1984 Overview

George Orwell tends to write his essays and novels based on how he perceives the world. He uses situations that people from any time in history or of any generation can certainly relate to. He also uses a certain tone that readers find mysterious or off putting while still somehow relating to our world. 1984 was written to be a futuristic novel and although reading it in 2020 no longer has that future effect, it still creates a very off putting, yet relevant vibe. I believe this is one of many reasons why the story remains relevant even long after Oceania has come and gone because no matter when you read this story, Orwell created a tone that continues to be significant to our world. This novel has a classic quote of “Big Brother is watching you.” (page 2) and this quote is continued throughout the novel. I think many people still relate to this for many reasons because today we have tons and tons of technology, including phones, TV, computers, and we have social media, like, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and so many others. All of these devices and networks are continuously being monitored, essentially making it our modern “Big Brother.” Big Brother is no longer a shadowy whatever following you throughout your day, but lives virtually wherever you go and is always watching whatever you do.

This novel remains a classic due to the relatability it has and the effects it gives the reader. On page 3 it states “There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug your wire whenever they wanted to.” You could see how this must have been confusing at the time this story was published but since we have much further in the future, it is scary how much we relate to what is being said. We all know that our modern “Big Brother” watches us through our technology and we simply do not know what they are seeing or when they are watching or if they do just watch all the time. That is a huge reason why this novel continues to intrigue and influence readers to this day. It is simply becoming more and more relatable as times become more technologically advanced and everyone can find a way to get our information so easily. We are always being watched, it was not just a simple prediction from Orwell. It is happening and it is real.

There are many merits, as well as drawbacks from reading 1984. Some of the merits include, getting to know better how this world relates to our own, you also get to see Orwell's writings and get to dig deeper in analyzing how he writes and the predictions he had about our future. The drawbacks are more so about the paranoia you may develop from reading this book. For example, if you weren’t worried about the “Big Brother'' of our current world, you may develop a worry about being watched. I do think reading this novel in 2020 is worth it though, you get to see Orwell's perspective on what he thought the future would be but he honestly was not too far off.

I found that the opening sentence was absolutely fantastic as it created a very off putting yet intriguing situation. “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” (page 1) This showed us what the novel has to come. It allows us to question what is to come and creates a very mysterious tone. I thought it was necessary for Orwell to start the novel off like this because since the story was meant to be in the future we have to be a little confused and it is pretty cool because even reading it in 2020 this sentence still offers some confusion for the reader.

Overall, I would definitely suggest this novel to any reader. It is a very good read and allows the reader to really think about this world Orwell created and we can compare it to our modern world. We get to analyze the story on a much deeper scale since we are not reading it as it is in the future. This also is why we can compare it to our world today. While times continue to change, the things that worried Orwell have not changed at all.