1984

About this Book

Nineteen Eighty-Four (often published as 1984) is a dystopian social science fiction novel and cautionary tale written by the English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 as Orwell's ninth and final book completed in his lifetime. The story centers on the consequences of totalitarianism, mass surveillance and repressive regimentation of people and behaviours within society. Orwell, a democratic socialist, modelled the authoritarian state in the novel on the Soviet Union in the era of Stalinism and Nazi Germany. The novel is set in Airstrip One (formerly Great Britain), a province of the superstate Oceania in a world of perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance, historical negationism, and propaganda. The state is controlled by the Inner Party and overseen by Big Brother, a cult of personality leader who may not even exist. The protagonist, Winston Smith, is a diligent and skillful rank-and-file worker and Outer Party member at the Ministry of Truth, where his job is to rewrite historical records to conform to the constantly changing party lines. Secretly hating the Party and yearning for rebellion, he enters into a forbidden relationship with a fellow coworker, Julia, and starts remembering what life was like before the Party came to power. Orwell's themes of doublethink, thoughtcrime, the Thought Police, and Newspeak have become ubiquitous symbols in popular culture for oppressive government overreach and freedom of speech curtailment.