Irving Howe

Totalitarianism in Our Century

1984 Revisited

George Orwell

George Orwell’s 1984 takes on new life with extraordinary relevance and renewed popularity. “Orwell saw, to his credit, that the act of falsifying reality is only secondarily a way of changing perceptions. It is, above all, a way of asserting power.”—The New Yorker In 1984, London is a grim city in the totalitarian state of Oceania where Big Brother is always watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind. Winston Smith is a man in grave danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions. Drawn into a forbidden love affair, Winston finds the courage to join a secret revolutionary organization called The Brotherhood, dedicated to the destruction of the Party. Together with his beloved Julia, he hazards his life in a deadly match against the powers that be. Lionel Trilling said of Orwell’s masterpiece, “1984 is a profound, terrifying, and wholly fascinating book. It is a fantasy of the political future, and like any such fantasy, serves its author as a magnifying device for an examination of the present.” Though the year 1984 now exists in the past, Orwell’s novel remains an urgent call for the individual willing to speak truth to power.

1984

Altair

"You had to live—did live, from habit that became instinct—in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized."

Angelica Garcia

Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.

Thomas Pynchon

Nineteen Eighty-Four

🍵

For if leisure and security were enjoyed by all alike, the great mass of human beings who are normally stupefied by poverty would become literate and would learn to think for themselves; and when they had done this, they would sooner or later realise that the privileged minority had no function, and they would sweep it away. In the long run, hierarchical society was only possible on a basis of poverty and ignorance.

But after reading it he knew better than before that he was not mad. Being in a minority, even a minority of one, did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad 

In a way, the world-view of the Party imposed itself most successfully on people incapable of understanding it. They could be made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality, because they never fully grasped the enormity of what was demanded of them, and were not sufficiently interested in public events to notice what was happening. By lack of understanding they remained sane. They simply swallowed everything, and what they swallowed did them no harm, because it left no residue behind, just as a grain of corn will pass undigested through the body of a bird.

In this game that we’re playing, we can’t win. Some kinds of failure are better than other kinds, that’s all.

Aina

Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood

Every new political theory, by whatever name it called itself, led back to hierarchy and regimentation. And in the general hardening of outlook that set in round about 1930, practices which had been long abandoned, in some cases for hundreds of years—imprisonment without trial, the use of war prisoners as slaves, public executions, torture to extract confessions, the use of hostages and the deportation of whole populations—not only became common again, but were tolerated and even defended by people who considered themselves enlightened and progressive.

It’s the one thing they can't do. They can make you say anything—anything—but they can't make you believe it. They can’t get inside you.

Privacy, he said, was a very valuable thing. Everyone wanted a place where they could be alone occasionally.

So long as human beings stay human, death and life are the same thing.

Jena

It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live did live, from habit that became instinct-in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.

Yajat Dayal

Maja Ruzicic

Applied to a Party member, it means a loyal willingness to say that black is white when Party discipline demands this. But it means also the ability to BELIEVE that black is white, and more, to KNOW that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary.

anne

Die Massen revoltieren nie aus eigenem Antrieb, und sie revoltieren nie, nur weil sie unterdrückt werden. Solange man ihnen die Vergleichsmaßstäbe entzieht, werden sie nicht einmal merken, daß man sie unterdrückt 

Wäre ihm der Kontakt mit Ausländern gestattet, würde er feststellen, daß sie ganz ähnliche Menschen sind wie er und daß das meiste, was er über sie gehört hat, Lügen waren. 

a novel

Nineteen eighty-four

Luca Stromann

Talking to her, he realised how easy it was to present an appearance of orthodoxy while having no grasp whatever of what orthodoxy meant. In a way, the world-view of the Party imposed itself most successfully on people incapable of understanding it. They could be made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality, because they never fully grasped the enormity of what was demanded of them, and were not sufficiently interested in public events to notice what was happening. By lack of understanding they remained sane.

𖠋

‘Who controls the past, ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.’ And yet the past, though of its nature al- terable, never had been altered. Whatever was true now was true from everlasting to everlasting. It was quite simple. All that was needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory. ‘Reality control', they called it: in New-speak, 'doublethink.’

Ghanshyam Kabra

Orthodoxy means not thinking-not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.

Igor Lanko

The weariness of the cell is the vigour of the organism. Do you die when you cut your fingernails?

I know a sound is still a sound around no one

I didn’t live through 1984, but somehow… it feels like I’m living 

 it. Surveillance, manipulation, thought control, things that once felt distant now feel eerily familiar. It’s not just a book about a dystopia.

It’s a manual the world seems to be quietly following, one update at a time.

Tanishq Khandelwal

I didn’t live through 1984, but somehow… it feels like I’m living in it. Surveillance, manipulation, thought control, things that once felt distant now feel eerily familiar. It’s not just a book about a dystopia.
It’s a manual the world seems to be quietly following, one update at a time.

Library Edition

The way this world is built, described and live in has not left me, absolute classic

Sam Uhe

Pedro Teixeira

1984 is undoubtedly my favorite book. It leaves me speechless every time I read it, and the story still resonates with current events. A timeless book.

Sherilyn Bourillon 

gishelle

How can one come up with such a plot? It’s literally insane to me how George Orwell just sat down and started coming up with this insane world with a whole new language, system, behaviours and words and it all makes so much sense and no sense at all, all at the same time. It’s literally insane. And then the fact that our main character is literally a prick, a weirdo, high key evil and has some… interesting thoughts but even towards the end I just feel sick for him. It’s so crazy. The party are mad. The proles are lowkey living life. The outer party are literally all brainwashed it’s insane. O’Brien is actually an opp. This book was a great commentary on social society, and how our world conforms to the plot of this book today. 

surtified™

How can one come up with such a plot? It’s literally insane to me how George Orwell just sat down and started coming up with this insane world with a whole new language, system, behaviours and words and it all makes so much sense and no sense at all, all at the same time. It’s literally insane. And then the fact that our main character is literally a prick, a weirdo, high key evil and has some… interesting thoughts but even towards the end I just feel sick for him. It’s so crazy. The party are mad. The proles are lowkey living life. The outer party are literally all brainwashed it’s insane. O’Brien is actually an opp. This book was a great commentary on social society, and how our world conforms to the plot of this book today. 

Crazy. Book. Would recommend. 

um livro ok, enrolado em muitos momentos e começa a ficar interessante mais pro final 

camile

This story highlights the bleak reality of totalitarian regimes and how easily they can infiltrate the minds of their citizens. People don’t like to believe they’re as susceptible as they are, but throughout history — and even today — we see the systematic efforts government forces put into controlling the population and how effective it is. It’s unfortunate that this story is still as relevant as it is today. There’s strong imagery of both rebellion and what happens when people are broken down by the system, and while I found myself annoyed at the characters throughout the story, I understand their actions. To me, Winston is a very unlikable man, but I still found myself sympathetic to aspects of his story.

Overall, I enjoyed this a lot. I just wish some of the pacing was different, and there was a section where my engagement with the text started to wane, disrupting my focus.

Nik ✨

This story highlights the bleak reality of totalitarian regimes and how easily they can infiltrate the minds of their citizens. People don’t like to believe they’re as susceptible as they are, but throughout history — and even today — we see the systematic efforts government forces put into controlling the population and how effective it is. It’s unfortunate that this story is still as relevant as it is today. There’s strong imagery of both rebellion and what happens when people are broken down by the system, and while I found myself annoyed at the characters throughout the story, I understand their actions. To me, Winston is a very unlikable man, but I still found myself sympathetic to aspects of his story.

Overall, I enjoyed this a lot. I just wish some of the pacing was different, and there was a section where my engagement with the text started to wane, disrupting my focus.

I need a moment of silence and peace after this please

Agnese

Ani Velasquez

incredible book, renewed my love for reading and books, got me thinking deeply about our current relationship with surveillance and media, as well as where society is heading for in the future.

Reflecting the time it was created it is a masterpiece with some small critic points. It is a depressing but catching story, with a longer excursus into world politics and conspiracies. 5 stars from a release date perspective, 4.5 stars for todays standards. Impressive how accurate it still is.

J Fra

ophelia ross 

Holy fuck this depressing-ass book… I’m so glad I only read this now and wasn’t forced to read it in secondary school because I don’t think I would have appreciated it as much as I do right now. Loved “Goldstein’s book”, and I love love loved how Orwell expanded on the control of thought via language. I.e. the entire Appendix was so interesting… 4.5 stars because I almost gave up at Part One and also because I really do not like Winston unfortunately. — “Can you not understand, Winston, that the individual is only a cell? The weariness of the cell is the vigor of the organism. Do you die when you cut your fingernails?”

Nicole

The closest thing to the term "Timeless classic"

I consider the way Orwell portray absolute control to be absolutely haunting. History is not just blurred, it's fictitious. Freedom is stripped to its most naked form that even the freedom to think is taken.

1984 is not just a contemplative critic to authoritarianism, it's also a warning to society. This is what happens if you let power unchecked for too long.

catto fishu

The closest thing to the term "Timeless classic"

I consider the way Orwell portray absolute control to be absolutely haunting. History is not just blurred, it's fictitious. Freedom is stripped to its most naked form that even the freedom to think is taken.

1984 is not just a contemplative critic to authoritarianism, it's also a warning to society. This is what happens if you let power unchecked for too long.

How it was illustrated with his writing is what i appreciate about this book 

Rusydi Aman

first this year and it was RUFFFFF. felt cool after reading! i'm amazedd

Tina Villarete

“The command of the old despotisms was ‘Thou shalt not’. The command of the totalitarians was ‘Thou shalt’. Our command is ‘Thou art’.” 

Wow. To control a language is to control entire modes of thought. The end of this book was stomach churning and made me feel ill, however it was also the best part of it. Extremely thought provoking stuff. The characters were fine but maybe lacked more depth to them. The overall message of the story is something I’ll be thinking about and unpacking for a long, long time. 

Brittany Halladay

“The command of the old despotisms was ‘Thou shalt not’. The command of the totalitarians was ‘Thou shalt’. Our command is ‘Thou art’.” 

Wow. To control a language is to control entire modes of thought. The end of this book was stomach churning and made me feel ill, however it was also the best part of it. Extremely thought provoking stuff. The characters were fine but maybe lacked more depth to them. The overall message of the story is something I’ll be thinking about and unpacking for a long, long time. 

Ruby Emmeline Fisher

Honestly jesus christ. This was such a great book to read, especially alongside other people to be able to discuss. Orwell’s style of writing is something I could easily plow through, but I did get, and still am, confused by the time like? But nevertheless, it was a great example of a timeless novel on a surveillance society, censorship and loyalty.

1984 Revisited Totalitarianism in Our Century

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