expression of individuality. Winston commits “Thought Crime” by illegally purchasing a diary so that he can write his true thoughts concerning Big Brother. Winston works in the “Ministry of Truth”, there he alters historical records to fit the needs of the Party. Later Winston receives a note from Julia his coworker. The note reads, “I love you.” Throughout the rest of the book they begin secretly and covertly meeting in rebellion outside of the Party’s monitoring.
Sounds depressing does it? Well that’s the point. George Orwell’s 1984 is a warning for everyone. It’s as if the book was written today as essay on the direction of society but it was written in 1949. It’s gut wrenching to read this book and then turn on the news and see a media that is controlled by a state; a state that tells us how to feel and what to care about. We see our privacy and our rights being stripped away with numerous scandals like IRS and NSA. The government can spy on our every move through smart phones and laptops.
1984 also explores the aspects of human nature. Such as Individuality and thought. It’s obvious that God is non-existent in the book and the results visible. God, Faith, individuality, free thought, history and truth have been driven from the world. The world has become a bleak, flat, atheistic world where everyone thinks and does the same thing for the love of “Big Brother”. It is visibly a world opposed to Christianity.
Francis Schaeffer, a Christian theologian has this to say about a humanist world absent of God.
“Humanism, with its lack of any final base for values or law, always leads to chaos. It then naturally leads to some form of authoritarianism to control the chaos. Having produced the sickness, humanism gives more of the same kind of medicine for a cure. With its mistaken concept of final reality, it has no intrinsic reason to be interested in the individual, the human being. Its natural interest is the two collectives: the state and society. – Francis Schaeffer, (The Abolition of Truth and Morality)
When I finished George Orwell’s 1984 a question haunted my mind; If I had gone through all Winston had gone through would I still cling to the truth, or would I have given into Big Brother and have the truth fade from my mind like a mist…Would I let the lie become truth (Doublethink)? It’s a question we must all ask ourselves as our society grows hostile to Christ. At the end of all things will we still serve God when nobody else does?
“Everything faded into mist. The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth.” – George Orwell, 1984
– JL