A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF 1984

1984

 Originally written as a vision of George Orwell's brilliantly imagined future, 1984 is a dystopian style novel written in 1949. Orwell incorporated many of his viewpoints in this novel, and it is considered to be his masterpiece, even outdoing the allegory Animal Farm.
1984 is the story of one man's rebellion against a totalitarian party. Winston Smith, a man who feels unsatisfied, unjustly treated, but most of all lonely, becomes guilty of the most devious of crimes. Thoughtcrime. Winston Smith lives in one of three super-states; Oceania. At any given moment, one of the superstates is at war with another, and allied with another. Winston works at one of the departments of the Party (the governing group in 1984), called the Ministry of Truth, which is ironically concerned with lies and propaganda. But the most difficult ideas of 1984 have not even been discussed yet. In the society of Oceana, you are constantly under surveillance from the thought police. The thought police control your actions; anything you do that is unsatisfactory to the party will imminently lead to your disappearance, or as the people of Oceania say "vaporized". A smile when a smile is not wanted, a frown when a frown is not needed, are just two examples of actions that can lead to vaporization. In 1984, Winston Smith follows these ethics perfectly, but still falls victim to thoughtcrime in the end. In Oceania, the Party is divided into three parts, Outer Part, Inner Party, and Proletarians.

A picture of the structure of the Party.

The Inner Party is the highest caste; besides the thought police and Big Brother, who control everything. The Outer Class is what Winston belongs to, and would be considered the middle class. The proletarians, who make up the highest percentage of Oceana, are not controlled by the Party, but are controlled by what the Party provides them with, whether it be the lottery, cheap music, pornography, or any other form of distraction. This will be addressed in another article.

This may have been a very brief explanation of the complexity in the dystopian society of 1984, but it is necessary to move on to the main portion of my blog, which is propaganda. The truth behind Orwell's warning against totalitarianism will be revealed in future posts, but for now...


IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH