Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nineteen Eighty Four

Introduction

One of the most famous and politically significant book of our time, 1984 was written by George Orwell in 1948, and is a dystopian novel about the power of surveillance. The term “Big Brother” was introduced in this book, in order to associate the power of leadership gone wrong and has since stuck through the times. In this paper, I will be analyzing the profoundly touching and sensitive topic of 1984 and will attempt to analyze the similarities it has with the current society we live in. I believe that George Orwell has made a bold and distinctive statement through his book that applies even to present-day society, and in this paper, I will be examining the different states explained in the book that are in accordance with how we live our lives today.

Discussion

The protagonist in 1984, a Winston Smith, claims to be an intellectual who is clearly tortured and suppressed. Winston Smith is a government employee who works deep in the Ministry of Truth. The totalitarian government has different departments to sell lies to their population and throughout the book; the leadership is a solid theme that is utilized in every part of the book. The book written by Orwell as a warning to the people of the time about the amount of control governments seemed to be practicing over their population. It was seen as a somewhat subversive book and considered politically controversial, thus was banned in several school libraries as well as state libraries in a lot of countries. It can well be named among the list of books considered so controversial they had to be banned. This list includes Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. However, as time went on it slowly became something of a legend and now it has become necessary reading in some schools, while a large part of the literate world sets much score by this book in terms of dystopian novels. It has seen many copies, movie tributes, TV shows and so on. George Orwell did not intend the book to be a prediction of the future, the book was a complete work of fiction but it is a testament to his observation that his plot is slowly unfurling in real life.

Although originally a satire on the politicians and governments of the 1950's, the author more or less had the right idea concerning surveillance methods and the concept of “big brother”. The idea seems to have taken off splendidly although it cannot be said whether this is good or not. Of course, in our world, where surveillance has helped solve many a crime and has been used as a tool for justice, the case can be made that it isn't a bad idea. But the invasion of privacy is the alternative case that may be made. No one is allowed to live freely as every aspect of their lives is being monitored. With security threats hitting us left, right and ...