February 2021 Classic of the Month: '1984'

How George Orwell's famed dystopian novel is more relevant now than when it was written.

'1984' by George Orwell, 326 pages - Instagram @c_reads_books

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The classic of the month for February 2021 is 1984 by George Orwell. One of the most chilling and well-known dystopian novels ever written, I fell in love with this book when I read it a few years ago.

Winston Smith is a low-ranking member of the ruling Party in London, in the nation of Oceania. Everywhere he goes, even inside his own home, the Party watches him through telescreens. Everywhere he looks, he sees the face of Big Brother, the Party’s all-seeing leader.

The Party controls every aspect of life in Oceania, including the history and language. In drastic efforts to keep the citizens in line, merely thinking thoughts of political rebellion is illegal and the worst thoughtcrime there is. Exemplified in the Party’s three official slogans, “war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength,” the Party is able to weaken the independence and strength of individuals’ minds and force them to live in a constant state of propaganda-induced fear by forcing citizens to accept anything it decrees, even if it is completely illogical.

Winston hates the oppression and rigid control of the Party, which prohibits free thought, sex, and any individuality, with Winston having even illegally bought a diary to write his criminal thoughts in. He also becomes fixated on a powerful Party member named O’Brien, a man who Winston thinks is a secret member of the Brotherhood (a mysterious group that works to overthrow the Party.)

Winston works in the Ministry of Truth, where, ironically, he alters historical records to fit the needs of the Party. The Party’s control of history makes him uneasy, and he spends his nights wandering through the poorest neighborhoods in London, where the proletarians live in grime, yet relatively free of monitoring from the Party.

One day, Winston gets a note from a coworker named Julia that says “I love you” and they begin a clandestine affair. Constantly worryingly watching for signs of Party monitoring, the pair rents a room in the proletariat district. Winston is sure that they will be caught and punished, yet Julia is more optimistic. As their affair continues, Winston hates the Party more and more intensely.

Winston eventually gets the message that he’s been waiting for: O’Brien wants to see him. Winston and Julia go to O’Brien’s apartment, where O’Brien confirms that, like them, he hates the Party, and says he works against it as a member of the Brotherhood. He indoctrinates Winston and Julia into the Brotherhood and gives Winston a copy of the Brotherhood’s manifesto, yet when Winston is later reading the book to Julia in their room in the proletariat district, soldiers suddenly barge in and seize them. The proprietor of the store where the couple rents their room is revealed to have been a member of the Thought Police all along.

Winston is separated from Julia and taken to the Ministry of Love, where he learns that O’Brien is also a Party spy who was pretending to be a member of the Brotherhood to trap Winston into committing an open act of rebellion against the Party.

O’Brien spends months torturing and brainwashing Winston, who struggles to resist. O’Brien eventually sends him to Room 101, which is the final destination for anyone who opposes the Party.

In Room 101, O’Brien tells Winston that he will be forced to confront his worst fear, rats. O’Brien straps a cage full of rats onto Winston’s head and prepares to allow the rats to eat his face, yet Winston breaks and pleads with O’Brien to do it to Julia and not him. Having successfully broken Winston’s spirit, he is released to the outside world where he meets Julia but no longer feels anything for her.

A haunting dystopian tale of the unchecked control of totalitarian regimes, 1984 is a novel as relevant as ever. Simultaneously a comment on the manipulation of language, history, and news and a cry for the hope of the future, 1984 leaves readers disturbed, yet motivated. Some may say this story is a far-fetched view of the future, yet others see it as the path the world is headed down. As revealed in the haunting last lines of the novel, “He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.”