1984

[Locust]

I just finished reading this book and I must say that it made me feel a little impotent. In the book, there was no significance in life, which I found to be a very depressing theme. So, for those of you who read it, what did you think?

 

[brink's]

I enjoyed it tremendously!!
I think Orwell exposed human nature for what it really is.
Also he opened my eyes about war, propoganda and the way in which most countries is run.

A trully stunning experience.

 

[Narcolepsy]

1984 is one of the best books of all time. It is slightly depressing, yes, but the book isn't dictating that this has to be our future. It is a warning against what may come if we are not careful.

Also, remember, the proles still may be able to rise up. Winston is simply brainwashed to "realize" that they can't - but we all know that in real life, 2 + 2 = 4.

(I wrote a 6,000 word essay on this book. Please don't get me started. )

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

Shows the danger of big government. Let us never get to anything like that. The power lies in the power of the populace ready to defend themselves.

 

[SpuD]

It was OK, I don't think its as great as its cracked up to be

 

[Locust]

It makes you question, that's for sure. So do you know what position Orwell took on government and what his ideal system was?

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

It makes you question, that's for sure. So do you know what position Orwell took on government and what his ideal system was?

Orwell is every conservative's favorite liberal and every liberal's favorite conservative.

 

[Vegeta897]

I read it, it was excellent. What got me interested was that HL2 was based off it.

Although I wouldn't read it again.

Newspeak is a neat idea...

 

[Tantalus]

I haven't actually read the book, but I'm currently writing a book which many people say that it is like 1984.

 

[pAiNtHeAsS]

The book was real good, but I probably will not read it again.

 

[Mattigus]

Orwell is every conservative's favorite liberal and every liberal's favorite conservative.

Orwell was a socialist, actually. He didn't believe in the dictatorships of Hiter's Germany, but he also didn't like Stalin's Communist Russia. He believed in equality and all that socialist stuff.

 

[Naudian]

Yup. 1984.
Newspeak was definitely interesting, but somehow I felt that it was a bad/evil type of thing...hrmm

 

[dfc05]

Yup. 1984.
Newspeak was definitely interesting, but somehow I felt that it was a bad/evil type of thing...hrmm

It's been four or five years since I read the book, but I got the same kind of feeling. It undermines the beauty of language -- removes the soul in it so it's all objective and overly efficient. Words have no meaning and no connotation anymore. No way to express pain or emotion. Just... words that are there by themselves.

But then it's very likely that writing this out at 1 AM is turning me slightly insane. So don't mind my odd ramblings.

 

[Colonel Sanders]

I read this book back in seventh grade (I am currently a junior in high school) and have been enamored with Orwell's writing ever since. It is by far my favorit book of all time.

 

[oldagerocker]

I found the book utterly depressing, i didnt see the ending coming at all and it really got me down, i could see a number of signs in the book that reflected on my own country and it scared me.
Fantastic book, although heavily and possibly overly political, it got its message across really well with the terrible ending... i felt so so sad for Winston. ;(

 

[Asknoone]

I really enjoyed it, a great read.

 

[Fishlore]

In the book, there was no significance in life, which I found to be a very depressing theme.

I've never read it. I think I might have to do that. But I have to ask. What do you think is the purpose/reason/significance of life?

Biologically speaking, all we are here for is to reproduce and propogate the species. Just like every other mammal. In the animal world, the individual's life is disposable when compared to the well-being of the species. Is there truely some finite goal that once accomplished means your life was significant?

What is the purpose of life? I don't know. I don't think there really is a purpose. Spend a few years on this planet, a cosmic blink of the eye, try to enjoy life with people you like to be around. Work your life away so you can afford to live after you're done working. Get sick and die. Leave a nice family behind so they can do the same thing.

Does one have to cure cancer or discover nanobots in order to have a pursposeful life? What about a school teacher or a telemarketer or a junkie? Where is that line drawn. Even if you do cure cancer, what's the point. People can live longer, but the ultimate destination is the same.

I guess the answer is to have as much fun as you can in the limited time you're here. Maybe that's the purpose. Once I realized there was no point I kind of felt liberated. Depression is definitely not how I feel.

 

[Locust]

no, that's not what I mean. In the book there was no appreciation of life. Everyone was just part of a machine.

 

[brink's]

no, that's not what I mean. In the book there was no appreciation of life. Everyone was just part of a machine.

That's the point.

 

[Laivasse]

I read 1984 as part of schoolwork back when I was much younger. I didn't like it then because I was young and feisty and believed in the indomitability of the human spirit, so I felt the ending undermined that.

However in the 7 or 8 years since then I've become many times more cynical and my image of my fellow humans has totally gone down the toilet. If I read it again maybe I'd like it.

I see HL2 as kind of 1984 with lots of guns. Has anyone seen the film Equilibrium? To me it's one of those so-bloody-awful-and-cheesy-it's-enjoyable-despite-being-crap films. It's like a cross between 1984 with a happy ending, and The Matrix, and the soldiers in it are gasmasked and not too dissimilar to HL2.

 

[blahblahblah]

Good book, but not great. In my opinion its lacking something that keeps it a literary masterpiece. What it is, I do not know, but it just lacks something. I think part of my problem with 1984 is how many other really good books there are out there and so few of them get the same amount of recongition. I guess 1984 has become jaded in my mind.

 

[Absinthe]

1984 was the first book that actually got me politically aware. While I recognize and appreciate its political themes, what I was initially fascinated by was it's dark and bleak and evironment, and its delvings into (Spoiler) things such as 2+2=5, how Winston was apparently the one that was "insane", and how manipulation of context can result in the control of anything.

It was a depressing novel. The ending did leave me feeling like crap. But that's not to say it was disappointing. On the contrary, I don't think it could have ended any other way. There couldn't be a hero. If Winston were to rebel, escape, or whatever, then the impact of all that the novel had created would have been lost. Winston, in the end, was no less resistant to the system than anybody else was.

It also helps that it had some very fine writing in it. "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever." That's some powerful imagery. I have to say, the conversation between Winston and O'Brien near the end was my favorite part.

 

[kirovman]

It was a depressing novel. The ending did leave me feeling like crap. But that's not to say it was disappointing. On the contrary, I don't think it could have ended any other way. There couldn't be a hero. If Winston were to rebel, escape, or whatever, then the impact of all that the novel had created would have been lost. Winston, in the end, was no less resistant to the system than anybody else was.

Exactly how I felt upon finishing it.

Read it about a year ago for the first time, just because my family kept advising me to read it and everyone I spoke to always used it in analogies, eg drawing very many parallels with the cultural revolution in China. You could compare simplified Chinese to newspeak, and the government arranged marriages, although there were no telescreens, everyone had a picture of Chairman Mao, which they kind of worshipped daily.
They shouted denouncations of the enemies (the West, Taiwanese, Japanese) - cf Goldstein, and the destruction of academic system. Children were encouraged to report their parents illegal activities to the government. Blue overalls. Highly communal society, everything done in groups. Newspapers altered to show that things were progressing, even if they weren't.

A lot of people wonder if Chairman Mao was inspired by 1984, despite it being a warning rather than a promotion of this kind of thing.

1984 is one of the best books I ever read. Even got animal farm included with the book. Bonus...

Animal Farm just showed,

Spoiler

in the end that revolutionary groups who take over power of a nation end up being overwhelmed with their own power and becoming the exact same evil as they sought to overthrow in the first place.