1984 by George Orwel is a dramatic novel portraying a restricted society.
Winston Smith is a thin, 39 year-old man who wears blue Party coveralls. Winston
is sick of the Party's rigid control over his life and world, and begins trying
to rebel against the Party--writing defiant thoughts in a secret diary and
starting an illegal affair with Julia. Julia a beautiful dark-haired girl
working in the Fiction Department at the Ministry of Truth. A mysterious and
powerful member of the Inner Party whom Winston believes is a member of the
Brotherhood. Throughout the novel, Winston is obsessed with O'Brien, dreaming he
will meet him one day in "the place where there is no darkness." Mr.
Charrington a kindly old mans whom runs a second-hand store. Winston buys his
diary at Mr. Charrington's store, and also buys a paperweight there that becomes
very important to him. The novel starts off in a city called Oceania, where the
BIG BOTHER IS WATCHING YOU. Winston feels frustrated by the control of the
Party, which prohibits free thought, sex, and any of individual thought. He has
illegally purchased a diary in which to write his thoughts, and has become
fixated on a powerful Party member named O'Brien, whom Winston believes is a
secret member of the Brotherhood, the legendary group that works to overthrow
the Party. Winston works in the Ministry of Truth, where he alters historical
records to fit the needs of the Party. He has noticed a beautiful girl, staring
at him; he worries that she is an informant who will turn him in for his thought
crime. He worries about the Party's control of history: One day, Winston
receives a note from the dark-haired girl that reads, "I love you."
Her name is Julia, and they begin a covert affair, always on the lookout for
signs of party monitoring; . O'Brien initiates Winston and Julia into the
Brotherhood, and gives Winston a copy of Emmanuel Goldstein's book. Winston
reads the book to Julia in the room above the store, but suddenly soldiers seize
them; the owner of the store has been a member of the Thought Police. Torn away
from Julia and taken to a place called the Ministry of Love, Winston finds that
O'Brien was a Party spy as well; O'Brien spends months torturing and
brainwashing Winston, finally sending him to the dreaded Room 101. Here, O'Brien
straps a cage full of rats. Winston snaps, pleading with O'Brien to do it to
Julia, not to him. The main conflict in the novel is between man vs. society,
because Winston tried to rebel against the government. As much as he could hold
the torture, right when he got into Room 101 and saw all the rats, he started to
love Big Brother, and gave up the rebellion. The main theme in the book is to
warn people what can happen when governments are given too much power. It also
shows us how such governments can develop, and what methods they use to keep the
people they are governing in their power. I though this book was very
interesting, because of just how the government works and how it relates us. The
only thing I didn’t like about the book was that it was getting confusing
during the middle of the book.