This is a story about Winston Smith, a middle-aged
man who lives in Oceania, a collection of
countries that form one of the three superpowers
in the world.
He is stationed in dreary London, working
as a clerk for the Ministry of Truth under
Big Brother, the overruling party of Oceania.
His job is to update all text, like books,
newspapers, speeches, etc., to match whatever
the party deems as correct.
Winston, however, is unhappy.
He keeps a secret diary and writes in it frequently,
expressing his frustrations with how life
is.
He takes caution from the Thought Police,
a police-like group who use telescreens to
view any suspicious activity from potential
troublemakers.
One day at work, Winston notices a dark haired
woman named Julia.
She's young and beautiful with a hint of mystery.
She slips him a secret note, saying that she
loves him.
The two meet up and engage in a physical and
romantic relationship, of course forbidden
by Big Brother and the party since intimacy
is only for procreation, if that.
With the permission of an antique shop owner,
the couple use the shop for their secret meetups.
The couple even meet with another one of Winston's
coworkers and talk about The Brotherhood,
a secret resistance organization trying to
dismantle Big Brother.
However, it's a setup and Winston and Julia
are taken in for questioning.
During the interrogation, Winston faces his
greatest fear: rats.
They put a cage of rats on his head and he
begins to panic.
In terror, he declares that he wishes the
punishment be given to Julia instead of him.
He is broken.
In the end, Winston is a shell of a man, broken
and sheepish, believing what Big Brother tells
him, that two plus two equals five.
First and foremost, 1984 portrays a dystopian
society, a society overly controlled by an
oligarchical government, where a few powerful
people make the rules for all.
In essence, it's about power and control.
To do this, Big Brother controls information,
more specifically, information about the past.
It misinforms its citizens about current events,
which is the constant war being fought overseas.
Oceania is seemingly at war with one of the
superpowers and allied with another.
However, at a whim, Oceania then aligns itself
with its former foe and declares war on its
former ally, yet the records are made to show
no change.
And to aid in this flip flopping, Big Brother
controls time.
Why is it 1984?
It technically isn't.
In the story, we learn that the year 1984
is seemingly infinite.
It's more of a symbolic date rather than a
measurement of a specific time.
But why would a government do that?
Wouldn't it cause more confusion?
Again, it's all about control.
By controlling time, there is no past or memories,
but also no future or ambitions.
It's a world of the constant present.
We are also introduced to four ministries
within Oceania that, while different from
the branches of government in the Western
World, parallel contemporary powers that influence
our lives today.
The Ministry of Truth can represent the media,
which provides news, information, and entertainment.
The Ministry of Peace can represent the military.
The Ministry of Plenty can represent businesses
and corporations.
And the Ministry of Love can represent culture
conformity or societal pressure to accept
certain paradigms.
It's makes you wonder, "Is Big Brother watching
us right now?"
