After reading Animal Farm this year I knew for sure that I had to read 1984. This
book has a certain dullness to it in its exposition. Much of the world building is
done in a precise scientific way and doesn't give you much entertainment. This
approach that Orwell took is understandable since the setting is so different from
our own. This is really only an issue at the very beginning of the book when you're
being introduced to the setting and when Winston is reading the revolutionary text
he receives, which is transcribed in the novel and reads like a political essay
from Orwell's time. The setting is interesting and crucial to the plot so the
tedious way in which it's described doesn't really bother me. The revolutionary
text (while based on fictional events) even felt like it carried great insight
into real human politics. The rest of the book is written very well, from reading
Animal Farm I wouldn't have assumed Orwell was capable of such visceral and humane
writing. Everything in the book (aside from the bland exposition) from the romantic
relationship to the espionage and torture had my heart racing. Without being
interested in politics at all I'd say anyone would still be able to deeply enjoy
half of this book. It has everything; romance, adventure, science fiction, social
commentary and just all around great writing.
Now if you are interested in politics this book is definitely for you. From reading
this and Animal Farm my opinion of Orwell is that he's a leftist who hates leftist
revolutions and believes they are never truly revolutions for or by the people. He
really believes in human equality and destruction of the class system but he's
afraid of all of the other things that can be taken away in a revolution of this
type. Towards the end of 1984 there is a sort of deeper explanation of the
rationale behind the ruling party. O'Brien gets a confession out of Winston of how
he believes in some undying spirit of man that will not indefinitely put up with
his own oppression, that eventually the proletariat will rise up and vanquish the
ruling class. O'Brien convincingly disagrees and feels that Winston's concept of
man's undying spirit has no foundation, no evidence or basis in reality. I think
this is a large part of the reason Orwell wrote this book. It has always been a
common philosophy of Marxists and other Leftists that the unsatisfied masses can
always take back the land for themselves and tear down the means of their
oppression. I think Orwell was just sick of hearing about this blind assumption,
it's a position that seems and feels right but he wants us to ask "where's the
evidence?" In 1984 he creates a society in which the ruling party has continued to
learn from the mistakes of previous failed ruling governments and created one that
it believes is foolproof. Whether it truly is or not is up to the reader to decide
but the party doesn't ever reveal enough evidence to anyone to determine if it can
be overthrown, and that's by design. Even when O'Brien is revealing everything to
Winston he doesn't really confirm or deny whether The Brotherhood actually exists.
Maybe even O'Brien isn't privy to that information. This book is an interesting
call to Leftists to reevaluate their beliefs. The further we get into the future
the more we see parallels to our own world. With the Snowden leaks in 2013 we
understand how much of an eye the world governments really have into every
citizen's personal behavior. Does this sort of State surveillance put an end to
the hope for a proletarian revolution? The questions posed by this novel are
growing increasingly important and it's unbelievable how much of the surveillance
state Orwell was able to imagine before the Internet or even closed-circuit
television.
