I'm a rebel from the waist down (Nineteen Eighty-four - George Orwell)

Member Name: strange_child

Product:	Nineteen Eighty-four - George Orwell
Date:	16/07/02 (594 review reads)
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As part of my English language course, we studied an extract of this book. However, being English Language and not English Literature we didn't get to read the whole book. From the extract, something about Newspeak, an artificial language created to limit freedom of thought, I thought that the book seemed interested, as well as being an influence for such strange concepts as Big Brother - a vacuous reality show 'enjoyed' by millions of people all around the world, and Room 101 - a kind of chat show with a twist.

The book is divided into three sections - the first is like an introduction to the world that Winston, the main character lives in. After a communist revolution, the world has been divided into three main 'countries' - Oceania is where Winston lives, and Eastasia and Eurasia, who are alternatively allies and enemies which changes every few years, but is denied. This is a world with strange concepts - the thoughtpolice - just like the police but instead of taking you away for a crime that you have not committed but a thought that is considered to be unorthodox. You can even get taken away for facecrime - having the wrong expression! Winston is not one of these sheep - he secretly hates 'the party', he wants to join a brotherhood fronted by Goldstein, the enemy of the party.

In the second part, Winston is slipped a piece of paper from a girl who seems so orthodox that he really hates, but instead of having anything to do with the thought police, it is an admission of her love for him. They start an affair, something absolutely forbidden by the party, and he realizes that she is as against the party as well. They indulge in all sorts of things that are forbidden - real bread, sugar, jam, make up, all above a little junk shop owned by a seemingly nice old man. Then they are summoned to see a member of the inner party, who tells them that they can join the brotherhood, and they make a pact to do anything for this gro
up.

I expected there to be a revolution, in which the party is conquered, but no. Winston and Julia, his girlfriend have been deceived by the thought police, and are taken away to the Ministry of Love, a place concerned with torture and extracting untrue confessions, and then either killing or 're-inventing' the victims - taking out all the unorthodox bits and pouring into them the values and beliefs of the party. I found this bit a bit shocking, because normally in books you get happy endings, but then happy endings are often unrealistic.

The story is written with a traditional 3rd person style, and it's eloquently written, which contrasts greatly with the principles of newspeak. I did think that it seemed quite old fashioned, as it was set in the 1980's, however George Orwell wrote this in the '40's, so how was he to know that some of his concepts would seem out dated to a modern audience?

This is a story that has influenced many of people, as I have mentioned before, but no only is it a story, but it's a warning to socialist would-be revolutionaries that the communist ideal may not work, and the outcome could be similar to the extreme capitalization of the Nazis. It uses examples of Nazism and the communist regime in China, which were recent at the time.

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