Sunday, March 27, 2011

1984 by George Orwell

1984 is possibly depiction of what George Orwell believed the world would be like in the future. This book as written in the year 1949, so since 1984 was almost 40 years into the future, many people, including Orwell, had different ideas about the possible future, and this novel shows how easily the world can be changed and the future effected.
At the beginning of the novel, the setting is introduced. It's the year 1984 and everyone and everything is ruled by a dictator known as Big Brother. The current government is overly protective and watchful over all the citizens of Oceania. The government has put cameras and telescreens all over the city and in the rooms of people's houses so they can monitor and know everything that is happening during every second of the day. Nothing goes unseen from Big Brother since he can watch anyone at anytime. Privacy means nothing to the citizens since it was taken away by the government. The Party even goes so far as to read and listen to people's thoughts and any thought of rebelling against the Party is seen as illegal and punishable. The story follows Winston Smith, a member of Oceania. He's been living under the rule of Big Brother and wants to try and escape the totalitarian government system since he no longer has any freedom. This becomes very important to him when he meets a girl named Julia. He falls in love with her and they start a relationship together. But he must keep there relationship a secret since the government forbids sex and anything else that would allow him to express himself or his individuality.
Winston later meets a man named O'Brien who he believes is a member of the dictatorship Party. O'Brien eventually convinces him that he is against Big Brother and his controlling ways. It is later revealed that O'Brien really is a spy and his main job was to force Winston to admit to wanting to rebel against the government. Big Brother eventually gets his way and transforms Winston into a follower.Big Brother was an insanely watchful and over protective government leader.

Do you believe that our society is becoming anything similar to this in any way? Is the government we have today becoming to over protective and are they taking away certain rights that we as citizens have or are they just doing what they have to in order to keep everything organized and under control?
This book was written in 1949 and the society in this novel takes place forty years after that in 1984. It is said by many people that this was Orwell's prediction for the future. What do you think the future will be like forty years from now? Is it possible that one day?our government really could be as watchful as Big Brother.

3 comments:

Erika B 13-14 said...

2. I do believe that one day our government could be as watchful as Big Brother. With all the social networking cites and other internet cites out there today, it would be easy for the government to start working like Big Brother and knowing everything about everyone simply through hacking computers. I'm sure 40 years from now, they will learn an even easier way to control everyones' lives.

Bojana Duric said...

2. Government can definatly get to that point. In some countries, the government does control everything and people can get punished for doing things against the government. I think the government could slowly get to this point.

Mrs. Sherwood said...

Graded