A review by nikolas_kolinski
1984 by George Orwell

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

  • 1984 - review

1984 may not be the best book ever written in terms of style and narrative, yet its powerful and ever-present themes certainly make it a masterpiece.

Orwell's style is capable of appearing analytical and rigorous, but also colourful and full of emotions at the same time, depending on what's necessary.
Moreover, the language in part I and many parts of part II is strictly logical and linear, while the parts where Winston and Julia fall in love
or the moment in which they believe they have really found a way to rebel against government (through the so-called "Brotherhood")
are full of positive emotions, hope and happiness. 
In the same way, part III of the book displays the horrible state of mind in which Winston is reduced (and then even enslaved, we may say) by the Party and presents a load of different emotions, hence contrasting Winston's attempt to  break free and his hopes with the tortures and the will of O'Brien and his other tormentors. 
The feeling is overall that of a slow and decadent decay, from freedom and happiness to sadness, humiliation, melancholy, suffering and, finally, blind obedience.

The author thus proves himself a master of writing, versatile and capable of telling different moments with different nuances. Furthermore, although act I and act II may seem boring at first, as soon as the reader finishes the book by travelling through
the challenging
act III  (
sharing all of Winston's hardships and struggles in the process
), the whole book takes on new meaning, and the early parts, even if they may have seemed bland in the start, seem now a necessary prologue to the perfectly
and tragically
constructed third act.

Orwell's psychological characterisation of his characters is superb, with Winston being the protagonist and the main point around which the plot revolves, while giving also importance to the role of other characters, but always through Winston's eyes.
It is no surprise then, that many of the characters appear and behave differently than they really are:
- O'Brien
more than any other, initially considered a friend and a saviour, eventually turns out to be one of the worst - and therefore, one of the best - villains ever written

- Mr. Charrington
, initially seeming like and old friend who is nostalgic for the past times and hopeful for a new future, eventually betrays both Julia and Winston for the Party

-  Julia herself
, seen always only through the main character's view, which is positive and blissful when Winston starts to date her and really loves her (giving also in this instance more space to her own ideas and opinions) but which in the end, after the torture they both endured and after they both betrayed each other, is totally cold and distant, partly still secretly wanting to get her back but still surrendering to the rules imposed by the Party and thus seeing her as something useless and bad for him.


The most elaborate, important and essential part, still to this day, is however the precise and accurate way in which Orwell explores the ways through which a government can overpower and overwhelm his own citizens to become a dictatorship, or even worse.
The fact that each and every man, apart from the proles, is constantly monitored by tele-screens, hidden cameras and hidden microphones highlights the first step the government takes to gain power: the constant control of his citizens, followed immediately by punishment when someone doesn't do what the Party wants (something really relevant even in our age, where we are already increasingly surrounded more and more by technology)
Then, all the lies and propaganda through which the party indoctrinates its citizens, not only by constant lying but by making sure they are happy to lie to themselves (freedom of thought and freedom of the press are not only important, they are necessary, otherwise everything could get always worse and worse)
And in the end...
as explored in act III, a terrible procedure of torture and oppression that makes the individual not only renounce to his freedom to act, but also to his freedom to think and even his freedom to feel, then replacing the broken shells with blind obedience to the government and making citizens betray each other. 
(Power can be gained in many different ways, not only through a politics of the image ("image-politics") - which we see also really often today as well, though with different and certainly less evil goals - but also through widespread control of the state and the individual, by manipulating the popular masses and by means and terrible tortures that are always hidden)
.
It could be argued that most of Orwell's ideas might be too influenced by the historical era in which he lived and by his strong opposition to communism, however, even if we remove his personal views, the novel still maintains its clear and functional moral messages.

1984 is thus not only a book, but also a clear advice and a useful warning against how any of us might be manipulated and controlled, thus vindicating its role as a masterpiece for its highly cultural and historical importance.

Being in a minority, even in a minority of one, did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.

Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me
.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings