Winston Smith forma parte del partido único que gobierna Londres. Es un miembro de base, insignificante, que trabaja en el Ministerio de la Verdad, dedicado a alterar los datos históricos en beneficio del partido. Todos sus movimientos son monitorizados por telepantallas, controlados por un ojo que todo lo ve. El omnisciente líder del partido, el Gran Hermano, es ya todopoderoso, y su poder se extiende ya a las mentes de sus súbditos, mediante la creación de la neolengua y la persecución del crimental, es decir, de los pensamientos críticos, considerados ilegales. Ahogada su humanidad hasta el extremo, frustrado por la falta de libertad física y mental, Smith compra ilegalmente un diario y comienza a dar curso a su rebeldía... Con 1984 Orwell plasmó la distopía más célebre de todas cuantas se han escrito. Su retrato de un futuro en que el totalitarismo alcance tales extremos que impida a los ciudadanos …
Winston Smith forma parte del partido único que gobierna Londres. Es un miembro de base, insignificante, que trabaja en el Ministerio de la Verdad, dedicado a alterar los datos históricos en beneficio del partido. Todos sus movimientos son monitorizados por telepantallas, controlados por un ojo que todo lo ve. El omnisciente líder del partido, el Gran Hermano, es ya todopoderoso, y su poder se extiende ya a las mentes de sus súbditos, mediante la creación de la neolengua y la persecución del crimental, es decir, de los pensamientos críticos, considerados ilegales. Ahogada su humanidad hasta el extremo, frustrado por la falta de libertad física y mental, Smith compra ilegalmente un diario y comienza a dar curso a su rebeldía... Con 1984 Orwell plasmó la distopía más célebre de todas cuantas se han escrito. Su retrato de un futuro en que el totalitarismo alcance tales extremos que impida a los ciudadanos escapar de su control, escrito tras las experiencias de las dictaduras fascistas y comunistas, cobra nueva vigencia en un momento de la historia de la humanidad en que los populismos de todo signo estan en pleno auge y en que la tecnología y las sociedades en red han perfeccionado al máximo las posibilidades de control y de intervención en las vidas privadas.
Si bien Orwell al ser social demócrata tenía sus opiniones tanto acerca del comunismo y del fascismo, unas más fuertes que otras, retrata lo vivido y que se puede vivir bajo el totalitarismo ya que este se puede dar en diferentes contextos y en diferentes gobiernos, llevando a tomar consciencia de que la realidad obtenida bajo el liberalismo se puede quebrar al darle paso a discursos totalitarios sin analizar antes lo que con lleva en sí
To be honest, I did not really believe that Nineteen Eighty-Four would be any different from the other two of the dystopian triad: Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451. While I was proved right, this work by George Orwell turned out to be the most terrifying of the three. In 1984, the world is a surveillance state where everyone is constantly monitored by telescreens. Any deviant behavior will lead to re-education, hard labor, torture or even death. The protagonist Winston Smith works at the Ministry of Truth, where he (ironically) alters past news articles to match the present reality. Everything from books, to communication to thoughts have to toe the Party line. Everyone is beholden to the ultimate Party leader, the Big Brother, whose face is plastered everywhere, but whom no one has seen. The Party pummels the citizens …
To be honest, I did not really believe that Nineteen Eighty-Four would be any different from the other two of the dystopian triad: Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451. While I was proved right, this work by George Orwell turned out to be the most terrifying of the three. In 1984, the world is a surveillance state where everyone is constantly monitored by telescreens. Any deviant behavior will lead to re-education, hard labor, torture or even death. The protagonist Winston Smith works at the Ministry of Truth, where he (ironically) alters past news articles to match the present reality. Everything from books, to communication to thoughts have to toe the Party line. Everyone is beholden to the ultimate Party leader, the Big Brother, whose face is plastered everywhere, but whom no one has seen. The Party pummels the citizens with 24/7 propaganda, with hate speeches about counter-revolutionaries, faked successes of the Party and Big Brother.
Winston constantly wonders if he is the only one who can see how fake the entire setup is. He cannot talk or write about this due to the constant surveillance by Spies and the Thought Police. After a lifetime of this hell, he finally finds a like-minded companion in Julia. And they seem to have discovered some counter-revolutionaries who plan to overthrow the Party too. But the world is not what it seems as they are about to find out.
1984 has three clear acts. The first part sets up the surveillance state. Written in 1949, this futuristic imagination of the state by Orwell is easily the best and most memorable part of the book. The details of life, language, work, family and love in this state are meticulously described and it is quite believable. You will walk away with an entire dystopian jargon that Orwell has created for this world: words like doublethink, thoughtcrime and NewsSpeak. I would not be surprised if this book was and is still banned in many countries, like China, Russia and North Korea. The second act of the book is quite weak, with a fairytale romance and long chapters from the counter-revolutionary book. But the entry to the third act is a total shocker, it blew my mind. The climax is pure horror and insanity. The ending is meh, but then there is no way Orwell could have satisfactorily beaten his fantastic premise anyway. Nitpicks aside, 1984 is a brilliantly imagined vision and a sucker punch of a book.
Subjects
nationalism
futurology
censorship
surveillance
lexicography
rebels
sting operations
historical negationism
memory holes
thoughtcrime
Outer Party
resistance movements
Newspeak
perpetual war
telescreens
cult of personality
Ingsoc
Satirical literature
English science fiction
LANGUAGE & LITERARY STUDIES
FICTION CLASSICS
CLASSICS
CONTEMPORARY FICTION
Man-woman relationships
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Political fiction
Totalitarisme
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Romans
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English Manuscripts
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Translations into Russian
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Translations into Urdu
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Totalitarianism
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Nineteen eighty-four (Orwell, George)
Reading Level-Grade 11
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