Synopsis
The year is 1984; the scene is London, largest population
center of Airstrip One. Airstrip One is part of the
vast political entity Oceania, which is eternally at war
with one of two other vast entities, Eurasia and
Eastasia. At any moment, depending upon current
alignments, all existing records show either that Oceania
has always been at war with Eurasia and allied with
Eastasia, or that it has always been at war with Eastasia
and allied with Eurasia. Winston Smith knows this,
because his work at the Ministry of Truth involves the
constant "correction" of such records.
"'Who controls the past, ran the Party slogan,
'controls the future: who controls the present controls
the past.'"
In a grim city and a terrifying country, where Big
Brother is always Watching You and the Thought Police can
practically read your mind, Winston is a man in grave
danger for the simple reason that his memory still
functions. He knows the Party's official image of the
world is a fluid fiction. He knows the Party controls the
people by feeding them lies and narrowing their
imaginations through a process of bewilderment and
brutalization that alienates each individual from his
fellows and deprives him of every liberating human
pursuit from reasoned inquiry to sexual passion. 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.
Newspeak, doublethink, thoughtcrime--in
1984, George Orwell created a whole vocabulary of
words concerning totalitarian control that have since
passed into our common vocabulary. More importantly, he
has portrayed a chillingly credible dystopia. In our
deeply anxious world, the seeds of unthinking conformity
are everywhere in evidence; and Big Brother is always
looking for his chance.
