Over a year ago, around Christmastime, a college-going friend handed me the dystopian classic 1984 by George Orwell, saying "If you want a real futuristic, totalitarian government story, read this." I never got to it because, frankly, I wasn't interested. Why would I read a book that is basically a failed prediction? I'd heard of the 1980s, and there weren't life size portraits of burly mustachioed men with captions reading "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU" everywhere. Or at least I hope not.
In any case, here I am, one year later, writing a blog post about it. When I first started reading 1984, I realized that it was going through that phase where the author has to develop the story and everything is extremely boring. Yet, I am persevering and I have found that the premise is actually pretty interesting. The story is centered around a guy named Winston, who we can relate to as a man in his late 30s going through a mid life crisis. Winston is questioning everything around him, from the people who run his government to the rules that limit his lifestyle. The weird thing about it all is that there are no "laws" per se, but if you do something wrong, chances are that you will be in a morgue the next day, no questions asked.
The back side of the book reads: "The year 1984 has come and gone, but George Orwell's prophetic, nightmarish vision in 1949 of the world we were becoming is timelier than ever. 1984 is still the great modern classic of 'negative utopia'..." After researching George Orwell, I found out that most, if not all of his works have some relation to political stages of the time period he lived in. Orwell was fiercely against totalitarianism, and many believe that 1984 was written to warn people of the dangers of the aforementioned governmental practice.
I will further persevere and see where this book will take me.
In any case, here I am, one year later, writing a blog post about it. When I first started reading 1984, I realized that it was going through that phase where the author has to develop the story and everything is extremely boring. Yet, I am persevering and I have found that the premise is actually pretty interesting. The story is centered around a guy named Winston, who we can relate to as a man in his late 30s going through a mid life crisis. Winston is questioning everything around him, from the people who run his government to the rules that limit his lifestyle. The weird thing about it all is that there are no "laws" per se, but if you do something wrong, chances are that you will be in a morgue the next day, no questions asked.
The back side of the book reads: "The year 1984 has come and gone, but George Orwell's prophetic, nightmarish vision in 1949 of the world we were becoming is timelier than ever. 1984 is still the great modern classic of 'negative utopia'..." After researching George Orwell, I found out that most, if not all of his works have some relation to political stages of the time period he lived in. Orwell was fiercely against totalitarianism, and many believe that 1984 was written to warn people of the dangers of the aforementioned governmental practice.
I will further persevere and see where this book will take me.
Wow. I feel like this book is going to be good. Good job for persevering through the boring part. I hope you will make more blog posts on this book and offer your own insights on how good the book is.
ReplyDeleteInterestring intro, I have read the first 40 pages of the book you are reading and it is really interesting. The world that George Orwell creates is full of fascinating details, I hope you like it!
ReplyDelete