It's not every day that you
have the opportunity to review one of the greatest books ever written. Wait...
What the hell am I saying? Who am I to review one of Literature's masterpieces?
This is not a review. This is simply me trying to tell you how great George
Orwell's 1984 is.
Ok. Deep breath. Focus on the
task at hand.
I assume that everybody who is
minimally connected with the surrounding world is somewhat familiar with the
sentence "Big Brother if watching you" (even if not for the right
reasons). It is but one of the memorable phrases from George Orwell's dystopian
view of future society, where a central government monitored every daily aspect
of each citizen's life, controlling knowledge, information, routines, and
eliminating any kind of deviation. In 1948 (the year the book was written) it
was merely a work of fiction, but looking in retrospective to what was the 20th
century, one can't help but wonder where fiction became reality in so many
unfortunate examples.
Although I haven't read all
important books in the History of Mankind, I'm pretty sure this is one of its
most marvelous masterpieces. It is a gigantic introspection about being human,
living in society, and the everlasting struggle between repression and freedom.
Winston Smith is the ordinary
government employee, working for the Ministry of Truth, that goes by every day
fulfilling his duties of controlling information and rewriting History,
replacing existing texts with the government's version. But Winston starts
questioning himself... That's how human beings start everything. By
questioning. From there on, the book is a rollercoaster on sociology.
It is of the utmost
importance, in my judgement, to have always present that the book was written
around 1948, only three years after World War II ended. I have no doubt that
everything revolving around the conflict played a major role in the inspiration
for the novel. Propaganda, war against "all enemies", shifting
alliances, controlling every aspect of daily life, the focus around an
undisputed leader. And I can't help but wonder if the protagonist's name wasn't
inspired in the most famous Winston in the History of Mankind.
I don't want to talk a lot
about the plot, because I really want you to read the book. It's an amazing
travel that'll put us questioning everything, and then some more. It is
overwhelming to be a witness of Winston's daily struggle, how he feels the
drive to escape from Big Brother's control and discipline, and how difficult -
how impossible! - it seems to be. You don't question. You don't think. Because
"thoughtcrime" is punishable by death. And, suddenly, the world is
shaken by a small piece of paper hand-delivered to Winston. That exact moment
is one of Literature's unique "oh, my!" moments. That is the trigger
that makes us join Winston. We want to become part of his army of insurrects
that challenge tyranny and oppression. We walk in Winston's shadow, plotting
with him, crossing our fingers so that everything will turn out for the best.
We become breathless.
There is a torture scene that
is so majestically written that one can almost feel the impact of each blow. It
is extenuating to read those chapters, and feel blow after blow. But, along the
way, while we bear witness to Winston's resistance, we know that in the end the
good guys will triumph! I mean, isn't that what always happens in books? Deep breath…
Rare times have I been so
immersed in a book. And, presently, one can't look at 1984 as a Fantasy or
Sci-Fi book. Rarely have I felt so related with a novel. George Orwell had the
foresight of anticipating the second half of the 20th Century. Today we can
read his work and "almost feel it as a History book". It also lights
the fire within us to resist all attempts of control, all ways of preventing
our access to free thinking, culture, poetry, diversity. We feel the responsibility
to act, thus forbidding our world to close on 1984.
Will we?
Just for an ending note, let
us all be reminded that 2+2 =5.
This article is pending
approval by the Ministry of Truth.
1984 – George Orwell, England, 1949
