1984

[Metal Rabbit]

I'm reading George Orwell's magnum opus for an english research paper on how the era affects literature.

I'm 4 chapters in and this world is twisted. The government kills you for thinking anything that can be construed as treacherous. They encourage little kids to spy on their family and friends and rat them out. They make you afraid to do anything and they use HUUUGE amounts of propaganda to control people's minds. That's cool and all, and I understand it.

But that's all they're doing for the first few chapters. The lack of dialouge so far and the repetitiveness of describing the super communist nation makes me sleepy. I know it's gonna get better but it's so slow to start...

:/

[Not Changed by VASM :(]

Read it, love it.

Seriously, just wait until you get into it, you'll love.

[Metal Rabbit]

I'm waiting for it to happen... I'm waiting hard and long.

;_;

Not even innuendos make me feel better.

[SSP]

Best book I've read. >_>

[Shuuda]

I read it along side A Clockwork Orange for A Level course work. Personally, I much preferred A Clockwork Orange... droogs.

[Hanz]

I absolutely love this book.

[bunny: spider bitten]

I preferred Fahrenheit 451, but both books are incredible.

[CGV]

I hated this book... Ugh... stupid book...

[Not Changed by VASM :(]

I hated this book... Ugh... stupid book...

C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER

[YokaiKnight]

C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER

Haha, great post.

Anyway, I also thought this was an amazing book. Some of my more cynical acquaintances would be glad to point out lots of similarities to the direction life in the US is moving, too.

[Not Changed by VASM :(]

This book actually reminds me alot of Kiryn's Fiction.

[sandmanccl]

Great idea, poor implementation. Orwell had his moments, but overall, I think he's a horrendous author. It's proof that good ideas with great points is great literature even if the writing is terrible.

Same thing with Farenheit 451. Terrible read, great concepts that will last with me forever. Same with anything Charles Dickens ever wrote. I could go on.

I'm weird in that I'm an English major that hates the majority of the authors we worship as English majors.

[Metal Rabbit]

But I thought you hated everything?

[bunny: spider bitten]

The books are only really taken seriously for their message.

I doubt Fahrenheit 451 would ever be where it is if it were about anything else.

[Hero]

I used to be a huge 1984 fan. Trying to reread it last year, though, was a bit of a mistake. It is dryly written and repetitive. There's little value in it beyond the description of the Oceanic society itself. Already knowing that too well, I didn't have any motivation for getting through the book.

The lack of dialouge so far and the repetitiveness of describing the super communist nation makes me sleepy.

Wait, wait. Super communist? It's a nationalistic totalitarian state! You're confusing opposites.

Haha, great post.

Anyway, I also thought this was an amazing book. Some of my more cynical acquaintances would be glad to point out lots of similarities to the direction life in the US is moving, too.

Yeah, it was kind of written as a prediction of the future considering the general trends in the mainstream US society of the time. Which, in many cases, haven't changed at all since the 1860s, much less 1948.

Edited November 14, 2008 by Thunk

[Steven Tyler]

I heard it was a bit overrated, but it was pretty damn good.

A Clockwork Orange, seen the movie, the book better be on par with it! Just crazy!

[Leonri]

This readie is double plus good. (Gotta love Nu-speek).

This is without a doubt the scariest book I've ever read. To see just how possible this is, and the similarities to the current world situation is extremely frightening. I didn't really notice it being dry or anything, the world was so compelling. With a surprising amount of sex.

So yeah, I this is essential reading, a thoroughly detailed account of an anti-Utopia.

"Big Brother is watching you"

[Shuuda]

Erm... the correct term is "Dystopia", not anti-utopia.

And Nadsat is cooler than Newspeak.

[Metal Rabbit]

Wait, wait. Super communist? It's a nationalistic totalitarian state! You're confusing opposites.

They are totalitarian for damn sure. But many aspects of this government are based off of true ideals and facts about communism.

[Lord Raven]

I read through it once in Sophomore year and thoroughly enjoyed it. The mindraping near the end was enjoyable but... I must say, it definitely is the creepiest book I've ever read. I've heard cynical people say what YokaiKnight's acquaintances have been saying too - 1984 is parallel to the direction the US is heading.

[Admiral "Bull" Halsey]

I've heard of this book before, but I've never had the opportunity to get the chance of reading it though.

[Hero]

They are totalitarian for damn sure. But many aspects of this government are based off of true ideals and facts about communism.

They do call each other "comrade" and Big Brother is described as having a mustache, but beyond that I don't remember any similarities. Definitely no ideological ones.

As I remember, Orwell himself was a closet Trotskyist of sorts who envisioned a world revolution triggered by simultaneous revolutions and coups across Europe which would eventually absorb the American and Soviet spheres, scarcely an anticommunist.

He was so red, he had trouble getting a publisher for all of his books except Animal Farm, and only published his directly political essays in already leftist newspapers and magazines.

Keep in mind I haven't worked with the book for years. I might be missing something big, even though I'm pretty sure I'm right.

[Metal Rabbit]

They do call each other "comrade" and Big Brother is described as having a mustache, but beyond that I don't remember any similarities. Definitely no ideological ones.

As I remember, Orwell himself was a closet Trotskyist of sorts who envisioned a world revolution triggered by simultaneous revolutions and coups across Europe which would eventually absorb the American and Soviet spheres, scarcely an anticommunist.

He was so red, he had trouble getting a publisher for all of his books except Animal Farm, and only published his directly political essays in already leftist newspapers and magazines.

Keep in mind I haven't worked with the book for years. I might be missing something big, even though I'm pretty sure I'm right.

I'm sorry, but the research I've done related to the book contradicts some of those statements.

First off: Yes, Orwell was originally in favor of socialism, HOWEVER when he was attacked by stalin's troops, he became a lifelong enemy of communism afterward.

Second: The party/ministry in both the book and in real life would take facts and replace them with fiction. There's another link to ideology, but I can't remember it right now...

[Superbus]

Haha, great post.

Anyway, I also thought this was an amazing book. Some of my more cynical acquaintances would be glad to point out lots of similarities to the direction life in the US is moving, too.

HI GUYZ~

As YK probably alluded to, I am known to quote 1984 frequently. Those of you that struggle through the book... pay attention to it. There's a very key message throughout, and if you don't get that message, the end part slaps that message into your head with a blunt object.

It's key because power is corrupting; after all, absolute power corrupts absolutely, and as a key character in the book says, "the object of power is power". And I think that's a lesson those at the top of a few "western" countries are going to learn soon. It's not even the United States that's going that direction; the UK and Australia are way ahead of the US in terms of Big Brother technology. In the UK, they're trying to put CCTV on every street corner, forge ahead with a costly and haphazard ID card scheme despite massive privacy concerns, and Jacqui Smith has responded to all concerns by basically calling opponents of her scheme to create a police state in the United Kingdom as terror sympathizers. It's a horrid programme, she's a horrid woman, and what's scary is that in 20 years, kids are going to be so used to this level of surveillance that they're not even going to think twice about the death of privacy in their own homes.

And in Australia, they're trying to roll out a firewall programme that would effectively rival the Great Firewall of China in filtering out bad and improper sites. When they say that, they don't mean harmful sites; they mean sites that they deem harmful to their own interests.

People in power have secretly dreamed of being able to have 1984-level control over the lives of people below them; after all, if they can monopolize power, and hold onto it so convincingly, then they'll never leave power, now will they? Especially when they make people so ignorant and stupid (notice, America's education system is an abject failure of bureaucracy and favouritism) that they believe that the wrongs they've been taught are truly right because they don't know better. If anything, this book shows why people need to be educated properly (notice, there are no suicide bombers that can actually read the Qu'ran), be taught to question what they see and hear, question authority within reason, and keep the pressure on the people in charge in order to keep the balance between the haves and the have-nots, lest that gap increase.

Translation... put down your iPods and learn the world around you. Because as half the world - China, the Muslim countries, the seeds of it in the UK, Australia and the US, etc. - shows, if you're not careful, 1984 could become a reality.

EDIT: The book is available online.

Edited November 16, 2008 by Superbus

[Metal Rabbit]

oshit oshit oshit

last night i read where winston was captured and all the stuff O'brien was telling him my brain be paralyzed from understanding it.

O_o

It wore off after a little while though.