Take a photo of a barcode or cover
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Gaslighting
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Child death, Confinement, Death, Police brutality, War
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Police brutality
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence
Minor: Sexual content, War
The fact that Orwell basically predicted the future is both incredible and terrifying. We need to stop before it's too late. I have a favorite quote from Einstein that says: "I fear the day when the technology overlaps with our humanity. The world will only have a generation of idiots and the world is doomed." This is exactly where we are as a society today.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Classism
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Grief
Minor: Body shaming, Abandonment
Graphic: Torture, Violence, War
Moderate: Death, Torture, Violence, Murder, War
But if there was hope, it lay in the proles. You had to cling on to that. When you put it in words it sounded reasonable: it was when you looked at the human beings passing you on the pavement that it became an act of faith.
Although I would argue that 1984 is far from the most realistic dystopian novel I have ever read, its influence on popular culture (and the wider genre!) is absolutely undeniable. I was surprised upon re-read how conceptual Orwell's Oceania is: it manages to still read a little like a political manifesto despite lacking Animal Farm's much more explicit allegories. This novel is also incredibly accessible because Orwell really breaks down the world for the reader, which was a welcome change after Dune.
There are a couple areas where 1984 really shined for me. Primarily, newspeak. Orwell aptly portrays language as a tool for control and manipulation, and the appendix's inclusion really made a difference for me. I was also in complete awe of the pages devoted to 'Goldstein's' agenda, which highlight the broader sociopolitical context of this novel so cleverly. They reminded me of The Handmaid Tale's 'Historical Notes' section -- genuinely such a cool way to place Orwell's world within a timeline that the reader is familiar with.
A couple criticisms have turned me off from a higher rating. As pointed out in the afterword of my copy, race is entirely absent from Orwell's world, which is a somewhat bizarre (and unconvincing) choice given its post-Holocaust setting. The misogyny and subtle racism are also pretty distasteful, which I think is important to acknowledge in a novel intending to speculate on the fate of humanity. Julia's character is relatively vapid and disinterested in broader political affairs, which was a struggle for me when contrasted so obviously with Winston's 'intellect.'
That being said, 1984 is absolutely worth the read, and outshines Fahrenheit 451 in almost every way possible...
One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.
Graphic: Physical abuse
Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Murder, War
Minor: Racism
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Torture
Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, War
Minor: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Police brutality
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Gaslighting, War, Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood
Graphic: Confinement, Violence, War
Moderate: Racism, Rape, Antisemitism
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Classism