What kind of genre is 1984

But in the long run, all that does not matter, because George Orwell got it right. Orwell, a socialist who fought against Franco, watched appalled as the great Soviet experiment was reduced to a totalita This book is far from perfect.

Orwell, a socialist who fought against Franco, watched appalled as the great Soviet experiment was reduced to a totalitarian state, a repressive force equal in evil to Fascist Italy or Nazi Germany. He came to realize that ideology in an authoritarian state is nothing but a distraction, a shiny thing made for the public to stare at.

He came to realize that the point of control was more control, the point of torture was more torture, that the point of all their "alternative facts" was to fashion a world where people would no longer possess even a word for truth. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever. But Orwell never wanted to take away hope. No, he wished to shock our hearts into resistance by showing us the authoritarian nightmare achieved: a monument of stasis, a tribute to surveillance and control.

Here, in the USA, in , our would-be totalitarians are a long way from stasis. They are trying to destroy a vigorous democracy, and they know it will take much chaos and confusion to bring that democracy down. They hate us most when we march together, when we occupy senate offices and jam the congressional switchboard, when we congregate in pubs and coffee houses and share our outrage and fear, for they know that freedom thrives on solidarity and resistance, and that solidarity and resistance engender love and hope.

They much prefer it when we brood in solitude, despairing and alone. Which reminds me A Nazi? A Stalinist? Finally, it does not matter who heads up the authoritarian state: a bully boy like Mussolini, a strutting coprophiliac like Hitler, a Napoleonic pig like Stalin, or a brainless dancing bear like Trump. View all comments. William Golden reported to GoodReads and blocked. This person should be ejected from GoodReads. Name calling on here is not tolerated Shelves: classics , sci-fi , dark-matter , scary-stuff , dead-trees , dick-lit , mine-mine-mine.

Those words keep sounding in my head since I read this book. Gosh, probably the most haunting not to mention frightening book I've ever read. Not Thomas More's version of Utopia, but this is one is the antithesis, i.

Imagine living in a country, whose leaders apply a totalitarian system in regulating their citizen, in the most extreme ways, which make Hitler, Mao, Stalin and that old bloke in V for Vendetta look like sissies.

Working, eating, drinking, sleeping, talking, thinking, procreating Any hint of obedience or dislike can be detected by various state apparatus such as the Thought Police, telescreen, or even your children, who will not hesitate to betray you to the authorities. Even language is modified in such ways that you cannot express yourself, since individualism is a crime. The past is controlled, rewritten into something that will strengthen the incumbent ruler.

Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present, controls the past. There is no real truth. The "truth" is what the state says it is. Continuous warfare between those three who hold similar ideologies is required to keep the society's order and peace.

Si vis pacem para bellum. That's describes the first slogan. The second slogan, freedom is slavery, means the only way to be free is by letting you lose yourself and to be integrated within the Party. That way, you'll be indestructible and immortal. Ignorance is strength, means the division on high, middle, low classes in society will never be changed. The middle wants to be the high and they'll act "on behalf of the low" to dethrone the high. Afterwards, a new middle class arises, all will change except the low.

The high and middle make and uphold the law, the low proletarian is just too stupid to revolt. The state maintains its structure by torture, intimidation, violence, and brainwashing. Blimey, Orwell's Animal Farm is already depressing, but gives "depression" a new meaning, at least for me.

In George Orwell's , Winston Smith is an open source developer who writes his code offline because his ISP has installed packet sniffers that are regulated by the government under the Patriot Act. It's really for his own protection, though. From, like, terrorists and DVD pirates and stuff. Like every good American, he drinks Coca-Cola and his processed food has desensitized his palate to all but four flavors: sweet, salty-so-that-you-will-drink-more-coca-cola, sweet, and Cooler Ranch!

H In George Orwell's , Winston Smith is an open source developer who writes his code offline because his ISP has installed packet sniffers that are regulated by the government under the Patriot Act. His benevolent overlords have provided him with some war happening somewhere for some reason so that he, and the rest of the population, can be sure that the government is really in his best interests. In fact, the news always has some story about Paris Hilton or yet another white girl who has been abducted by some evil bastard who is biologically wired by , years of human evolution to fuck year-olds, but is socially conditioned to be obsessed with sex, yet also to feel guilty about it.

This culminates into a distorted view of sexuality, and results in rape and murder, which both make for very good news topics. The television also plays on his fears of the unknown by exaggerating stereotypes of minorities and homosexuals, under the guise of celebrating "diversity", but even these images of being ghetto-fabulous and a lisping interior designer actually exist solely to promote racism and homophobia, which also prove to be efficient distractions.

For some reason, Winston gets tired of eating recycled Pop Tarts and eating happy pills and pretending to be interested in sports and manufactured news items. But, in the end, they fix him and he's happy again. Or something. On the novel front, the characters are bland and you only care about them because of the awful things they live through.

As a novel all the political exposition is heavyhanded, and the message completely overrides any sense of storytelling. As an essay, the points it makes can be earthshaking. It seems everyone who has so much as gotten a parking ticket thinks he lives in a dystopia. Every administration that reaches for po is not a particularly good novel, but it is a very good essay. Every administration that reaches for power, injures civil liberties or collaborates too much with media is accused of playing Big Brother.

These are the successes of 's paranoia, far outliving its original intent as a battery against where Communism was going Orwell was a severely disappointed Marxist , and while people who compare their leaders to Big Brother are usually overreaching themselves and speak far away from Orwell's intent and vision, it is a useful catchcloth for dissent.

Like so many immortalized books with a social vision, 's actual substance is so thin that its ideologies and fear-mongering aspects can be stretched and skewed to suit the readers. If you'd like a better sense of the real world and Orwell's intents, rather than third-hand interpretations of his fiction, then his Homage to Catalonia is highly recommended.

This was the book that started my love affair with the dystopian genre. And maybe indirectly influenced my decision to do a politics degree. I was only 12 years old when I first read it but I suddenly saw how politics could be taken and manipulated to tell one hell of a scary and convincing story. I'm a lot more well-read now but, back then, this was a game-changer. I started to think about things differently. View all 24 comments. I'm gonna ask myself a mandatory question and say nothing more.

Why the fuck had I not read this book before? View all 36 comments. This was an up and down kind of read for me. There were parts that I really enjoyed and parts that I found extremely difficult to maneuver through.

I'm glad that I decided to pick it up and give it a go, because it's one that I've been curious about for a long time. I can definitely see why so many people love this book. It explores a lot of things that we see happening in the world today. I can't say I'm leaving it as a massive fan, but I'm sure it's one that I'll continue to think about.

View all 28 comments. Oh my God. I got the chills so many times toward the end of this book. It completely blew my mind. It managed to surpass my high expectations AND be nothing at all like I expected. Or in Newspeak "Double Plus Good. If I sound stunningly inarticulate at times in this review, I can't help it.

My mind is completely fried. This book is like the dystopian Lord of the Rings , with its richly developed culture and economics, not to mention a fully YOU. This book is like the dystopian Lord of the Rings , with its richly developed culture and economics, not to mention a fully developed language called Newspeak, or rather more of the anti-language, whose purpose is to limit speech and understanding instead of to enhance and expand it.

The world-building is so fully fleshed out and spine-tinglingly terrifying that it's almost as if George travelled to such a place, escaped from it, and then just wrote it all down. I read Fahrenheit over ten years ago in my early teens. At the time, I remember really wanting to read , although I never managed to get my hands on it. I'm almost glad I didn't. Though I would not have admitted it at the time, it would have gone over my head.

Or at the very least, I wouldn't have been able to appreciate it fully. From the start, the author manages to articulate so many of the things I have thought about but have never been able to find a way to put into words. Even in the first few chapters I found myself having to stop just to quietly consider the words of Mr Orwell.

For instance, he talks about how the act of writing itself is a type of time travel. It is communicating with the future. I write these words now, but others may not discover them for hours, weeks, or even years. For me, it is one time. For you the reader, it is an entirely different one. Just the thought that reading and writing could one day be outlawed just shivers my timbers. I related to Winston so much in that way. I would have found a way to read or write.

The politics and psychology of this novel run deep. The society in the book has no written laws, but many acts are punishable by death. The slogan of the Party War is Peace Individuality is frowned upon and could lead to being labeled a traitor to the Party. I also remember always wondering why the title was I was familiar with the concept of Big Brother and wondered why that wasn't the name of the book.

In the story, they don't actually know what year it is because so much of the past has been erased by the Ministry of Truth. It could very easily have been I think that makes the title more powerful. Something as simple as the year or date is unknown to these people. They have to believe it is whatever day that they are told it is. They don't have the right to keep track. Knowledge is powerful. Knowledge is necessary. But according to Big Brother. Ignorance is strength.

These are usually things that distance me from a book and from the characters, but Orwell managed to keep me fully enthralled. He frequently talks in circles and ideas are often repeated but it is still intriguing, none the less.

I must admit that I zoned out a bit while Winston was reading from The Book, but I was very fascinated by the culture. Sometimes it seems as though the only way to really experience a characters emotions is through first person. This is not the case with this book, as it is written in third person; yet, I never failed to be encompassed in Winston's feelings.

George manages to ensure that the reader never feels disconnected from the events that are unfolding around them, with the exception of the beginning when Winston is just starting to become awakened. I developed a strong attachment to Winston and thrived on living inside his mind. I became a member of the Thought Police, hearing everything, feeling everything and last but not least, what the Thought Police are not allowed to do questioning everything.

I wasn't expecting a love story in this book, but the relationship between Julia and Winston was truly profound. I enjoyed it even more than I would have expected and thought the moments between them were beautiful.

I wasn't sure whether he was going to eventually betray Julia to the Party or not, but I certainly teared up often when it came to their relationship.

George has an uncanny ability to get to the base of the human psyche, at times suggesting that we need to be at war for many different reasons, whether it's at war with ourselves or with others.

That is one thing I have never understood: why humans feel the need to destroy and control each other. It seems that the main and recurring message in this book is about censorship and brainwashing. One, censorship, is limited and little exposure to ideas of the world; the other, brainwashing, is forced and too much exposure to a certain ideas. Both can be extremely dangerous. Inside the ministry of Truth, he demonstrates the dangers of censorship by showing how the Party has completely rewritten the past by forging and abolishing documents and physical evidence.

We also spend quite a bit of time with Winston in the Ministry of Love, where the brainwashing takes place. Those who commit thoughtcrime are tortured until they grow to love and obey Big Brother and serve only the interests of the Party.

A common theme occurred to me throughout the book, although it wasn't necessarily referenced consistently. The good of the many is more important than the good of the one. There are so many variables when it comes to this statement and for the most part it seems natural to say, "Of course, the many is more important than the one", but when inside Winston's head, all that I began to care about was his well-being and not if he was able to help disband or conquer the Party and Big Brother.

I just wanted him to be at peace. Whether or not the good of all is more important than that of the one, I can't answer.

I think most people feel their own happiness is more important than the rest of the world's, and maybe that's part of the problem but it's also human nature. I only wish we could all accept one other regardless of belief and culture and not try to force ways of life onto other people. Maybe I'm naive for thinking that way, but so be it. I almost don't know what to think about this book.

I'm not even sure my brain still works, or if it ever worked right at all. This book has a way of making you think you know exactly what you believe about everything and then turning you completely upside down and making you question whether or not you believe anything at all about anything. It's the strangest thing. Perhaps not. Everything about this book is captivating. It's groundbreaking yet at the same time, purely classic. Ahead of its time, yet timeless.

Basically, I think everyone should read at some point. You really have to be in the mood to work at reading it, though. But it's all worth it in the end. It's absolutely incredible and I loved it. I don't re-read many books but this will definitely be one of them. It is a hard read, but more importantly, it is a MUST read. View all 40 comments. The novel is set in Airstrip One, formerly Great Britain, a province of the superstate Oceania, whose residents are victims of perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance and public manipulation.

Oceania's political ideology, euphemistically named English Socialism is enforced by the privileged, elite Inner Party. Via the "Thought Police", the Inner Party persecutes individualism and independent thinking, which are regarded as "thoughtcrimes". View all 10 comments. I am a big fan of speculative fiction and in my literary travels I have encountered a myriad of dystopias, anti-utopias and places and societies that make one want to scream and Despite being published back in , I have ye I am a big fan of speculative fiction and in my literary travels I have encountered a myriad of dystopias, anti-utopias and places and societies that make one want to scream and The very mention of either of those terms invokes images of Nazis and Soviet gulags in my mind.

Yet Orwell's creation is in many ways even more insidious than these real-world bogeymen. I first read this book when I was 12 years old in 7th grade as a Anyway, I decided to re-read this book recently as an adult in the hopes that I would be able to gain a great appreciation for this classic.

Well, the book did more than that. From the very first sentence, "It was a bright, cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen" to the unforgettable final sentence which I will not give away here , this story sucked me in, beat the living shit out of me and through me out the other side a hollow, wasted wreck. I know, it doesn't sound very cheery, but it is a life-changing experience. I have always thought that one of the best and most important qualities of science fiction is that it frees the author to take the controversial, politically charged issues and trends of the day and create a possible future based on exaggerations of such trends and in so doing present a compelling and critical argument for change.

Well NO ONE has ever done a better job than better Orwell in showing the possible nightmare and thus potential danger of a society without basic civil liberties and a government with complete and unchallenged control. View all 46 comments. Cynical, scathing, and not without its flaws, this is still a stark, haunting glimpse at what could be. Freedom is slavery. The closing lines still come to me sometimes and remind me of depths that I can only imagine.

Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose.

But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. The scene that I most often think is when Winston and Julia are captured. Winston Smith cautiously and surreptitiously discovers the Brotherhood led by Goldstein and then learns all too well about O'Brien's duplicitous doublethink. More than just a cautionary political tale, Orwell has described an ideological abyss into which we must not gaze; a glimpse at authoritarianism power plays to which the Nazis and Soviets never descended.

While we can appreciate the reminder to avoid authoritarianism and his prophetic vision, the idea that truth can be arranged through media is perhaps the most relevant for us today. In the past I have somewhat overlooked Julia as a character and thought that Orwell had neglected to form a strong female character, however I now think that she is every bit as strong as Winston and plays a central role in. Whereas Winston hates the party and wants to overturn it, Julia is much more practical and realistic in her rebellion.

Winston thinks about the nature of the totalitarianism in abstract ways, Julia uses the terms of doublethink against the party and makes her frank sexuality a systematic rejection of party principle. Winston embodies the use of media as propaganda and to disseminate inaccurate statements that prop up the party.

Every bit as timeless and relevant as it has ever been. View all 39 comments. Shelves: 4-star-reads , sci-fi. In some twisted form, everything reflects the truth of reality. Of course there are exaggerations, though nothing is far from plausibility. We are controlled by our governments, and often in ways we are not consciously aware of.

Advertisements, marketing campaigns and political events are all designed for us to elicit a certain response and think in a desired way. Cultural brainwashing becomes the chief goal. Assimilation into a passionless and completely ignorant mind-set becomes the most effective means of keeping the population down. Subjugation becomes normality. The streets are claustrophobic and the people the workers can escape nothing.

Every action, every word spoken, is recorded. The police are ready to grab anyone who steps remotely out of line. If language can be broken down into the absolute basics, the simplest and ordinary units, then people can only express themselves on a very minor level. They cannot think beyond their daily tasks because there are no words that connote dreams and fantasy.

Step out of line and you are killed, though not before being dragged to room for torture and even stronger methods of thought control.

The novel tells the story of Winston Smith, a hapless middle-aged bureaucrat who lives in Oceania, where he is governed by constant surveillance. What fact about suggests that it is an example of dystopian fiction? It is set in a world in which technology makes life easier. It is set in a world that could never come into being.

It is set in a world in which readers would not care to live. Posters of Big Brother. He was not aware that he had written these words. Dystopia: A futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control.

No, Harry Potter is not a dystopian novel. It is a low fantasy novel with a classic storyline focused on a special child and dark lord adversary. Animal Farm is a dystopian text because it portrays a world where the characters seek to have a perfect or utopian society, but their plight results in a world that is worse than the world they changed. The Hunger Games takes place in an unknown dystopian society called Panem.

Panem is supposed to be located in North America. If you were to pick the main theme of the Hunger Games series, the ability and desire to survive would rightfully come first and foremost. This is particularly interesting because Winston seems like such an ordinary guy. He is 39 years old and long been separated from his wife, with whom he had a loveless marriage. It probably is a part of the immersive capacity of dystopia.

Learn more about origins of utopia. Primarily, Nineteen Eighty-Four is all about power in a dystopia. It delves deep into the question of how does power function and what elements of a culture are most involved in its creation and perpetuation.

It further explores, how, within a totalitarian structure, an individual is kept powerless in the face of the state. After all, he is a member of the Party. He always wears overalls, a former symbol of oppression that the Party has rebranded by making it the uniform of the ruling class.

And that makes the reader feel vulnerable too, which makes us turn the page. Orwell, just like Zamyatin and Huxley, explores the idea that sexuality is a key means of both control and rebellion in a dystopia.

That way no one can complain. So, what might seem dishonest or inaccurate is really just an adjustment to reality. Orwell forces us to think how it could be possible for Winston to do that work without being to some degree contaminated with knowledge.