Hello loves! I decided to start a book club series here on the blog, to share good reads with you. I have to admit that years ago I could read in the evening way more than now, without falling asleep after ten pages, but I am slowly getting better at it!
I always found books from other epochs fascinating. Through the words of the writers and the eyes of the protagonists, it is possible to experience other times and other places. There are endless possibilities, and all reads are enriching for our knowledge and our fantasy.
1984 form George Orwell is one of those novels that we read in school, but I never really read the whole book, except for some salient points. So I decided to read this classic.
- Plot
The novel takes place in a dystopian future (precisely in 1984, while Orwell wrote the book in 1948), in which totalitarianism is the only form of government existing in Oceania. The political leadership is held by the “Big Brother”, a sovereign entity that nobody ever saw but that everyone fears. Big Brother controls everything in every moment of people lives, what they eat, do, say and even dream or think, and represses any kind of disobedience by disappearances that cancel the identity and the existence of people.
Events are presented through the eyes of Winston Smith, a member of the Outer Party, working at the Ministry of Truth, who secretly starts a subtle rebellion against the system to fight for justice and freedom, by keeping his thoughts in a diary. He knows that he is a “thoughtcriminal” and that he might be caught one day.
“Big Brother is watching you.”
- A contemporary classic
This book is considered George Orwell’s masterpiece, and the literary critics have suggested different levels of interpretations due to the complexity of the world created by Orwell and to the fact that the novel is very contemporary, although it was written more than 70 years ago.
In his dystopian reality, Orwell presents every feeling in its contradictory nature, deprived of any filter and lived to the extreme. Scenes are vividly described, almost to the point that the reader (so I!) is disturbed by the images created in his imagination. Winston meets Julia, another member of the Outer Party. He hates her, to the point of imagining to abuse her and beat her up, but he also loves her at the same time. But Winston is ambivalent in all the relationships he has, with Julia, with his mother, with the Party and the Big Brother itself, despising them on one side, and being attached with affection to them, on the other side. The whole book is based on the concept of “Doublethink”: people in Oceania are trained to accept and embrace the contradictions that they are forced to live in the regime (for example 2+2=5). The Party cancels their individuality and critical thinking via fear and propaganda, convincing them to believe that the Big Brother is supporting their interests.
“War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.”
Because of the political and sociological analysis that Orwell does of the society and of the human nature, the book is considered modern also nowadays. Mass media and internet are an endless source of information that if not used correctly, they can influence our beliefs. What is nowadays almost considered normal is Google listening to us through devices. This information, used to improve the user experience by filtering the feed according to our taste, has an impact on our thoughts, actions and purchases, and, to the extreme, could be used against us in an Orwellian world. In this world, like in ours, while Winston represents a free man, conscious of living a distorted reality dictated by the Big Brother, Julia is a subjugated mind, that never queries the Party.
To conclude, loves, 1984 was not the lightest and easiest read, but I definitely recommend it. It is food for thought, touching all topics like freedom, love, hate, politics and made me reflect and appreciate what we have today.
If you have any book suggestions, please leave a comment!
Wish you all a happy week!
