Nineteen Eighty-Four
From Conservapedia
Nineteen Eighty-Four[1] is a novel by George Orwell generally viewed as a critique of the Soviet Union, but may also be viewed as a criticism of any state where the government has too much control over its citizens; see totalitarianism.
It was originally to be titled The Last Man in Europe, but the title was changed at the publisher's suggestion. [2]
Orwell was influenced by Jack London's novel The Iron Heel, and Yevgeny Zamyatin's We.
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Plot Summary
Oceania is, roughly, the English-speaking world: the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia, and South Africa. It is perpetually at war with Eurasia or Eastasia and allied with the other. The book describes a dystopia where the government monitors and controls nearly all aspects of every individual's life.
The protagonist, Winston Smith, works in the Ministry of Truth, altering records to fit the Party's current version of history. However, Smith gradually grows to disagree with the Party and what it stands for. Eventually, he and his lover Julia are captured by the thought police and tortured to the point where they once again love the party.
Much of the novel is taken up with discussions of the nature of power and societal control, and words and mottos from the novel – "doublethink", "We have always been at war with Eastasia", "the memory hole" and many more – have become standard shorthand in political discussions, while terms such as "thought police", "Room 101" and "Big Brother" have entered the language.
Background of Novel
The environmental background to the action of the story is a satirical portrayal of late-1940s London, a city where war damage was still very evident, and rationing and shortages a way of life. The Ministry of Truth, as described by Orwell in the novel, is based upon the Senate House building of London University, at the time one of the tallest buildings in the capital, and home during the Second World War to the Ministry of Information.
Online version
Notes and references
- ↑ The title is spelled out, in words, in the original 1949 editions, both as published in England by Secker and Warburg[1] and in the United States by Harcourt, Brace[2]. It is sometimes presented numerically, in digits – 1984, in modern reprints and derivative works such as screenplays.
- ↑ It is often suggested that "eighty-four" is a reversal of "forty-eight", the year in which the book was written, but this has never been confirmed.
