Nineteen Eighty-Four: Difference between revisions
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*** Big Brother ''is'' [[Josef Stalin|Stalin]]. Never say to a survivor of Stalin's regime, or even someone who had lived in the USSR when it was still Communist, that ''1984'' is an exaggeration of those times; children much like Winston's next door neighbors existed in droves, enjoyable sex was discouraged, and most importantly, thoughtcrime in its purest form existed -- it just wasn't ''called'' thoughtcrime. |
*** Big Brother ''is'' [[Josef Stalin|Stalin]]. Never say to a survivor of Stalin's regime, or even someone who had lived in the USSR when it was still Communist, that ''1984'' is an exaggeration of those times; children much like Winston's next door neighbors existed in droves, enjoyable sex was discouraged, and most importantly, thoughtcrime in its purest form existed -- it just wasn't ''called'' thoughtcrime. |
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** The most terrifying part of all of this is that it is all plausible. There are no far-fetched sci-fi elements in it, and they had 30ish years in the book-- long enough to raise a generation who've never known anything else. Orwell lifted most of Big Brother's tactics from Stalin and Hitler and provided a reason (war) for otherwise rational men and women to accept the same tactics from their own government. Though this also provides some hope, as North Koreans flee to China all the time, and when the Soviet Union collapsed people lined up to leave, and they were a generation that knew nothing else. |
** The most terrifying part of all of this is that it is all plausible. There are no far-fetched sci-fi elements in it, and they had 30ish years in the book-- long enough to raise a generation who've never known anything else. Orwell lifted most of Big Brother's tactics from Stalin and Hitler and provided a reason (war) for otherwise rational men and women to accept the same tactics from their own government. Though this also provides some hope, as North Koreans flee to China all the time, and when the Soviet Union collapsed people lined up to leave, and they were a generation that knew nothing else. |
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** Britain's mass surveillance and "safe beneath the watchful eye" posters attempting to justify it have drawn many comparisons to Airstrip One. They differ in crime rate however, with Britain having Europe's highest and Airstrip One having none. |
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* [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]]: Although apparently this was a case of [[Executive Meddling]], Supposedly Orwell wanted to set the book in 1948, but was told he couldn't, so he just switched the last two digits around to arrive at the new date/title. The fact that Winston himself isn't sure what year it is is remarked on several times. |
* [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]]: Although apparently this was a case of [[Executive Meddling]], Supposedly Orwell wanted to set the book in 1948, but was told he couldn't, so he just switched the last two digits around to arrive at the new date/title. The fact that Winston himself isn't sure what year it is is remarked on several times. |
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* [[Two Plus Torture Makes Five]]: Though George Orwell used it before in essays, this is the book it's most remembered from. |
* [[Two Plus Torture Makes Five]]: Though George Orwell used it before in essays, this is the book it's most remembered from. |
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