Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - 1984

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

1984 by Humberto Eco, Miguel Temprano García, George Orwell, George Orwell

375 reviews

lanyia333's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

It was so well done (thanks to the source material as well as the entire production, which was fantastic).

In my opinion, it felt eerily like what future generations may unfortunately have to learn from the present's mistakes, if we're not able to learn from the past...

Content Warnings

lzrdkng's review against another edition

4.0

dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

nakaka925's review against another edition

2.75

dark informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Good ideas, not good delivery. Rather than showing the effects of authoritarianism throughout the book, the main character has the effects of Big Brother’s scheming explained to him by other characters or through a book he reads. It feels like someone going “imagine if this super scary thing happened!”.

Content Warnings

savannahp12's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Review of 1984 by George Orwell

This is my long-awaited review of 1984. Like any review, it won’t be perfect — and that’s kind of the point. My thoughts on this book will evolve. My critiques will deepen, and so will my respect. But this is what I’ve got after sitting with it for several days since finishing. And how fitting it is to read this novel as a Black biracial woman in America, in 2025 — but that’s for another space and time.

This will obviously be long, heartfelt, and maybe a little ranty.

Themes I Loved: writing as resistance, the power of controlling reality, state violence & normalized brutality, manufacturing distracting for the poor, silent/subconscious protest.

Writing as Resistance

One of the most powerful moments is Winston’s journaling. The simple act of writing becomes an act of rebellion — a form of spiritual and political survival. As he says:

“But so long as he uttered it, in some obscure way the continuity was not broken. It was not by making yourself heard but by staying sane that you carried on the human heritage.” (p. 27)

This moved me deeply. It reminded me of I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Hoffman , and the idea that to write is to have been alive. Even if no one reads it, the act proves you existed. It’s almost like overcoming the fear of one’s impermanence. It’s self-recognition, like the moment a child looks into a mirror and realizes, That’s me. That’s what Winston does.

🧠 Power is being able to Control Reality

The Party doesn’t just surveil — it controls memory, history, and even thought. This is the essence ce of power. To subjugate the mind. As O’Brien says, “God is power”. This theme chilled me. It’s about manufacturing the conditions of truth, and by doing so, shaping the soul of a society. You control reality in multifaceted ways. That’s why there is a system dedicated to it.

And it makes sense why power would want to destroy individualism. Individuality is tied to mortality — to be human is to die. But when one becomes part of an eternal collective (like the Party), they “transcend” death. They become divine.

📺 State Violence & Normalized Brutality

I was struck by the normalization of public violence — watching, participating, even fantasizing about it. It reminded me of American history: the postcards of lynchings, the picnic-like atmospheres, the grotesque glee. Violence becomes a ritual of allegiance. It becomes culture.

🎰 Manufacturing Distraction for the Poor

One of the most disturbing but brilliant critiques is how the Party creates pornography and lotteries for the proles — distractions that keep them passive. It’s not unlike how liquor stores, gambling houses, and underfunded schools are concentrated in poor communities today. Or how systemic issues like sex trafficking remain untouched, while superficial moral panics dominate the media.

And then there’s Goldstein — the perfect mythic villain. He may not even be real, but his image is more powerful than any real person could be. He’s like a Satan figure: a scapegoat that justifies fear, hate, and obedience. It made me question the symbolic function of real-world villains like Osama bin Laden. Regardless of guilt or innocence, the myth is more important than the man. Justifying war requires a name, a face — even if the real architects of terror are closer to home.

🥀 Silent, Subconscious Protest

I was haunted by Winston’s description of that felt, instinctual resistance:

“Always in your stomach and in your skin there was a sort of protest…” (p. 59)

“The only evidence to the contrary was the mute protest in your bones…” (p. 73)

Even without full awareness, the body resists. There is protest in the gut, in the skin, in the ache of knowing something isn’t right — even if you can’t articulate it. That feeling is universal.

😡 What I Hated: Julia’s Portrayal

Julia was such a disappointment. Like Clarisse from Fahrenheit 451, she’s reduced to a trope: the sexually rebellious but intellectually shallow woman. As Winston (and Orwell) say, “You’re only a rebel from the waist downwards .” That line infuriated me.

Julia becomes little more than a plot device to awaken Winston. Her dissent is sensual, not political. Her intelligence and agency are minimized, as if women can only rebel through sex. This isn’t just frustrating — it’s dangerous. It implies women aren’t truly revolutionary, that their protests are shallow or narcissistic. This is a massive flaw in Orwell’s perspective, and unfortunately common in dystopian lit written by men.

Yes, Julia’s surface-level dissent says something about modern rebellion — how easily it’s co-opted or commodified — but placing that entire theme on a woman reinforces a misogynist trope. Both the author and his characters are shaped by patriarchy. And this is why I think any critique of totalitarianism must also be a critique of patriarchy, of sexual repression, of state control over bodies — especially women’s and furthermore black bodies.

Think of reproductive injustice, or regimes like the Taliban. Think of Trump-era policies where women were encouraged to bear more children “for the nation.” Patriarchy is always foundational to fascism.

🔥 Final Thoughts

There is so much to say about this book — and I’ve barely scratched the surface. But what I’ll take with me is the idea that even in the face of total erasure, the act of remembering — of writing — is revolutionary. So is the ache in your body when something is wrong. So is the refusal to let myth become unquestioned truth.

This book is both a warning and a mirror.

And we would do well to keep reading it — and reading between the lines.

My favorite overall quote: “In a way, the worldview of the Party imposed itself most successfully on people incapable of understanding it. They could be made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality, because they never fully grasped the enormity of what was demanded of them, and were not sufficiently interest in public events to notice what was happening. By lack of understanding, they remained sane. They simply swallowed everything, and what they swallowed did them no harm, because it left no residue behind, just as a grain if corn will pass in digested through the body of a bird”.

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