1984 (Signet Classics) by George Orwell
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Book Reviews of 1984 (Signet Classics)
Book Review: "Perception Is Reality"--taken to its logical extremes.
Summary: 5 Stars
1984 is a novel about a futuristic society in London where every one and every thing is totally controlled by the government. An entity known as "Big Brother" embodies the state and commands absoloute obedience and religious devotion from the populace; he is considered to be all-powerful and all-knowing. This represents the worst possible outcome for future, technocratic, materialistic and relativistic society: whatever benefits the masses and keeps the ruling Party in power is acceptable and there must be no deviation from the Party line. Population control is maintained through rationing, propaganda, mind-control, executions of POWS, unpleasant sensory distractions, total repression of sexuality and familial bonds, 24-7 work loads, pointless wars against forign enemies, destroying words so people cannot express themselves and erasing any knowledge people have of the past before the Party's "Revoloution."No privacy for individuals is allowed. TV "telescreen" cameras are everywhere, watching everyone around the clock. Their motive is not to deter crime in the general sense but to deter "thought crime," cases where individuals seem to be manifesting symptoms of political dissent or nervousness about their existance. This is especially scary, given that 1984 was published in 1949 after the fall of Nazi Germany and the ascendancy of the Soviet Union over Eastern Europe. Today telvision cameras are everywhere watching people's movements, and some new ones can even identify facial features and match them to a name and personal history on a computer database. 1984's "telescreens" are double trouble--not only can they monitor citizens but they constantly barrage them with government propaganda. Today everyone who has electricity can now voluntarily turn on their TV and inject their minds full of whatever the government and the corperate media conglomerates want you to hear. If someone watching you through your TV screen bothers you, think about what it would be like if you were never allowed to turn your MTV or the FACTOR with Bill O'Reilly off!
The government also uses torture on specific "thought-criminals" in order to destroy their resistance to Party dogmatics. The objective is to cause so much physical, mental and emotional stress that the subject is unable to reason for themselves and accepts whatever the Party says is true. In the novel this is justified by the notion that "Perception is reality." Whatever a human brain thinks is true is true. The stars are not flaming balls of hydrogen fusion millions of light years away, no, we can stretch out our hands and touch them if we want. We are not bound by the law of gravity--we can float into the air if we want to. Even 2+2=5 if we so desire. The only problem is making everyone think exactly the same as everyone else. According to this there is no truth except what the person in charge says is truth and whatever they can do to make you believe it, then it is true. This is happening all around our world today--the rule of relativism. If there are no concepts of right and wrong, then Anarchy and/or Totalitarianism take over and the world is ruled by Might Makes Right. It nearly happened in the 1940's, and could happen (and is happening) again. The American people may not be controlled by the use of brute force and sexual repression now, but they are directed by government and media propaganda in the same way as described in Orwell's 1884.
Book Review: WE HAVE ARRIVED!!! BIG BRO IS THE MAN
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't mind being 0 for 8 or even 0 for 1000 on this one but I'm wondering what reviewers disagree with. (OR ARE ALL THE NEGATIVE REVIEWS FROM THE DESK OF big brother? Now that would make sense.) Help me out here, guys! Am I missing something? Or are there really that many people that can read Orwell and totally miss what HE is saying. I'm just the messenger of the messenger! Get it?
Okay, so again, here's my take on Orwell. Reviewers, please point out where I am wrong if you think my review UNhelpful. Thank you.
Orwell's classic 1984 is, very simply, true. Many believe that it was a prediction of what our world would be like in 1984 (it was written in 1951). It was not a prediction but rather an analogy to the world of Orwell's time. He was ALREADY LIVING IN 1984.
Most people cannot (or will not) see that our world is already controlled by BIG BROTHER. It is sad, scary but true. In 1984 Orwell shows the governments of the world scaring their own population. Well, America does the same thing! So does any country that wishes to extract huge taxes from its population to support "needed" war machines. Now that the Soviet "threat" is gone, America needed a new one. Enter: TERRORISM.
But if the reader cares to do a bit of research he or she will find that American militarists have been suggesting that the American military and CIA conduct terror against ITS OWN POPULATION for many years now. During the Cuban "threat" the pentagon asked Kennedy to allow it to blow up an American ship killing Americans! He declined.
Are we SURE who was responsible for 9/11? No one has taken credit for it. Why? All terror groups IMMEDIATELY TAKE CREDIT FOR THIER WORK when they pull something off. Why wouldn't the Taliban or Al Quaida jump at the chance of taking credit for the greatest example of terrorism in America? The only LOGICAL explanation is because they didn't do it!
I'm not saying that American militarists did it. Maybe it was a country that stood to gain from having America go after those "crazy Moslems." Israel? How about Israel and America? Who knows? But there is no EVIDENCE of who actually did it and more important WHY.
You can sit back and take the easy explanation spoon fed to you from corporate owned media with its own agenda. Or you can read and understand 1984 and start thinking beyond the "obvious." If you want to read a book that picks up where 1984 leaves off try HOW TO SAVE AMERICA AND THE WORLD. Yes, I wrote it but that is no reason not to read it. Everyone advertises his or her own books. I simply offer it because, like Orwell, I want people to know what is really going on and why.
Read between the lines when you read American "news." Better yet listen to news broadcasts from other counties. It's not a matter of writing outright lies as much as OMITTING details and SKEWING various parts of stories.
Orwell gives you the tools to begin to think for yourself. If it's too much work or too scary, then just put your faith in your president. He would never lie to you, would he? Like his Daddy said, just "read my lips." Oh, that's right. What he was referring to turned out to be a lie and he DID RAISE TAXES after all! Oh, well. At least you can trust Orwell.
Joseph Francione [author of HOW TO SAVE AMERICA AND THE WORLD]
Book Review: Amazing novel
Summary: 5 Stars
I find it funny that almost all of the reviews are 4-5 stars, or 1 star (with a few exceptions). Personally, 1984 is among my favorite books and is my favorite of the utopian/dystopian genre of books. No, I am not a paranoid McCarthyist nut--in fact I am an anarchist. However, I see a profound message in 1984 that is as relevant today as it was when it was first published in 1949. Among those who rated the book poorly, I found the following types of criticism:1. "Oh, the book is too boring, too long, not enough action, too much description, hard to read, blah, blah, blah." To you I have one thing to say: Grow up. This book is less than 300 pages, significantly shorter than your average novel. Sure, it was longer than Animal Farm, Brave New World or any of the other books that fill the ranks of the genre, but only because it contained so much more.
2. "It was disgusting, the story was poor, Orwell is stupid/depraved, etc." I personally felt that the story was magnificent, and much more detailed than any similar book, but that is of course only my opinion. Every part of the story had intricate meaning. The sex scenes were vital, for they showed the importance of lust, and how they were defying the state by putting their lusts--not love, mind you--but sexual desires ahead of the will of the state. The torture scenes depict the degenerated position they forced him into--the only what they could break the will of someone so intent on either freedom or martyrdom.
3. "Orwell is just playing on Cold War paranoia to make a buck, he doesn't even know what communism is, he is plagerizing other people's work, the message isn't important anymore." I cannot see is how somebody could claim that he was working with a worn out subject or playing on Communist paranoia. It was published in 1949--the Cold War had only really been in existence for 2 years and very few people had any idea what was going on within the Soviet Union, much less the inspiration to writing about it. Furthermore, to those who think he was ignorant of the tenet of Communism, he was not. He was a member of the Communist party for a period of time in his life and he was neither stupid nor ignorant. He was both aware of what Communism was and was able to comprehend it and its implications. Furthermore, as he has said himself, he was NOT parodying Communism or socialism, but the totalitarian state that had arose in Russia and spread to its satellites, and which was masquerading as Communism (obviously what is depicted within the book is not Communism but a fascist society where the state controls commerce). Communism is a political system by which the state controls real estate and industry in order to ensure the rights of workers. Ideally, it isn't even totallitarian, but democratic, in political function. One reviewer I saw ignorantly proclaimed that Communism was an automated society where robots did all the work, right after claiming that Orwell was ignorant. Such hypocrits.
In conclusion, all I can say is that, if you're, stupid, ignorant and close-minded, by all means don't get this book, for it is far beyond your comprehension. However, if you are a reasonably intelligent person that doesn't need car chase scenes to hold your attention so long as there is a good story and a strong message, then this book is for you!
Book Review: Very rarely do I rate anything 5 stars
Summary: 5 Stars
If not one of the more entertaining novels, this book is certainly one of the most important reads of the century. As others have probably already stated, this book is not so much a warning as it is a clear testament of what is already happening today. It is meant to destroy your impression of society and the world, forcing you to see it as it is; not as it is represented in the news, in film and other mind deluding media.
I cannot put it any simpler than that.
The story is about a man who lives in a futuristic world that is governed by the will of the nameless, faceless government, which is only referred to as, "Big Brother." Big Brother controls not only the actions of the people, but human thought is also enforced. Everyone is watched. The most disturbing aspect to this story is not the fact that human rights and individual freedoms have been stripped away, but the fact that everyone agrees to these terms. That leaves no room for change; no will to fight. It is a story about a government that was allowed too much control over the people, where the future is hopelessly secured and preserved by totalitarian rule.
It sounds impossible, I know. But it is not impossible. There are countries and governments who have achieved such power over the wills and minds of the people and, like in this story, do not believe they are being oppressed, simply because they do not know freedom or individuality, having never experienced it, or worse, forgotten what it was like.
The People's Republic of China just happens to be one such government, which has managed to not only limit outside information from entering the country, but controls what people see and hear within the country's walls. Chinese search engines are monitored and websites that speak of government crimes are shut down. Local news in China is also heavily monitored and journalists who step beyond their stations and center their articles on truth are threatened with their lives. If you were to tell a citizen of China that a whole village was massacred for protesting the construction of a power plant intoxicating a nearby river essential for the village's survival, then that citizen would most likely call you a liar. All Chinese citizens see on their television sets are repeats and repeats of heroism in the fight against the Japanese occupation, which only strengthens the loyalty the people of China have towards their government, forever binding them to that *one image, while the Communist Party strategically conceals the bloodbaths and assaults on their own people.
Despite the fact that this book was written long ago, it has more standing purpose today than it ever did in the past. I use China as an example because I know something of that country and its people, but such human restriction is practiced in all countries, some more than others. I remember when the war in Iraq began, there were millions of people somehow believing that Iraq had something to do with 9/11, encouraging everyone, even senate members of the Democratic Party, to support Bush's decision, and they did.
The minds and the wills of people can be bent, shaped and directed by your government, while keeping you completely blind to the fact, and this book here is probably the best example of how it is done and how far it can go...if it is not stopped.
Book Review: "Two and two always makes a five..." - Radiohead
Summary: 5 Stars
"WAR IS PEACE. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH."
So goes the slogan of the Party, the oppressive totalitarian regime depicted in George Orwell's nightmarish and depressing vision of the future circa 1984. Enter Winston Smith, our tortured protagonist, who spends his days rewriting the past to coincide with the present and his nights scrawling rebellious thoughts into an illegally kept diary. The increasingly desperate Smith longs to escape a world in which all thoughts are controlled (courtesy of "Big Brother", the ever-watching leader of Oceania who may or may not exist) and concepts such as individuality, passion, and love are unheard of. Winston finds his solace in Julia, an eccentric and free-thinking woman who shares his angst. They soon become revolutionaries by having a love affair and taking walks in the countryside. Together, the two join a resistance force known only as The Brotherhood, dedicating their lives to the destruction of the Party. However, Winston and Julia soon discover that the eyes of Big Brother are not so easily blinded.
Reading 1984, I was literally chilled by how accurately the novel parallels both our current times and the probable future. Not once did I doubt the credibility of Orwell's predictions; the police state he creates is utterly believable from introduction to conclusion. The author unflinchingly illustrates true evil and cruelty, and the entire book emanates a sense of helplessness and despair. Eric Arthur Blair ("George Orwell" was, in fact, merely a pseudonym) saw a world in which all traces of humanity have been stripped away, and the majority of the population is composed of automatons devoid of the will to think. It is this world that we will be seeing decades from now unless vigilance is kept. With freedom comes responsibility, and we cannot sit idly by as our rights are taken away from us.
In fact, we may already be seeing this type of society in many facets of our culture, albeit on a much subtler level than in this work. Orwell's masterpiece has often - and logically so - been used as a political tool by the left wing. Numerous are the uncomfortable similarities to the world we are now living in. "WAR IS PEACE," etc. can easily be made to spell out the Bush Administration's philosophy. The telescreens installed in every civilian's home - used for surveillance and propagandizing - prompt the reader to reflect upon our own major news sources, all owned by large corporations with agendas of their own and vast ability to "alter" the truth. The Party's license to spy on anyone and everyone with no justification is terrifyingly reminiscent of the Homeland Security Act passed by Congress in 2003. It all gives you a fresh appreciation of your ability to analyze what you're told and discern lies from fact.
I would recommend this novel to anyone who treasures freedom and needs a reminder of what we could become if our guard is let down. Orwell was a political prophet, a seer, and the consequences of ignoring his warnings could be very dire indeed. To any Republicans reading this review (hopefully the previous paragraph didn't alienate you), please don't regard this as a "liberal" novel. 1984 is much more than an anti-Bush cliché. The book's themes are universal, and all proponents of liberty and justice can appreciate it.