1984 Book Analysis: Spoilers.

What better way to start off a discussion of dystopias than with the ever-classic 1984?

The flap copy for my cheap edition gives a decent analysis:

“The world of 1984 is one in which eternal warfare is the price of bleak prosperity, in which the Party keeps itself in power by complete control over man’s actions and his thoughts.  As the lovers Winston Smith and Julia learn when they try to evade the Thought Police, and then join the underground opposition, the Party can smash the last impulse of love, the last flicker of individuality.”

One of the most iconic dystopias, 1984 depicts an imagined future as described above.

In the first part, Winston quietly rebels the demands of the party.  He buys a notebook and writes.  Orwell uses this first part of the novel to introduce his readers to the world Winston is acclimated to, and illustrates, through Winston’s doubts, fears, and hatred for the Party his inherent humanity.  He resists doublethink, and he despises that whoever controls the present controls the past, and whoever controls the past controls the future.  Orwell creates an atmosphere of fear and describes a cold, unavoidable and unalterable future.

Julia and Winston’s affair makes up a hefty chunk of the second part; here, Orwell incorporates one of the biggest human motivators – love – and suddenly we’re worried with Winston and Julia.  We need them to succeed against Big Brother.  Toward the end of this section, they join The Brotherhood and read Goldstein’s book, a scathing breakdown of the Party and its methods to stay in power, including perpetual warfare and a learned ignorance.

Julia and Winston are caught, and part three concerns itself with Winston’s torture by the Party.  He is tortured until his physical pain overcomes everything else – he “gives up” Julia and with her any ounce of resistance he had.  At the end, Winston comes to love Big Brother and the Party.  With this ending, Orwell’s warning against totalitarianism is foreboding; the Party will eliminate all human needs and desires – like love – to perpetuate its own power.

Written in 1949, Orwell’s tale predicts a near-future communist-totalitarian regime.  Orwell uses specific themes and details to envision a world under complete communist/totalitarian rule.  Important elements used by Orwell (and common to all dystopias) to illustrate the dangers of an all-powerful government include:

-       Propaganda -  Beyond all the posters, banners, and rallies, newspapers edit politicians’ speeches to make the leader always seem right; more than this, the perpetual stream of songs, announcements, and propaganda streaming from the telescreen can never be turned off.  Citizens are taught to fear their own family, and sex is seen as a requirement to keep the population going – otherwise, it is frowned upon.  Doublethink – the ability to believe a “fact” even with directly contradictory knowledge – is a must for all citizens. Just take the Party's slogans: War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; and Ignorance is Strength. Add in some made-up rebellion to keep the people on their toes and dedicate a 2-minute hate frenzy to keep it fresh in their mind, and this all amounts to a level of propoganda completely overwhelming. 

-       Fear – While you can’t escape the noise of the telescreen, you also can’t escape its ‘view,’ and you never know when the Thought Police are watching.  Even if you say something slightly off in your sleep, they’ll know, and once they know, you’re done for – you’ll either be tortured or killed.  All of the posters with Big Brother watching should remind you, as well as the secret microphones hidden around the city.  And the Thought Police will train your kids to report on you – so you can’t even trust your own family.

-       War – Because the nation is in a perpetual state of war, citizens are united under the false pretense of a foreign enemy and never question their government.  Their rabid patriotism allows them to accept whatever the Party is telling them, and their hatred for foreign enemies and rebels like the Brotherhood blinds them to all.  War for the citizens is peace for the Party, comfortably in power.  

-       Ignorance – The Party controls all information.  It re-writes books, newspapers, and even songs daily.  As the quote goes, who controls the present controls the past; who controls the past controls the future.  Along with the fact that citizens are completely ignorant concerning their own Party, of course they are completely uninformed as to the citizens of other countries – citizens who are in as bad of a situation as they are – and fear foreign takeover.  As if they could lose any rights.  Even their language – Newspeak – eliminates multiple words a year so citizens don’t even have a way to think about rebellion.  The less the people know about how horrible their own conditions are, the less the chance they'll rebel against the Party.  

And because this book ends with Winston having the spirit stamped out of him through torture, we readers are left with Orwell’s warning of what could possibly happen.  Our only hope lies in the robust, lively prole woman, hanging her laundry…