Reviews with content warning for Murder - 1984

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1984 by George Orwell

89 reviews

night3aven's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

1984 - review

1984 may not be the best book ever written in terms of style and narrative, yet its powerful and ever-present themes certainly make it a masterpiece.

Orwell's style is capable of appearing analytical and rigorous, but also colourful and full of emotions at the same time, depending on what's necessary.
Moreover, the language in part I and many parts of part II is strictly logical and linear, while the parts where Winston and Julia fall in love

or the moment in which they believe they have really found a way to rebel against government (through the so-called "Brotherhood")

are full of positive emotions, hope and happiness.

In the same way, part III of the book displays the horrible state of mind in which Winston is reduced (and then even enslaved, we may say) by the Party and presents a load of different emotions, hence contrasting Winston's attempt to break free and his hopes with the tortures and the will of O'Brien and his other tormentors.
The feeling is overall that of a slow and decadent decay, from freedom and happiness to sadness, humiliation, melancholy, suffering and, finally, blind obedience.

The author thus proves himself a master of writing, versatile and capable of telling different moments with different nuances. Furthermore, although act I and act II may seem boring at first, as soon as the reader finishes the book by travelling through

the challenging

act III (

sharing all of Winston's hardships and struggles in the process

), the whole book takes on new meaning, and the early parts, even if they may have seemed bland in the start, seem now a necessary prologue to the perfectly

and tragically

constructed third act.

Orwell's psychological characterisation of his characters is superb, with Winston being the protagonist and the main point around which the plot revolves, while giving also importance to the role of other characters, but always through Winston's eyes.
It is no surprise then, that many of the characters appear and behave differently than they really are:
- O'Brien

more than any other, initially considered a friend and a saviour, eventually turns out to be one of the worst - and therefore, one of the best - villains ever written

- Mr. Charrington

, initially seeming like and old friend who is nostalgic for the past times and hopeful for a new future, eventually betrays both Julia and Winston for the Party

- Julia herself

, seen always only through the main character's view, which is positive and blissful when Winston starts to date her and really loves her (giving also in this instance more space to her own ideas and opinions) but which in the end, after the torture they both endured and after they both betrayed each other, is totally cold and distant, partly still secretly wanting to get her back but still surrendering to the rules imposed by the Party and thus seeing her as something useless and bad for him.

The most elaborate, important and essential part, still to this day, is however the precise and accurate way in which Orwell explores the ways through which a government can overpower and overwhelm his own citizens to become a dictatorship, or even worse.
The fact that each and every man, apart from the proles, is constantly monitored by tele-screens, hidden cameras and hidden microphones highlights the first step the government takes to gain power: the constant control of his citizens, followed immediately by punishment when someone doesn't do what the Party wants (something really relevant even in our age, where we are already increasingly surrounded more and more by technology)
Then, all the lies and propaganda through which the party indoctrinates its citizens, not only by constant lying but by making sure they are happy to lie to themselves (freedom of thought and freedom of the press are not only important, they are necessary, otherwise everything could get always worse and worse)
And in the end...

as explored in act III, a terrible procedure of torture and oppression that makes the individual not only renounce to his freedom to act, but also to his freedom to think and even his freedom to feel, then replacing the broken shells with blind obedience to the government and making citizens betray each other.
(Power can be gained in many different ways, not only through a politics of the image ("image-politics") - which we see also really often today as well, though with different and certainly less evil goals - but also through widespread control of the state and the individual, by manipulating the popular masses and by means and terrible tortures that are always hidden)

.
It could be argued that most of Orwell's ideas might be too influenced by the historical era in which he lived and by his strong opposition to communism, however, even if we remove his personal views, the novel still maintains its clear and functional moral messages.

1984 is thus not only a book, but also a clear advice and a useful warning against how any of us might be manipulated and controlled, thus vindicating its role as a masterpiece for its highly cultural and historical importance.

Being in a minority, even in 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.

Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me
.

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02_sarah's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

1984 is yet another classic with such misogynistic undertones it ruins the story, which honestly I didn't even find good in the first place. These themes aren't groundbreaking as a modern reader but I could see how big of a thing this could be back in the 50s.
Winston is the kind of person who thinks he's above it all and smarter than everyone, but he is so stupid it hurts. <spolier> There is no way that he discerned that O'Brien was a member of the brotherhood from a look and just went with it, and I know in the book they go over that, but I don't think Winston really fully understands his stupidity.
I think that this book could have been amazing and cool, but there was a lack of world building and creation in my opinion. I think Orwell could have done more to share about the physical infrastructure of the community if that makes sense. It felt that there were some very lackluster and half baked story lines that left me asking more questions, and not in a good way.
My major issues were with the character of Julia who was one of two female characters who outwardly states how much she hates women and is SUCH a pick me. When Orwell had that scene about how the women were fighting over pots and pans, Winston discerns that women are just followers and basically have no real feelings about their society like he does, which irritates me so much. How can you tell someones life from how they are fighting over a scarce item?? These women have people to feed, and that doesn't mean that they don't find something wrong with the government?? I felt that women in this book were painted as stupid followers who don't have thoughts and experiences of their own. Even with Julia, who was against big brother but couldn't be bothered to understand the doctrine. This story frustrated me more than anything because of the lack of character development and that Winston's freedom thinking turns into exactly what big brother wanted. The themes of the danger of conformity were interesting, but I hated that it was shown in such a hateful and dislikable way.
I do think Orwell did a good job in the end to create stress and intrigue in the climax of the book, but fell flat as you kinda began to know exactly what was gonna happen.
The only reason this is getting 2.5 stars is because though I hate the characters and found the plot boring, this book did make me feel strong feelings, of irritation, frustration and helplessness as Winston continued to ruin everything in such a overbearing society. Writing is art and art is supposed to make you feel something, even if it is distain.

(Also what was even the point of Winston saying he wants to kill and rape women?? I think that's just Orwells personal feelings and he needed an outlet for saying it.)

Content Warnings

padrit's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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