1984
This was my last chance to choose a book for individual reading and I decided to make it as pleasant as possible. I’ve been longing to read Orwell’s «1984» since I was around 16, but, of course, I wasn’t prepared yet. Now that I’m completely aware of my likes and dislikes in reading, I realized it was high time.
First of all, I’d like to share the fact that a couple of days ago I posted an entry on my Telegram channel about dystopian novels. Here it is:
I decided to show the original, because my confusion in Russian is much more accurately expressed. So, the thing is: I LOVE dystopian books, but I can’t grasp the reason why. Also it would be nice to learn what it says about me as a personality.
Anyway, let me finally get to the point. I’ve covered five chapters so far. By the way, I started reading it long before the assignment, but initially it was in Russian. Then I thought if there was any sense in reading a foreign book in Russian and of course started it over again in the original. (Actually I know why: I have a paper version only in Russian and I wanted to feel the book!)
My first insight: the idea and what we like to call it now «vibe» is terribly similar to Zamyatin’s «Мы». And I’m proud to say that Zamyatin was first to come up with this! Anyway, it doesn’t bother me, even if I know the approximate development of the plot.
For those of you who doesn’t have any idea about dystopian books, I’d like to share some explanations that I’ve found:
«Common elements of dystopian fiction include societies engaged in forever wars, and characterized by extreme social and economic class divides, mass poverty, environmental devastation, anarchy, and loss of individuality.»
«Dystopian literature is a form of speculative fiction that offers a vision of the future. Dystopias are societies in cataclysmic decline, with characters who battle environmental ruin, technological control, and government oppression. Dystopian novels with a didactic message often explore themes like anarchism, oppression, and mass poverty.»
As for 1984 specifically, it follows the life of Winston Smith, a low ranking member of ‘the Party’, who is frustrated by the constant watch of the party, and its ruler Big Brother. Big Brother controls every aspect of people’s lives. It has invented the language ‘Newspeak’ in an attempt to completely eliminate political rebellion; created ‘Throughtcrimes’ to stop people even thinking of things considered rebellious. The party controls what people read, speak, say and do with the threat that if they disobey, they will be sent to the punishment.
So, Winston, just like Zamyatin’s D-503 (and partially Bradbury’s Guy Montag) is not happy with the regime and is about to start a revolution (at least I guess so). We see his attempts to express his despise on paper, but still, he’s dreadfully afraid of consequences. His mind is for some reason occupied with his coworker O’Brien who seems to have similar hatred towards Big Brother. I have a feeling that he’s going to be a traitor, it’s somehow obvious to me.
Also there are two quotes I’d like to mention:
«Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.»
It was said during Winston’s work day, when he was supposed to re-write history. The thing is that disobedient people in that world are being erased and the media is one of the aspects where those people need to be deleted from. So, people that control the present (the murderers, erasers, police, etc) also control the past by deleting any mentioning of non-people.
«War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.»
Those slogans reflect the state of the society. People are made to think that freedom is unacceptable and the less you know or think, the stronger you are.
To finish my reflection, I want to say that I’m immensely invested in reading the book without getting any spoilers, so I don’t have a chance to read any articles or analysis of the novel. And I sincerely hope that I won’t be disappointed in the ending, because the part I’ve read intrigued me to the fullest.
