1984 by George Orwell

Dear Readers,

Mr. Orwell is a genius. I thought that Animal Farm was a good book, but boy was I blown away by 1984. Animal Farm and 1984 had many similarities. They both compared humans and animals, used the many of the same words like comrades and food stuff, and had corrupt governments which kept their people in the dark with fake statistics and dirty tricks. I cannot say which one I enjoyed more because they are very equal; however, 1984 contained some themes, symbols, and plot twists that I loved.
Let's start with a basic plot overview without giving to much away! Winston Smith. Our main man. A committed Party member. A worker in the Ministry of True. A typical man. Or so you think. Winston however has some things hidden under the surface. Things that the telescreen cannot see. Winston is harboring unsafe thoughts. He hates the Party. He hates Big Brother. He wants to be free. He wants to be able to carry on life in the manner he sees fit.
Why does Winston hate the Party you ask? What did they ever do to him?
Well the Party is the government of Oceania, a future state the encompasses like a third of the world. The Party has three basic principles.

WAR IS PEACE

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

The main goal of the Party is power. They want to be in power and remain there till the end of time. The Party is immortal. Individuals are expendable. To control the future and the present the Party controls the past. Events that happened in the past are not set in stone. If they do not fit what the Party wants they will be changed. All records the defy what the Party says are changed and the originals are demolished. "Who controls the past controls the future, who controls the present controls the past." On top of destroying the past the Party preforms many other atrocities. 

Now that you have some information on the Party let us dive into themes. It is my strong belief that themes are the main purpose of books, not symbols. Symbols are merely as vehicle by which the author conveys their themes. The themes in this book are golden, as are the symbols that transmit them. 

One of the most poignant themes is the destruction of self. Besides destroying the past the Party is slowly destroying the English language. The Party developed a new language called Newspeak. This language slowly decreases in the amount of words. They combine words and get rid of words with the sole purpose of restricting what people think. They are making it so the citizens cannot revolt or have thoughts against the Party because there are no words to describe how the feel. People's ability to think for themselves is slowly taken away. The Party is destroying the individual. By taking away language the Party is reducing humans to their primal instincts. They are slowly turning them into animals. (Which is interestingly the opposite of what happens in Animal Farm.) 

To show the slow demises to primal instincts Orwell uses many interesting symbols and literary deceives. One of the most interesting ways he communicates the theme is by comparing human to different animals. He compares Goldstein, the supposed leader of the Botherhood an anti-party organization, multiple times to a sheep. He compares one Party work to a beetle. Another member he compares to duck. This passage in particular shows the change from human thought to animal instinct, "It was not the man's brain that was speaking; it was his larynx. The stuff that was coming out of him consisted of words, but it was not speech in the true sense: it was a noise uttered in unconsciousness, like the quaking of a duck." The man did not think about the words he said anymore. The man did not need to think. There was no need. Winston listened to the man in curious observation. He was seeing the future the Party wanted. Not only does Orwell compare individuals to animals, he compares an entire social group to animals. The "Proles" are the lowest class of humans. Slaves are below them, but the slaves are more property that passes between conquers than human being. Proles are not Party member. Proles are the people deemed not intelligent enough. Proles are said to be like animals. They are dumb. They have no real purpose. The Party seems to think that are like animals, but in fact the are completely wrong. The Party is full of animals. The Party is the group that is returning back to basic instincts. The Proles retain their humanness. They work. They have relationships. They love. The Proles actually live. To compare them to animals is showing how much the Party is wrong. 

Another theme that is sometimes over used, but also very prevalent is standing up for what you believe. The problem with the Party is that they break down anyone and everyone who stands in their way. They do not let people think for themselves. Winston is one out so many who sticks up for what he believe in. He remembers that the past is not just the crap the Party is feed them. He remembers, and he stands by his memory. Winston decided that "Being in a minority, even a minority of one did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world you were not mad." Winston clings to this truth. He clings to the truth in the face of death. He knows what is right and what is wrong. Somehow in this world of animals Winston manages to remain human by clinging onto the truth. 

Mr. Orwell provides us with depths of knowledge in this novel. He gives us a guide of how to remain human while facing our primal instincts. We need to cling to the truth. "Truism are true, hold onto that! The solid world exists, its laws do not change. Stones are hard, water is wet, objects unsupported fall toward the earth's center." Cling to the truth. Cling to the human identity. 

"Freedom is the the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows." 

Lindsey