Nineteen Eighty-four

George Orwell was an English writer of the twentieth century who specialised in satirical fictions. He wrote the novel “Nineteen Eighty-four” in between the periods he spent in the hospital. The novel was published in 1949 and was widely viewed as an attack on totalitarian regimes. To describe a state of affairs as “Orwellian” is to imply crushing tyranny and fear. After the publication of the novel, Orwell said human resistance to oppression is unquestionable.

The novel is set in Great Britain, a world of perpetual wars, omnipresent government surveillance and public manipulation. The super state and its residents are dictated by political regime of tyranny. The super state is under the control of the privileged elite of the inner party, a party and the government that persecutes individualism and independent thinking as ‘thought crime’. The tyranny is ostensibly overseen by Big Brother the party leader who enjoys an intense cult of personality but who may not even exist. The party seeks its power for its own sake. It is not interested in the good of others. Winston smith is a member of the outer party but secretly hates the party and dreams of rebellion against Big Brother.

Nineteen Eighty-four is a literary political fiction. The novel popularized the adjective ‘Orwellian’ which describes official deception, secret surveillance and manipulation of recorded history by an authoritarian state.

Why does Orwell matter today? There are authoritarian states and the states who go under the label of democracy.

In Turkey, journalists are imprisoned.                                                                                         In Iran, they shoot demonstrators.

In Saudi Arabia, political parties are banned.                                                                           The recently elected American president Donald Trump ordered ‘Travel Ban’.

Newspapers have described this as Orwellian order.                                                                       

Orwell’s importance derives from the extraordinary salience of the subjects he took on. In 1936, Orwell went to Spain to fight for the republicans in civil wars provoked by Francisco. In the year 2005 the novel Nineteen Eighty-four was chosen by Time magazine as one of the 100 best English language novels from 1923 to 2005.

Orwell asks his readers to fight authoritarian rulers wherever they exist. For democracy and our individual freedom we must fight and keep fighting.