1984 | Teen Ink

1984

October 31, 2018
By Anonymous

1984 takes place in London but it is not like the London today. It is depressing and there is a war going on but no one knows what the reason is about. It is a totalitarian society where there is a totalitarian government that tries to control how people live and think. The government is always watching you and they have posters where it states “Big brother is watching you” (Orwell 2). Big brother is the leader of the government and there are also thought police who hide cameras and microphones everywhere in the city. There are a lot of things you can not do, and if you break them then the police might take you and put you in a forced labor camp. Winston Smith is 39 and works for the government. He writes in a diary talking about how much he hates his society, but if he gets caught he might get killed since writing in a diary is something you can not do. In the beginning he talks about to people Julia and O’Brien. Later Julia slips a note that states “ I love you” (Orwell 108). They later start having a secret love affair. Later O’Brien invites them to his house because of that Winston thinks O’Brien is a rebel too. O’Brien gives them a book, and while Winston was reading it the thought police come in and arrest them and took them to the Ministry of Love, where they would be tortured. Turns out that O’Brien was not a rebel but wanted to catch them. The ministry of love tortures Winston in many ways by breaking his bones and teeth, using electric shocks, starving him, and in room 101 they do what your biggest fear is. They lock his face in a cage full of rats and tell him that they are going to let the rats eat their way to his face. He screams out “ Do it to Julia! Do it to Julia! Not me! Julia! I don’t care what you do her. ” ( Orwell 286). Which is betrayal to his love. After he does that they let them go. Winston has changed his point of view and the last words of the book are “ He loved Big Brother” (Orwell 298).

The things that I did not like are that it was not very happy. 



JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 1 comment.


Caydee BRONZE said...
on Jul. 2 2020 at 4:54 pm
Caydee BRONZE, Oakland, Illinois
3 articles 2 photos 7 comments
I loved this book so much. I believe we are very much living in an Orwellian society today. It's scary how accurate it is to modern day.

I really liked the concept of, "double-think," believing 2 contradictory things at once. I think it's meant to portray hypocrisy, but that's just my theory.

I also love the concepts of, "Newspeak," and, "Oldspeak." Which is to say that talking in Oldspeak is illegal. Most things were illegal.

Heck, his friend was evaporated because he was too smart, even though he venerated Big Brother.

I get what you mean about you not liking it because it wasn't happy, but that's a dystopian novel for you I guess haha. I personally loved it though.