1984 deals with everything about government and thought. It delves into the issues of the future and the nature of human beings. Where other books offer a Utopian ideal for a story this does just the opposite. Orwell tells a magnificent story about a government that takes control of almost every aspect of everyday life. This book is in many ways not to far from the truth.
The story is set in 1984(or what the main character Winston, believes is 1984). Winston is a worker in the ministry of truth. his job is to rewrite speeches and newspapers so they check in with the history the reigning party chooses. In this future the Party as it is known is an all knowing all seeing group that changes history as it goes to suit its own needs. People don't dare to think their own thoughts or even say or look like they may be the slightest bit against the party. They are always being watched by telescreens and the emodyment of the party, Big Brother. Winstons problems begin when he finds himself writing "Down with Big Brother'" in a diary. The thought police who track people at all time are sure to find out sooner or later that he has committed such a crime. He finds himself little by little doing other rebellious activities including falling in love with a like minded woman. He eventually takes to many risks trying to ally himself with a rebel group and gets caught and sabotaged. Once he has been captured he is then beaten down physically and mentally until he believes exactly what the party wants him too.
1984 looks at the future and foretells a world where personal freedoms are few and far between and where people live in constant fear. This is very reminiscent of Nazi Germany and Communist Russia. Germany like in 1984 makes up science and history to make people believe the ideas they have brought forth. The German population was led to believe that the Jews were actually part rats and were killing the German economy. They said Germans were stronger because they evolved from a superior race called the Aryans. In Communist Russia workers were fabricated to make people work harder. Propaganda played on peoples emotions and dictators like Stalin were idolized. In Oceania (the setting of 1984) Big Brother is not really the ruler. He may have at one time been real but now he is just something that the people can focus on. He represents propaganda and the lies that the Party spread just like the Nazi's and Communists once had. Big Brother as he is described bares a resemblance to Stalin. The way the people are controlled in how they think goes back to Germany where any sign of being against the Nazi party landed you in a jail or concentration camp. When Winston is being tortured he eventually is beaten down until he is a walking skeleton not unlike the Jewish prisoners in the death camps looked.
In the books it is later revealed that Oceania is not actually fghting a war with its enemies but against its own people. It is about who has the most supplies and who can stockpile. When Orwell wrote 1984 he spoke about ideas that in some form would come true. The Cold War between the United States and The Soviet Union has each group trying to one up the other by producing weaponry and keeping itself safe. The amount that our technology had improved was not quite the same but personal computers were really starting to take off. The telescreens although not used the same way can be compared to the television set. In most homes there is a televison set that shows stations like CNN which are constantly pumping out more one sided truth. The advancement in media has made people more susceptible to everyday influence. In the United States today the Patriot Act has been passed and taken away all personal freedom if the government says it is necessary. Some of what Orwell had predicted came frighteningly true. Many would say that the war in Iraq is a media war. The United States is using them as an enemy to divert attention from the problems in the USA. With satellites in space that can monitor everything in the world and secret organizations around the world Big Brother is truly watching. Governments can track you through your computer. Add agencies can beam your preferences to the next site you visit and design custom adds to lure you in. Today we don't have as much privacy as we may think.
The books also talks about reality and what is truly real. Winstons reality is constantly changed around. He sees the world from different views. At first he is just a regular citizen, but little by little his view on what is going on changes. he begins to see things as they truly are and as he goes deeper beneath the surface he finds things he never expected. Even after he starts take risks what he sees is not what it seems. He thinks for awhile he is part of a Rebel group but it is later found out that the thought police had him the whole time. When he is taken to prison he is repeatedly told what he believes is wrong. Even though he knows what he believes is true his questioner will not except his ideas and proves Winston wrong. He uses logic to overcome what Winston says even though deep down Winston still can't believe what is presented as the truth. through constant physical pain he is weakened and they start to get to him. They make him confess to things he had done and alter what he knew about the party, telling him that he is insane and that they are curing him. This books really shows what it must be like to be crazy or believed to be crazy. Someone tells you that you are forever wrong when you no that everyone else is wrong. The book asks the question, if the majority believes one thing does that make them right? 1984 takes things to an extreme challenging things we know to be false like 2 + 2 = 5 and the stars are fire only a few kilometers away. They break him down and make him believe lies. Like in the media after constant bombardment you eventually break down and except things as truth.
The Party tries to implement a new way to take over life. With the idea of newspeak which will little by little phase out the language and minimize the amount of thinking done by average people. If they aren't able to form ideas that really express their opinion they will not understand what to do and therefore start an easier mass population to control. The phasing out of language means the loss of culture and the end of what little history and memory of life before the party is left. With newpeak noone will be able to think up a rebellious thought and the party will almost be impossible to destroy. This is another way the Party takes away citizens ability to think for themselves.
The party breaks down any thoughts of a better life. No rebels means the people in charge will stay in charge forever. They rewrite everything from books and poems to pamphlets and speeches. That is why the idea of "Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.". This refers to the fact that with the party in control over everything they have the power to rewrite history to make everything that they do right. If people have no way of proving that a better life ever exsisted or that the party had ever done anything wrong they might start go against the party. After being in power and doing this so long they have control over most people. Kids have grown up with the party and even start to rat their own parents out just like some families during the reign of Hitler. Who ever controls past controls what the people will believe and they shape what the future will become. Who controls the present determines what the past was. Today textbooks are printed and are often one sided. Whoever wins the wars get to say what actually happened. They can fabricate lies for truth and noone is any wiser because they are the ones making up history. 1984 again shows this by taking it to an absolute extreme.
1984 is a story that engulfs many ideas. It brings out the fact that reality is subjective. Orwell is not advocating capitalism as many would have you believe. He is making a statement against Utopian ideas and reiterating the dangers of a Totalitarian government. Like Animal Farm he relates the story to past historical events like the Rise and fall of the Nazi party and Communist Russia. He also makes reference to the Congo under Leopold. His blend of history and fiction makes for a great satire that not only stinging but a message to everyone in future generations. Noone should ever have complete control. One corrupt person and the Utopian ideals that were once so grand are turned into nightmares. A society that had routes in freedom and equal rights can just as easily end in slavery and opression. The Proles as the books says are the lower class people who are unchanged during changes of power. Winston believed that the future of the world is in the hands of the Proles, the lower class. Orwell was saying that when we wake up to what is happening around us, learn from our mistakes and band together we will finally achieve a new society without class.