1984 is the 1948 published science fiction novel by George Orwell that gave a chilling prophecy about the future and I read it first whilst studying for an English Literature Examination in the 1960s. Back then, when the world was a different place and the internet no more than a fantasy this was a haunting vision of a future that Orwell foresaw in his mind. Indeed this notion was so powerfully written that it is completely convincing from beginning to end. I defy anybody to state that they were unaffected by the power of this novel which has exercised an understandable hold on the imaginations of generations of readers. 1984 somehow has that timeless quality that belongs to great novels and with the passage of time, seems only to grow …show more content…
This whole scenario unfolded in the city state of Oceana. Many have speculated that this was Orwell describing a future incarnation of London. Those so-called Thought Police were in fact a strange organisation for monitoring the thoughts of citizens. Of course Winston fails, and is naturally caught. He believes implicitly that he was set up to fail by people he considered allies . Naturally, such toxic thoughts as Winston displays signify to those Thought Police his rebellious nature. This is forcefully and completely subdued by brain-washing, and his earlier cause is lost. When I read this book back then I found this vision of the future bleak and frankly foreboding with an underlying message that it is better to conform than not even when society and government are not perfect. 21st century society is by no means as awful as this bleak Orwellian vision. His s dystopian epic embodied his having created a a negative Utopia with nowhere to hide in which people simply do not have a choice. 1984 is, in fact, a novel of hopelessness rather than hope, ending on such a negative note for Winston. Yet still one has to remark on just how stark a reminder this novel the truly fragile nature of democracy and how thin the veneer of