NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR
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Radio 2 brings you as part of its popular weekly readings slot the first part of eight of George Orwell’s classic political satire Nineteen Eighty Four, read by Corin Redgrave.
The novel which is divided into three sections focuses on the life of Winston Smith, a man who works for the Ministry of Truth and who is arrested by the Thought Police for his deviation from the "general party line." Smith rebels against the Party in order to be his own man rather than be dictated to by the Party. Tortured and brainwashed, Smith eventually confesses to crimes that both he and the Party know he did not commit. The Party does not kill Smith, but reshapes him by breaking his will and turning him into a true believer of Big Brother.
First published on June 8, 1949, the bulk of the novel was written on the island of Jura, Scotland in 1948, although Orwell had been writing small parts of it since 1945. The book begins on April 4th, 1984 - the first entry in Winston Smith's diary at 1.00 pm ("It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen..."). The novel is divided into three sections: Part One deals with the world of Nineteen Eighty-Four as seen through the eyes of Winston, Part Two deals with Winston's forbidden sexual relationship with Julia, and his eagerness to rebel against the Party, and Part Three deals with Winston's capture and torture by O'Brien. Orwell had originally chosen to call it Nineteen Eighty, but as the writing dragged on due to the advance of his tuberculosis, Orwell changed it to Nineteen Eighty-Two and then to Nineteen Eighty-Four.
George Orwell wrote the novel because he was concerned about the gradual increase of control by the State with particular reference to the Labour Government of the post 2nd World War era. 1984 shows a world controlled by a higher power, with its population constantly living in fear of doing or saying something wrong – ‘thoughts’ can be incriminating. Even worse, any unpure thoughts may make you disappear. Constantly being watched, and observed without knowing. A telescreen watching every facial expression and recording any abnormal body language and movement everywhere you go. Even in your home there is no escape. You are unable to get away or turn off the power of the Telescreen and "Big Brother". This novel is of a man's struggle against a totalitarian government that controls the ideas and thoughts of its citizens.
Every image the reader receives from Winston Smith is pessimistic. Hate week, for example, is a big event in Oceania. This event happens everyday at a specified time in which people assembled in front of a large telescreen where pictures of terrible events in their history would be shown with the face of a man who is their equivalent to Adolf Hitler. The man’s name was Emmanuel Goldstein who was considered an enemy of the people. The assembled people go through several different reactions, some boo him, and others scream and become violent.
Winston hates the party and Big Brother. He hates the "pure" ones, also. Everything about Winston's life drives him closer and closer to a suicidal point each day. What makes things worse, the Party makes Winston think that he is crazy for wanting to be free to think and for wanting to remember. He does however find an ally in Julia with whom he has ‘forbidden’ sex and he thinks he has found an ally in O’Brien who gives him a book written by Emmanuel Goldstein.
Orwell used the image of a man who stood in a shadow that covered his face. This was to make him anonymous and unrecognizable. This figure was called "Big Brother", and was placed on posters everywhere with the saying "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU." This was used to let the people know that no matter where they go, they could not escape the watching eyes of the controlling government.
The government itself was very mysterious and had four main parts of which Winston, who worked in one part of the government, was very suspicious. The four parts were: The Ministry of Truth, where Winston worked, where he was in charge of education and the arts; The Ministry of Peace, which was in command of war; The Ministry of Plenty, which was controlled by economic affairs and finally the Ministry of Love, which concerned itself with law and order.
1984 is a satire of the upper class. The members of the Upper class believe that they have superiority over the common people. They are always wanting more than what is given to them. Very much like O'Brien telling Winston in the Ministry of Love that it wasn't good enough just for him to say that 2+2=5; he had to believe it with his entire being, to know that 2+2=5 or 3 or whatever the party said.
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