Max Notes 1984 (George Orwell's 1984) by Karen Brodeur, George Orwell Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Max Notes 1984 (George Orwell's 1984)
Book Review: A chilling tale of totalitarian Despotism
Summary: 5 Stars
This was a magnificently written book by one of Britains great authors. It kept me entertained for the three days it took me to read it and kept me thinking about it for another two weeks. Once you read this book you begin to realise that we are living in an increasingly 'big-brother' orientated world, with an increase in numbers of CCTV on the streets, Police Helicopters with cameras that can see you anywhere anytime and an increase of police militancy on the streets. they tell us its to protect us and it is, but its also a weapon against us. This Book was George Orwells warning to us all, a parting shot if you like and it should be heeded. but apart from this a thouroughly Grasping read!!Book Review: 1984 is a critique of the excesses of the left and right.
Summary: 5 Stars
1984 is an attack on the totalitarianism of Stalinism and the extreme versions of Capitalism. Like Kafka's, 'The Trial' preceding it, and Albert Camus', 'The Outsider' following it; 1984 is the portrayal of an individual refusing to accept a cold and bureaucratic world. When Winston Smith writes in 'small, clumsy letters' the date, 'April 4th 1984', he commits his first act of rebellion and condemns himself to death. As soon as Winston rebels however, he finds an attachment with his fellow human being; eventually developing into a triumvirate consisting of: Julia, O'Brien and himself. Julia is 'about twenty-seven', 'swift' and 'athletic,' and Winston conducts an intense and passionate relationship with her. O'Brien is a member of the oligarchic Inner Party. He is heavy-built, with a brutal face; yet courteous and intelligent. England has been renamed, 'Airstrip One' and is part of the 'Oceanic' bloc which also includes: the Americas, Australasia and South Africa. Oceania is a society of acute mass paranoia, an ascetic society that attempts to repress sexual desire and a society of poverty and isolation. Winston belongs to the Outer Party and works in the Records Department, effectively contributing to the falsification of the past. The world of 1984 is replete with contradictions: the concept of Doublethink - that you can believe in one thing while still believing in its opposite, and blackwhite - where a party member is willing to believe black is white if the Party demands it. 'The Ministry of Peace concerns itself with war, the Ministry of Truth with lies, the Ministry of Love with torture and the Ministry of Plenty with starvation.' Julia has slept with 'dozens' of men but is a member of the Junior Anti-Sex League, and a society based on the collective has a leader who is a man-alone. O'Brien invites Winston to join the Brotherhood: an organisation based on the writings of the 'earliest defiler of the Party's purity,' - Emmanuel Goldstein. The book systemises Winston's thought and helps him believe he is not mad. Winston agrees to a rebellion with no limits. O'Brien asks, ' If for example, it would somehow serve our interests to throw sulphuric acid in a child's face - are you prepared to do that? Winston replies, 'Yes.' Even though the ruling party has no distinction between thought and deed, we should. Winston does not commit an atrocious act and is thus morally superior to O'Brien. Like Kaliayev in Camus' 'The Just', he may be unable to carry-out the inhumane. He doesn't smash Julia's skull when he thinks she is spying on him and when she falls, 'a curious emotion stir(s) in Winston's heart': He sees the enemy but he also sees a human being. The love story in 1984 has been highly underatted and can be argued to be it's guiding thread. It is certainly one of the most tragic love affairs in English Literature. When they betray each other and their love ceases to exist, there is nothing more melancholic and poignant than the rhyme: 'Under the spreading chestnut tree, I sold you and you sold me.' The destruction of books, the diminution of language and the inability to write anything down are massive crimes for Orwell. It must be painful for Orwell to have Syme state: 'It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words.' How can they change the lines of Kipling? Even Syme cannot do it. Orwell may have been slightly na?ve to write 1984 at the beginning of the cold war. It can easily be and has been interpreted by conservative critics as a polemic against socialism. Orwell never meant this and he stated not long after the work was published that it was a critique of the excesses of both the left and right. Orwell was a democratic socialist and fought Franco in the Spanish Civil War to prove it. Orwell never renounced socialism and the humanity of his novels show it. 1984 has a beauty and simplicity of prose. It has a clarity of thought and pervades feeling. Winston is one of the great hereos of the novel and like Joseph K and Mersault, refuses to lie. Unlike Joseph K and Mersault however, he is forced to submit. Much of the language of 1984 has entered the modern lexicon: Big Brother, Sex and Thought crime, Doublethink etc. Some of it's insights tell the story of present day society. The book is pessimistic, belies hope and leaves nothing to the individual will, but it is without doubt one of the greatest novels of last century and Orwell one of it's finest writers.Book Review: An all-time classic!
Summary: 5 Stars
This book illustrates brilliantly the evil potential of man and exposes human vice and folley. Some of Orwell's foursights of the future are amazingly accurate, considering the book was written in the 1940s. Philosophically sound and an absolute masterpiece.Book Review: Scary stuff
Summary: 5 Stars
Read this book, have a laugh at how out of date it all is and then stop for a mment and think. Newspeak, minitrue, minipax and miniplenty are frigteningly like our modernday equivalents offwat, offtel and the rest. Big brother is out there. Be afraid. Be very afraid.Book Review: The finest piece of political discrimination ever written
Summary: 5 Stars
This beautifully conveyed tragic foresight into people self-deceiving themselves that a fatherly figure is in control and looks after them shows Orwell stood apart from the usual human way of thinking and understood the self-destructive and selfish nature of humanity.