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Nineteen Eighty-Four is a compelling novel, written in the period just after
W.W.II. It details the life of one man, Winston Smith, and his struggles with an
undoubtedly fascist government. The book is set approximately in the year 1984,
in which Winston's society is ruled by a governing force known as The Party. At
the head of this government is a fictional figure known as Big Brother, to whom
all citizens must love and respect. In this society, privacy and freedom do not
exist. People are constantly monitored by telescreens, and subjected to a
constant barrage of propaganda. Any devious thought or action is dealt with by
cruel and deadly punishment. Winston is a worker in one of the government
agencies. His job: to rewrite the past so that The Party, specifically Big
Brother, appears to be omnipotent. From as long as he can remember, he has
despised The Party and what it stood for, although he doesn't reveal his true
feelings to anyone around him. When Winston begins a torrid love affair with one
of the young women in his agency named Julia, he finds someone else who shares
in his beliefs. The two have several meetings throughout the book, in which they
discuss their hatred for the government. They join a secret alliance called The
Brotherhood, who's specific purpose is the end of The Party. Through the
literature of The Brotherhood, they learn about the inner workings of The Party
and how it accomplishes its stronghold on the people. The world as Winston knows
it comes crashing down when he and Julia are arrested by the thought police, a
faction of the government which deals with those who do not agree and abide by
the ways of The Party. They are taken to a prison unlike any other. Winston is
constantly tortured and beaten, until he confesses to crimes which he didn't
commit or never even happened. If the party just killed Winston right away, they
might run the risk of making a martyr out of him. Instead they re-educate him
with the morals of The Party, using such techniques as pain, starvation, and
using Winston's greatest fear against him. Once re- educated, he is introduced
back into society. But he is not the same person, just a hollow shell. Winston
had once said in the novel that if he could die hating Big Brother, then he
would have won. But when Winston is finally killed, the only thing he can think
is that he loves Big Brother. As this book was written just after the reign of
Hitler in W.W.II, one can easily guess where Orwell got the basis for it. The
world was in a general state of disbelief and panic after the atrocities that
Hitler had committed. It was hoped that nothing like this would ever happen
again.
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