Grorge Orwell's 1984
Published in 1948 and set thirty-six years in the future, 1984 is George Orwell's dark vision of the future. Written while Orwell was dying and based on the work of the Russian author Yevgeny Zamyatin, it is a chilling depiction of how the power of the state could come to dominate the lives of individuals through cultural conditioning. Perhaps the most powerful science fiction novel of the twentieth century, this apocalyptic satire shows with grim conviction how Winston Smith's individual personality is wiped out and how he is recreated in the Party's image until he does not just obey but even loves Big Brother. Some critics have related Winston Smith's sufferings to those Orwell underwent at preparatory school, experiences he wrote about just before 1984. Orwell maintained that the book was written with the explicit intention "to alter other people's idea of the kind of society they should strive after."
Background
Nineteen Eighty-Four introduces the intercontinental nation of Oceania, one of the world's three superstates that is run by an oppressive totalitarian government. The setting of the story is specifically the island of Great Britain, which has been renamed Airstrip Onea place similar to early twentieth century England. Throughout urban areas are large two-way telescreens as well as posters of "Big Brother", the supposed leader of Oceania (although the man himself is never seen in the flesh), with captions reading "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU".
The populace of Oceania, belonging to three classesInner Party members, Outer Party members and members of a lower-class proletariat ("the Proles")is subordinate to ruthless government control. This is accomplished and regulated by a "Ministry of Truth" in which the protagonist, Winston Smith works as an Outer Party member. Smith spends his days constantly rewriting and altering history to satisfy the government (which includes destroying all evidence of how history has actually...
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