1984 Review

Word Count: 921

1984 is a story about dictators who are in complete control of a large part of the world after the Allies lost in World War II. The government in this novel gives no freedoms to its citizens. They live in fear because they are afraid of having bad thoughts about the government of Oceania, a crime punishable by death. Winston the main character, is an ordinary man of 39 who is disgusted with the world he lives in. He works in the Ministry of Truth, a place where history and the truth is rewritten to fit the party's beliefs. The facts--significant and insignificant are rewritten, they thoroughly destroy the records of the past, and they print up new, up to-date editions of old newspapers and books Their goal is to make people forget everything- facts, words, dead people, the names of places. People guilty of crimes (free thought) are erased from having ever existed. The Ministry of Truth allowed the controling powers to have control over its citizens using memory erasing techniques (ccognitive psychology). Winston is aware of the untruths, because he makes them true. This makes him very upset with the government of Oceania, where Big Brother, a larger than life figure, controls the people. Big Brother is the figurehead of a government that has total control. The Big Brother regime uses propaganda and puts fear in its citizens to keep the general population in line. Big Brother has a army of informers called thought police, who watch every citizen at all times for the least signs of thought that the goverment would not agree with(a thought crime). His dissatisfaction increases to a point where he rebels against the government in small ways. Winston's first act of rebellion is buying and writing in a diary. This act is known as a thought crime and is punishable by death. Winston starts writing in a diary so he can difereniate between what has actually occured and what he is being programmed to believe. The other reason for the diary is so that people in the future will be able to read what really went on during Winston's time. Winston commits many thought crimes and becomes paranoid about being caught. Meanwhile he notices a young woman paying him a great deal of attention, she is actively involved in many community groups and he feared that she had something to do with the thought police. Finally, while at work the young woman slipped him a note that read "I love you". We then find out that her name is Julia, she is considered a sexual deviant. In the Oceania society sex is a forbidden act only allowed for reproduction purposes to keep the party's numbers constant (love is a

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