Nineteen Eighty-Four

(Nineteen Eighty-Four)

Winston Smith is one of the unfortunate souls of Oceania's middle class, or Outer Party. The character lives in a world of totalitarianism, in which it is forbidden to exercise freedom of thought. Winston secretly attempts to record his opinions in a diary that he hopes a future generation will read. Since Winston is constantly monitored, at home and at work, he lives in a perpetual state of anxiety and paranoia in which he fears his heresy will be discovered.

Crime by thought is death. In this society where everything is rationed, where executions are regular, where songs are written by machines, where the dictionary of the "new spoken" improves only by decreasing the number of its pages and where orgasm must be eradicated, Winston develops a relationship with Julia. But who is she?

Winston knows that he defies the law and therefore "Big Brother", the undisputed master of the society of Oceania in war against Estasia. But elsewhere, does the war truly exists or is it a supplementary weapon to subdue the people? Despite the prohibition to have sex, Winston rents a little appartment in the low quarters of the proletarian zone under cover of the ubiquitous eye of the leader.

He maintains his relationship with Julia and both know that death awaits them in the end. Julia, departs to rules established. She is corrupted and she loves that.

Then Winston meets O'Brien, a member of the Inner Party or ruling class who shares his hateful feelings toward the government. Winston makes him his confidante, furthermore the former shows signs of discontent. O'Brien gives him the last version of the "Book", the dictionary of the spoken language, better than the previous one. This book hides hides in its pages propaganda materials against "Big Brother". Winston does not see the coming trap...

He is arrested with Julia in the little apartment he rents, betrayed by the landlord. "Big Brother" was also there. Now, Winston is the enemy to be destroyed. He undergoes extreme tortures and O'Bien attempts to brainwash him. But for Winston Smith, remaining human is much more important than staying alive. He does not give in and despite his suffering, he continues to denounce Big Brother's society.

DoctorSF's Words

Why call a novel 1984? Because George Orwell wrote the novel in 1948, he had simply inverted the two last numbers. The novel was first made into a movie in 1956 by Michael Anderson. All the copies were removed some years latersome years later by Sonia, Orwell's widow who did not appreciated the happy ending of this version. Also note that a TV version was casting the famous Peter Custing.

This text was corrected by Arroxane.