Book Report: 1984

Book Report: 1984

The book I chose to read is titled Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984), written by George Orwell. This book is the 5th best selling book with 20-30 million copies. Orwell’s full born name was Eric Arthur Blair, George Orwell was only his pen-name. Nineteen Eighty-Four is a fiction novel with a length of 267 pages. It was originally published on June 8,1949 by Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd in the United Kingdom.

Blair was born in Motihari, India in 1903 and died in 1950 in London, United Kingdom at the age of 46 from tuberculosis (TB).He was born during the time where India was governed by the British. During Blair’s lifetime he did a lot of travel around what we now know as Asia and Europe. He also published many other books such as: Animal Farm, Down and Out in Paris and London, Homage to Catalonia, etc… The clues from his background that might have bearing on Nineteen Eighty-Four would be his political views on British Colonialism from when he was in India.

The protagonist in 1984 would be Winston Smith, a quiet 39-year-old man living in Oceania in the year 1984. The antagonist in 1984 would be the government, as well as O’Brien, a prominent Inner Party member with whom Winston feels a strange bond. The setting of the book is the future of a dark totalitarian dystopian society. A type of conflict would be man vs society, an example would be the thought police.

One main theme in the book 1984 is totalitarianism. Totalitarianism means absolute control by the state or government. Orwell is trying to give a warning to his people on what the perfect totalitarian dystopian society would be like to live in and experience. He proves this theme of totalitarianism by presenting the strength in words and power in propaganda. A brief quote that reflects this theme would be: “Until they become conscious they will never rebel, after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.” (Page 74, George Orwell) This quote means that the people will just go with the flow of what is happening and not protest against it until they realize what is coming to be reality, and by then it will be too late to stop it.

The reason I initially chose this book was because it was recommended to me by a friend. I highly recommend this book to others. It also shows the reader some of the consequences of personality characteristics, for example: selfishness and how it still takes over everything. It also could change your perspective on society. Most importantly it shows that the further society drifts from the truth, the more the society will despise those who speak the truth.