Nineteen Eighty-Four, written by George Orwell, is an everlasting work of literature which is becoming more and more alive with its words these days. The novel is regarded as one of the top novels of the 20th century. I came across this book as it frequently pops up in discussions among fellow readers. It is truly worthy of its fame.

Born as Eric Arthur Blair in India in 1903, the author adopted the pen name George Orwell when his first work was published in 1933. He died at the young age of 46, only a year after publishing ‘1984’. Orwell was a literary critic, poet and a journalist as well. His experience as a police officer and later, his part in the Spanish Civil War, made him a person of strong political beliefs.

Most of his works are concerned with social justice, opposition of totalitarianism and support to democratic socialism. Although Orwell’s writing style is distinguished in the literary world, it was difficult for a reader like me to cope with the pacing. The sullen and gloomy approach by the author may very well be intentional to truly deliver the nature of the repressive world in ‘1984’.

‘1984’ is set in a dystopian world, where people, living in a totalitarian regime, have no individuality. All serve the party and literally worship Big Brother, the leader of the party. Big Brother is the all-watching embodiment of the party. It is he who is the only hope for humanity as it exists in the world in ‘1984’. Here, George Orwell used his iconic words that elucidate what is a life without freedom: BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU. Many often compare Aldous Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’ with ‘1984’, but it should be noted that it is a dystopia in‘1984’, as opposed to a utopia, which is an ideal place. The two authors even exchanged letters to discuss about their visions of the future.

Orwell’s depiction of the future 40 years ahead was truly a remarkable one. His view on technology was accurate. Telescreen, a device similar to television is used to monitor and manipulate the population. Winston Smith, the main protagonist of the novel, works at the Ministry of Truth, one of the four ministries in the super-state of Oceania. The main purpose of the ministry is to manipulate the truth and establish whatever that is convenient to the party. Newspeak is the official language of Oceania. It is a modified version of English devised to meet the ideological needs of the party. The party is known as INGSOC, which is newspeak for English Socialism. The party slogan goes like this: War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.

Deep symbolism lies in this novel. Its uncanny similarity with today’s world makes it a horrifying illustration. Everyone in the planet today can relate themselves with at least some part of the novel. “He who controls the past controls the future…” There were no truer words. We are living examples of this quote. In this technological era, we can hardly believe what we hear, what we read. We are surrounded by false information. Privacy is already a farce these days. And, George Orwell predicted all these in the 1940s. It is no wonder that ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ is so popular these days and will keep on attracting new readers as we slowly walk towards the world depicted in it.n