So I finished this book today and there was no way that I would sleep without writing about it first. Published in 1949, the book is a reflection of its author George Orwell, a proclaimed communist and a lifelong rebel against imperialism despite his British roots. This novel is a handbook for difficult times — set in future times, there are three totalitarian regions constantly at war with each other. The protagonist, Winston Smith is one of the millions of Outer Party members living under permanent state surveillance and constantly fighting between truth and reality.
70 years later, this fiction seems all the more real and apt. It is a must-read to understand the HOW and the WHY behind the actions of global leaders and countries. The author describes three strata in a society — high, middle, and low. The high want to retain their position, the middle wants to be where high is and the low is always focused on meeting their basic needs. A rebellion is always led by the middle for the rights of the low to remove the high, only to be like the high. Now, in all the past freedom movements, those in power have eventually lost — because of lack of desire to rule, the consciousness of their subjects or they failed to realize that power is a collective. A rebellion starts only when people are conscious and only when people are conscious can a rebellion start. So by cutting off people from the world and erasing the past, you are telling them that they are better off now. Umm India manipulating financial figures, or China regulating social media for its citizens, seems relatable?
Let’s talk about power. Why do people want power? What is power? The author argues that people want power for themselves and not to bring change in the lives of others, which is true. So how is a government infallible — how do they remain in power forever — by accepting that power is collective — power is power over human beings, human minds. Every person is mortal which is one of the biggest human failures. So if you merge yourself to something bigger (like the IngSoc in the book) and submit completely — then you will be immortal and powerful. This explains why people so strongly associate themselves with one leader or one political party because they feel they are doing something bigger than themselves, something more important.
But not everyone thinks as you do, what do you do about that? You make it a crime — THOUGHTCRIME. Reality is only in a person’s mind. So if you kill the reality by molding a person’s thought process, killing his knowledge about the past, and making him hollow from the inside; voila you have converted your enemy to your most loyal subject! There are three stages of a traitor’s reintegration into society — learning, understanding, and acceptance. Isn’t this exactly what China is doing with Uighurs in Xinjiang or India wanting to do with Muslims? There is no acceptance for diversity in any way in a tyrannical society as it thrives on worshipping one person, and blindly following his antics.
There is often mention of telescreens in the story that lead to the protagonist’s arrest in the end, and they are present in our society, in every home, with every person — but we don’t just see it that way. The telescreens were installed in every house to keep a watch on the people, they couldn’t be switched off and heard and saw whatever you did. We have something of similar sorts only much advanced — Social Media. With known privacy issues, large-scale data collection of our activities, and rigorous monitoring by the governments — THEY ACTUALLY CAN SEE US.
Thought Police was another scary element in this book as they ‘vaporized’ anyone whom they believed had the potential to think otherwise. Thought Police very much exists today — like how police reacted to CAA protests or farmers’ protests — the unnecessary adherence to nationalistic behavior and expecting people of the same is how the MODI government is making Orwell’s fiction a reality.
There are many such similarities that one finds between this masterpiece and society today. But it’s for you to find out and do let me know your thoughts in the comments!
