Now that business is out of the way, I'll get on with my review.
Beyond the political statements it makes, this is a story about Winston, a man wants to find a purpose in the most bland monotonous existence imaginable, but for Winston the stakes are higher. Because to differentiate himself from the others can be fatal and someone is always watching.
I was surprised at 1984. I've read Ayn Rand, Brave New World, Farenheit 451, etc. While I appreciated the societal observations, they do get a bit preachy and then they lose me. The same thing happened with Orwell, until O'Brien's revelations - Winston had not been caught, he had been set up - a plan that was years in the making. He was foolishly tricked into believing he had some sort of free will and that he would be allowed to nuture it, when no such thing ever even existed.
My blood ran cold. The idea that the government's control of it's citizens was so great, that it was able to infiltrate so throughly Winston's life was unimaginable. Their desire and abilty to break the souls of their people was terrifying and I realized no matter how hard Winston fought he would not win. To see him destroyed, almost killed me. It turned a work of literary fiction into a psychological thriller akin to Harvest Home or The Stepford Wives.
But the truly frightening thing, is that we are already there. Someone is always watching us - my keystrokes are being recored and stored. There are records of my phone calls and texts. The internet tracks my movements in order to collect marketing data. Who knows what other inferences it makes.
How long until someone makes use of all this information? Will there be a day when someone becomes Big Brother?
