Book Review Part 1: 1984 George Orwell

Big Brother is one of my favorite competition shows where 16 houseguests move inside the big brother house and vote to evict a houseguest each week. After learning that Big Brother is based on the novel by George Orwell, I decided to pick up a copy of the book and read it for the first time. 

1984 by Geroge Orwell | Image by Overdrive

1984 is a novel written by George Orwell and it tells the story of Winston Smith who works for the government party of London, in the nation of Oceania. Everywhere Winston goes, the government party closely listens and monitors his every move through telescreens. Winston's hatred for the party grows because of the oppressive and manipulative control of the party which is achieved through the process of altering history and language (known as old speak), prohibiting free thoughts, rebellious thoughts, sex, and many more; Winston expressed his dislike for the party by writing down his criminal thoughts through an illegally purchased diary. It is known to everyone in Oceania that the leader of the party is led by a mysterious, omniscient, and powerful leader known as Big Brother; everywhere Winston looks he can see his face plastered on posters, coins, telescreens, everywhere. To prevent political rebellion, the party works on inventing and forcing people to use a new language called Newspeak — the purpose is to eliminate words and restrict the thoughts of the citizens of Oceania. As the novel progress, Winston has always been aware that there was a mysterious group called the Brotherhood to overthrow the party — we are then introduced to O'Brien who is a powerful party member whom Winston believes was a part of this group. 

For the most part, reading this novel left me speechless. The first half of the book was particularly slow to read, but I still thought it was fascinating learning about the character's environment and the world they lived in. The second half of the book, I must say, was truly captivating because it was more thrilling and suspenseful — especially when we were experiencing what it was like to be in the Ministry of Love. One of the things I liked about the book was that it touch on complex subject matters like censorship by controlling information and history and brainwashing citizens via psychological and physical manipulation, and our independence and identities. 

In the novel, one of the biggest themes is censorship. Censorship played a huge role in the Big Brother world in manipulating its citizens by revising history. History is altered by rewriting past news articles, books,, and other media in which the party members are not allowed to keep records of the documents and photographs; the purpose is to align and justify the party's actions and policies. Newspeak is another form of censorship which is a language invented by the party to limit people's thoughts, particularly rebellious thoughts, and understanding.   

Another major theme in the novel is the act of brainwashing. Brainwashing Oceanian citizens is achieved through physical and psychological torture, manipulation, and propaganda to alter people's perception of reality. For example, Winston was physically and mentally tortured in the Ministry of Love by O'Brien in order to brainwash him into obeying the party. We see this at the end of the novel, Winston finally writes 2+2 = 5.  

One thing I didn't like about the book was that certain parts of the book can be repetitive at times. During the part when Winston was required to read THE BOOK, I lost focus a couple of times since the information was rather repetitive when Winston reads THE BOOK to his love interest Julia. 

Overall, this book was really captivating because I felt like I was experiencing the fears, struggles, and challenges of being able to freely express myself in the world of Big Brother through Winston. Near the end of the novel, I deeply sympathize with Winston as his individuality has been destroyed, losing his independence and blending into society like a common Oceanian. There was also a moment of sadness as well when the party achieved what they wanted when Julia and Winston no longer felt the same for each other, which is love, and their love has been replaced with Big Brother.