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=**1984**=

15/9/10 1984 Review

1984 is a novel written by George Orwell in 1948. It was written as a prediction of what would happen to our society by 1984. It is the story of Winston Smith, a 39-year-old man who rebels against the government of his country and its totalitarian rule. It is a story of rebellion, love, hate, and hope. Winston Smith is your average human being. He wakes up, goes to work, comes home, goes to sleep. But now he is turning against the Party, the government of his country, Oceania, and its leader, a mysterious being known only as Big Brother. But in this society, every move he makes is being watched by two-way screens known as ‘telescreens’. Every step he makes, every word he says is transmitted to the Thought Police, a security force tasked with one objective: hunting down those who oppose the Party and bringing them to the Ministry of Love. But the Ministry isn’t what it sounds. In Oceania, the four ministries – the Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Love, the Ministry of Peace, and the Ministry of Plenty – are tasked with the exact opposite of what they are named. Each one is assigned to create lies, torture, war and poverty respectively. Winston purchases a diary, and chooses to write in it. By doing this, he is committing thoughtcrime, the act that alerts the attention of the Thought Police. He writes events of his past and his feelings toward the Party, among other things. Soon after, Winston falls in love with a Party member named Julia. Together they choose to secretly fight against the Party and its beliefs. They spend a lot of time together, before choosing to contact O’Brien, an Inner Party member whom they believe to be an ally, a member of a rebel group known as the Brotherhood. Winston is given a book that holds every possible detail about Oceania, the wars they are having, and about the Party. However they are soon captured by the Thought Police, and it is discovered that O’Brien tricked them. Winston is taken to the Ministry of Love, and learns firsthand how horrible this Ministry is. What he finds out is that the true horror of the Ministry of Love lies within a room known only as Room 101. His first experience in the room is the first step of breaking him. He is repeatedly given electric shocks when he repeatedly answers incorrectly to O’Brien’s question: “How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?”. Although O’Brien is only holding up four fingers, Winston is forced to believe that he is holding up five, because the Party says so. Through this process, repeated with other questions, Winston is nearly driven out of his mind, and slowly his mind turns toward the Party and his ideals. However, two things stand between him and his ‘cure’. Those are his love for Julia, and his hatred for Big Brother. After what seems like weeks, possibly months, Winston seems to have returned to his former self in terms of physical appearance after the torture in Room 101. However, he makes the mistake of uttering the words that will put him back: “ Julia! Julia! Julia, my love! Julia!” With that mistake, Winston returns to Room 101. O’Brien takes advantage of Winston’s one true weakness, the one thing that is stronger than his love of Julia: his fear of rats. With a cage full of rats attached to his face with the cage door about to be opened, Winston does the only thing that can save him. He betrays Julia by shouting “Do it to Julia! Do it to Julia! Not me! Julia! I don’t care what you do to her. Tear her face off, strip her to the bones. Not me! Julia! Not me!” With his love for Julia gone, the path is clear for the Party to do one last thing to ‘cure’ Winston: instil within him the love for Big Brother. An unknown length of time after this event, Winston is released from the Ministry of Love. Once again his appearance has changed, this time for the worse. He lives his life in more solitude than before. Other than doing his job, Winston does nothing except sit down in the small pub known as the Chestnut Tree and solve Chess problems and watch the telesceens. He awaits news on the battle between Oceania and Eurasia in Africa, worrying about the result. His mind can no longer focus on any one thing for any longer than a few minutes. His mind is cleansed so as to never again commit thoughtcrime. At fifteen-thirty, the announcement is made. Oceania have won the battle through a flank attack. Winston is as joyful as ever of his country’s victory. But this is not the only victory that Oceania has obtained. There is one other victory, one other success. They have cured Winston Smith. Winston Smith loves Big Brother.

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