Nineteen Eighty-four Book Review

Nineteen Eighty-Four is a dystopian story written by George Orwell in 1949. The main character in the novel is a man called Winston Smith. He is 39 years old and lives in London, Airstrip One, Oceania. Great Britain does not longer exist. Instead this place is now part of a totalitarian state which makes up most of the English-speaking world. Winston is a member of the Outer Party and works in an office for the Ministry of Truth where his job is to rewrite historical documents so they are in line with the party line. He has rebellious thoughts against the party and the dictator of Oceania, Big Brother.

In this dystopian world everything is controlled by the Party and Big Brother. Citizens of Oceania are at all times watched through the ever-present telescreen which can not be turned off. Through the teleprompter Big Brother can watch any individual at any time and feed them propaganda. Everyone lives in constant fear of doing something that might get reported to the Thought Police. Citizens are encouraged to spy on each other and children are taught to report their parents for so-called 'thought crime'.

Through his job at the Ministry of Truth, Winston has learned the reality of all the falsified information. He has also seen proof that former party members who have been found guilty of crimes are really innocent. This is the start to Winston's rebellion against Big Brother. Winston later meets another rebel, a young woman called Julia who appears to be the perfect party members. The book continues describing the events of their rebellion together against Big Brother.

This is a great story with a very important message and I think everyone should read this novel at least once. There are so many layers to the story - new thing will be learned and new details will be noticed every time you read it.

By: Christian Nilsson

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