I have been on a classics reading kick for about a year or so now. I didn’t have the chance to read many of the well-known books in literature during my high school years, so I am now making a point of reading them on my own as the bookworm that I am.
As of this spring, 1984 by George Orwell was still on my to-be-read list. So, I got ahold of it and read it this month.
In light of everything I had heard of this book, I simply was shocked by the plot. Of all of the books I have ever read, I think that the ending to this book left me the most disappointed and upset that I have ever been over a story.
(Warning: Spoilers to follow.)
The Story
To refresh the plot in your mind, this book follows the life and activities of Winston Smith, a man living in what once was Britain, in a very different 1984 from what we know, when a dystopian and very socialistic society has overtaken the world. Divided into three constantly warring superstates, the world is forever in conflict.
Meanwhile the citizens of Winston’s state must always follow the dictates of their government, the Party, for fear of being rounded up and convicted and/or executed for committing Thoughtcrimes. These Thoughtcrimes are perpetrated by questioning the leaders or thinking for themselves. Instead, citizens are to blindly follow the mandates of the Parties while erasing any trace that the Party is in the wrong. The structures that are in place destroy the liberty of humanity and free speech, while erasing anything that brings joy aside from service to the Party. Such a system plants into the population a love for the very thing that is choking them, only making the force of the Party ever stronger.
The story follows Winston, as he goes about his job in one of the Ministries of the Government. His job is to erase every piece of evidence that proves that there is anything the matter with the Party, and invent new fabrications that cover the maneuvers the Party makes to eradicate dissenters and enemies to the state.
We follow his participation in the daily Two-Minutes-Hate, a time where rage is targeted at a man who, according to the Party, is said to supposedly be the leader of the resistance. We watch as facts and history itself is mended to fit the Party’s story without a single question against these actions. Nothing is ever corroborated in Winston’s world; he must simply accept the word of the Party and do as he is told while hiding his true beliefs behind closed doors.
That is, until Julia. Though he suspects her at first of being a spy, the two are quickly drawn together via their mirrored convictions. Neither one is on the side of the Party, and soon build a private life together. Though their time is brief, they rebel in various ways, hoping to join the resistance and carving out a corner of solitude of their own where the Party can’t touch them.
They are quickly found out and dragged away by the Thought Police. In custody, they are separated and Winston goes through starvation, beatings, torture, and mind games. Eventually, he succumbs to the pressures of his torturers and absorbs the false beliefs they force onto him. The book ends with his release back into society and his return to alcoholism as he fully commits to and even begins to love the Party.
My Reaction
What I found so unnerving in this story was the fact that absolutely nothing was resolved in the course of Winston’s narrative.
One of the most disturbing parts for myself was the knowledge that the tenets of this society were so inherently wrong and Winston still chose to accept them, albeit under heavy persuasion to leave his doubts behind.
Their world is the very opposite of what the world is to be. The Party removed freedom, emotion, love, affection, and trust, only to replace them with a fabricated fervor to serve a flawed organization. Deliberate ignorance had replaced humanity, a concept sharply opposite to everything for which I stand.
This couple recognized the evil imposed upon them and tried to fight back. However, I don’t agree with the way they went about doing that. Their secret affair was wrong in itself, and though they found solace and companionship in each other, their eagerness to right a great wrong sent them to the opposite extreme. In their rebellion against an evil thing, they started down the same path. They were willing to lie, sabotage, kill and torture, and were even prepared to maim children if it was a strike against the Party and would keep them together. Even if it is for a good cause, the end never justifies the means.
Yet, I still had high expectations for how the book would conclude. About two-thirds of the way through, I stopped for a moment, wondering when the action would ramp up and when the characters would actually begin to tear down such an obviously wrong system. I have read dystopian stories before, and in each of them, the main character causes a change for the better that drastically affects the way the world is run. I expected Winston and Julia to be no different, to become part of a movement that overthrew the Party, liberating humanity and restoring the balance of life back to normal. I expected them to surpass the hardship and have an effect on those with whom they came in contact, inspiring others to take up the torch and fight back.
The ending in comparison seemed to me to be a cop out. Winston and Julia started to take action, then were seized, separated, and brainwashed into believing something that they had recognized was evil.
The main character never achieved anything of value and was deposited, helpless and ravaged at the conclusion of his story. He wasn’t even privileged to have been given the minute victory of sticking to his beliefs. He caved in under pressure and let the system win over yet another passive soul. Nothing changed over the course of this narrative. That is part of the reason why it was so haunting.
I understand that this story is a warning to the world to never let it get to be this bad, that nothing short of a miracle can stop a system of that magnitude once it begins, yet, I feel that this story was robbed of any conclusion.
However, beyond everything else, perhaps the scariest aspect of the novel was the fact that I can recognize some of the Party’s ideas already growing in society today. With tolerance, post-modern thinking and a loosening on the absolutes of right and wrong, it is easy to see how dangerous the world can get. Orwell was right to warn the world, and I am surprised at the many people I’ve come across who say they genuinely enjoy this book, because I feel that it instead should scare them. It is those accepting attitudes in the world that are leading down the road to a system that will one day resemble a horror like that of the Party. I hope for the day when people will stand up in our world for what is right, people who won’t take their cause to their own wrong extremes, people who are very much the opposite of Winston and Julia.
-Naomi