I read this novel back in my senior year of high school so my memory of it is very vague but I remember 1984 by George Orwell being an amazing book. I believe if you go look online for most popular British books this novel is still one of the most popular.
This novel is about a society that completely lives under the rule of the government. The government says what they can and can't do, how they can speak or can speak. The government created a new way of talking that they called "Newspeak" and what it essentially did is removed any words from their language that was anywhere near related to the topic of talking bad about the government. So basically any words that were used to say anything bad about the government was taken out of the language. The government wants the citizens to live life exactly how they say and no other way. They put up cameras all over their country (which is Oceania). They have televised screens that constantly say the words "Big Brother is watching you". This basically means that they are constantly being monitored and they should watch what they say or do or the government will take them in and punish them.
But what's interesting about this novel is how George Orwell wrote it. The novel was first published in 1934 and the book is called 1984. The entire concept of the novel is saying that this is what George Orwell thinks the future is going to be like in 50 years. The government has full control of everything and they are constantly watching and monitoring every movement you make. Sexual desires are suppressed and sexual intercourse is solely for the purpose of procreation and not to just have fun. The government suppresses their memories by brainwashing some of the people. Political ideas and opinions are completely suppressed and no form of an opinion is allowed by anyone lower than the government. They all have to do exactly as the government says or consequences will happen.
This novel took the world by storm ever since its release. I'm not a fan of reading, I'm going to be honest, but I really did enjoy this novel. My class would have Socratic seminars and there are so many topics you can explore in this novel. Psychology, power, religion, identity, government, and many more. There are many different ways to interpret this novel and I think that it's a great novel to read for modern British literature. This novel is still one of the best selling novels to this day and it was released almost 100 years ago which is crazy to think about. There was even an entire TV show about it called Big Brother where people live in a house for 3 months straight being watched by cameras the entire time. I recommend this book to anyone and everyone who is old enough to understand the language in the novel, which isn't that complex. Orwell did a fantastic job in this novel and it should be explored by all students so they can understand the idea of seeing things from different perspectives.
Ian Ransonet
This novel took the world by storm ever since its release. I'm not a fan of reading, I'm going to be honest, but I really did enjoy this novel. My class would have Socratic seminars and there are so many topics you can explore in this novel. Psychology, power, religion, identity, government, and many more. There are many different ways to interpret this novel and I think that it's a great novel to read for modern British literature. This novel is still one of the best selling novels to this day and it was released almost 100 years ago which is crazy to think about. There was even an entire TV show about it called Big Brother where people live in a house for 3 months straight being watched by cameras the entire time. I recommend this book to anyone and everyone who is old enough to understand the language in the novel, which isn't that complex. Orwell did a fantastic job in this novel and it should be explored by all students so they can understand the idea of seeing things from different perspectives.
Ian Ransonet
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