The Orwell Experience

I honestly wish I had a better recollection of what caused me to pick up and read the novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four” by George Orwell. A cinematic opening to a story of me journeying from library to library seeking veracity and critical thinking.

But there isn’t one.

One doesn’t exist because I, like many others, was just another person wandering through my days. Frolicking ignorantly in the mental winds of whatever distraction felt comfortable at the time.

There was no intentionality in my life. No purpose. And definitely no challenging thought. However, when something changes you at the level Nineteen Eighty-Four changed me, what took place prior feels like a separate lifetime. A vivid indication of the shedding of youth. The ways before are only examples of the limited perspective one could maintain for so long.

Before I delve deeper into how this novel has changed me, I will briefly explain what it consists of. George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four is a dystopian social science fiction taking place in an undisclosed year. This broken future tells the story of Winston Smith, a lowly employee at a place called The Ministry of Truth. This ministry is responsible for rewriting historical records to be fitting for society. As time at the ministry progresses, Winston rebels.

As I read on, I became horrified and electrified simultaneously. I felt as if I was reading secrets. It was baffling to me that something so specifically parallel to the current times was published in 1949. Furthermore, I discovered that some of today’s common terms originated from the novel. Terms like Big Brother, Double Speak, and Thought Crime were born directly from Winston’s world.

I found it odd that no one seemed as startled as I was by this book. If a term from a novel like Nineteen Eighty-Four became appropriate for use in our world, it should petrify us all. “Big Brother” is commonly used to communicate the well-known surveillance done by our government. It has even become the premise of a television show with the same name, allowing the viewers to take part in the act of examination themselves. And for those who believe people would see the correlation and demand the show be canceled, it’s currently on its 25th season at the time of this writing.

Speaking of canceling, Nineteen Eighty-Four also demonstrates the act of making someone an “UNPERSON”. In the novel, to deem someone as an “UNPERSON” was to eradicate your acknowledgment of their existence. They did not exist and have never existed. The act was considered a rectification. Meaning a disruption of said act would be viewed as a display of harm toward society. This is an identical mirroring of today’s “cancel culture”.

If I told you thinking the wrong thoughts is punishable, we’re all being watched and listened to by our screens, older books are being rewritten or completely banned to suit modern ideologies, and people think in groups while protecting all of it, you wouldn’t know if I was speaking about our current times or Nineteen Eighty-Four. Orwell’s novel seems to be the blueprint for our world today. However, that is not all a bad thing.

Along with the grip of control came someone willing to oppose it. Nineteen Eighty-Four taught me to question the answers. I no longer accept what is handed to me, perhaps in the form of a headline or a tweet, as the complete story. I have learned to respect the gift of thinking, even if I am the only one in the room with a certain opinion. This wonderful novel has also shown me the power of writing.

If you have yet to read George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, I suggest you get a copy from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or wherever else you purchase books. While it’s still legal to do so.