Resenha/Review: 1984 - George Orwell

The imminent vaporized society

The ancient British books play an important role in our current education, once they provide a high level of English structures and great lexical choices. Some of them may also have a political attachment, with an incredible power of registering important historical periods with such a strong criticism that carry on for decades. One of its main writers was Eric Blair, popularly known by his pseudonym George Orwell, whose novels are famous to create a fictional environment satirizing totalitarian ideologies and power, particularly in Animal Farm and 1984, which both plots can still be recognized nowadays.

This last one takes place in Oceania, one of three inter-continental super-states that divided the world after the Second Global War, mostly in London. Winston Smith lived in a society with omnipresent government surveillance, that controlled people’s mind and persecuted all individualism and disagreeing thoughts (the thoughtcrimes), behaviors aggressively punished by the Thought Police. Here we can clearly identify the author’s critic of mediatic control over people, persuading them to believe and do whatever is expected. This tyranny relies on Big Brother, an almost divine figure for whom was cultivated eternal love, only. Our protagonist doubted his existence; he works for the Ministry of Truth, responsible for re-writing past documents and newspapers so as to support the party ideas. Past is always been modified, and no one knows exactly what happened. Although he secretly hates the Party and dreams of rebellion against them in his diary, he takes part in the Two Minutes Hate, an event when people shout and offend the enemy Goldstein, to prevent being caught by the telescreens, placed everywhere. Crimes like these would led him to be vaporized, which means being eliminated by the Ministry of Love and become an unperson, as you had never existed.

People eat an ordinary disgusting food at the canteen, and wore all the same unattractive clothes and boots. Physical attraction was not allowed,(they had the Anti-Sex League) and could invalid a marriage. Sex was only necessary to make children and, as already said, love should be only destinated to Big Brother. One day at the office, Winston received a piece of paper from a woman who he hated. Nonetheless, his hostility towards her vanishes upon reading the message: I love you. They struggle to arrange a meeting and secretly get together. Julia repairs machines in the Ministry of Truth and hates the Party as much as he does. Cautiously, they begin a love affair, at first meeting in the country and afterwards in a rented room of a shop in a proletarian neighbourhood of London. There, they felt safe and unobserved, because there was no apparent telescreen, but the Thought Police were aware of their love affair.

Later on, O’Brien, who Smith believed to be a member of a revolutionary organisation called Brotherhood, approaches them and they make sort of a pact, promising faithfulness and agreeing to do everything necessary for the cause. Winston read The Book spreading Golstein’s ideas, in which he could understand the power of the Party and how they could be overthrown by Proles rebellion. Social discrepancy is criticized here; while poor people lived in terrible conditions, the Inner Party had luxury, special treatment and tasty food. Surprisingly, the owner of the room Charrington was a member of the Thought Police, and the secret relationship with Julia was discovered.

Once the couple was caught, they were leaded to different cells in the Ministry of Love. After a long period of systematic pain and exhausting interrogation, O’Brien revealed himself to be a leader of the Thought Police and tortures Winston with electric shock to show him that power means force, and that the Party could and certainly would eternally manipulate people’s sense of perception, pacifically or not. He hit Smith increasingly stronger until he really believed that 2 + 2 makes 5. By this time, Smith had no sense of time at all. He was explained that there were three stages of reintegration into society: learning, understanding, and acceptance. They eventually took him to the polemic and terrifying Room 101. There one find what is worst in the world for him; in Winston’s case, it was Rats. O’Brien threatened to put hungry rats in his face and managed to make Winston betray Julia, because, facing that dreadful situation, he asked to transfer the punishment to her.

Cured of his insanity – I would say tainted by the regime, he had completely lost his own ideas and now blindly believe everything the Party says and, worst of all: he truly loved Big Brother.

The impressing ending invites the reader to a deep reflection about the plot, carefully developed with a possible intention of satiric and popular instruction. The unquestionable engaging plot can also attract us by the fact that it is of eternal applicability. It is interesting to see how these ideas can still be true more than half a century ahead. Orwell seems to be really determinate to show that government wants an unintelligent society, easily persuaded and controlled, situation reached by the media (represented here by the telescreens) control of people’s mind. This can be demonstrated by the slogans of the Party, ‘war is peace- freedom is slavery- ignorance is freedom’, which spread and encourage rivalry, unquestionable obedience, hate and ignorance.

Although the original version can be hard for foreign speakers, this adaption from Penguin readers provides the story in an accessible English. Therefore, I would strongly recommend it to young learners from 16 year-old up, whose maturity and knowledge are already able to support a reading with such a level of literary and cultural baggage. Terrific, the book is also and wonderful option for intellectual lovers of politics and critical people of our current society.