It's been what? 10 years since I first read 1984? I remembered that the situation that was described was very miserably absurd, but that it was so much possible for humanity to come down to this that it made me sad... Other than that, I did not remember much about the story in itself (which proves my point, writing this blog may indeed be useful to help me remember what I do!).Re-discovering Orwell's masterpiece was great but again, so saddening. So completely had I forgotten the end that I kept hoping that Winston and Julia could make it through all this. But their humanity is slowly and irreversibly crushed... I don't think I can go over the book in details now since I'm catching up on 6 months of reading on and off.
Simply, it's clearly THE dystopian reference novel, with a exaggeratedly pessimistic vision of the future of mankind, or at least, you hope that it's exaggerated. In the world we live in, I'm not as shocked with the assumed violence of IngSoc or the futile perpetual war that assures the stability of the governing class, because these things already exist in our democracies to some extents, disguised behind politics and lobbies. But concepts such as doublethink make me shudder, it eliminates the freedom to think that makes us humans; you watch the telescreen but the telescreen also watches you, which eliminates your right to privacy.
1984 is dark and powerful, it makes you think, hope for mankind nonetheless, and makes you appreciate better what you have. I think it closes my dystopian readings, and since I've really appreciated HG Wells' novels (The Invisible Man and The Time Machine), I'm moving on to the next ones, The War of the Worlds and The Island of Doctor Moreau.
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