BB is watching you.

Book 11 - A book with a number in the title.

 

1984 by George Orwell

 

I don't even know what to say.

If you have read this particular novel then you will possibly understand my current amount of uneasiness. An uneasiness which follows such a novel is not so easily shaken. 

I was warned by Moma before even beginning the journey back to 1984 that the book was: ew. I did not have the same feelings, but I did feel rather perturbed by many of the concepts discussed and displayed in the workings of the novel.

1984, written in 1949, I would consider a futuristic novel although we have already come and gone from the year 1984. We know that the events which took place in the novel are not real; and I must say, I am glad for that!

(Just a warning for the reader, I shall be engaging in themes that are of the *spoileralert* sense. Please be careful with the next few paragraphs.)

With ideas such as; the past doesn't exist there is only the present, every move you make Big Brother is watching you, and there is no safety in your own thoughts; we are transformed into a world which is not only a question of what the future could be like, but a scary possibility to behold.

Imagine a world where you can't even be protected from your own thoughts. If you talk in your sleep and someone hears you say something against what the Party (dictators of life) wants, you could be captured and taken to Room 101. Not only will you be tortured, but you will be forced through that torture to let go of your current thoughts and resort back to the acceptable thoughts of the Party. If you can't seem to grasp what the Party wants and they can't force you to fully believe it, you will disappear and it will become like you had never existed in the first place.

This fictional world is filled with telescreens that follow your every move. There can be no time to sit around without having something to do. In order to keep everyone in line with what the Party wishes, they must be constantly sending out new bulletins, drilling in new ideas and monitoring those who stray in order to keep the general public in line.

The main character works primarily in an area involved in keeping the past unknown. If someone dies, their name is removed from every piece of written paper that exists in the records. When Oceania was suddenly at war with Eastasia rather than Eurasia, every news article had to change to reflect that they had always been at war with Eastasia. I'm not sure I could handle such a cold regard for the history that has formed this wonderful world. I do rather love history.

What I often find with these futuristic novels which promote a utopian world, is that those worlds seem to be just as messed up or even more so than our world is today, just in different ways. It's rather ironic how we try to change this world (through fiction), only to find that it is just as good the way that it is.

In any case, make sure you are in a rather excellent mental state before embarking on this rather unpleasant journey through time. You will need to then check that you still have a large majority of that excellent mental state before operating heavy machinery. This is all just a suggestion, but I know you will take it seriously.

 

this is t-bear signing off