Never had a book written in 1950 been so fundamental nowadays. Orwell's words can only be described as prophetic, exact and shockingly raw and bare.
What makes the story sink deep into the conscience of the reader is the fact that the latter is not a mere spectator, he's absorbed in Winston's mind. The show of a rotten society, where violence and manipulation are the pillars of its ideals, is admired through the eyes of an outcast, a person who can detect and see through the veil of lies that the party has made up. The reader identifies with Winston, because he too can perceive the absurdity and the dystopic world he's got into. Both the reader and Winston proceed through comparison, the former with reality, the other with the past and his memory, still the reader is aware of the general insanity upon which the main character's world is built just at the beginning of the book. He thinks he is detached from such folly and control, but as he moves forward he finds himself hypnotized, incapable of discerning what's real and what isn't. What I found fascinating was how maddening and infuriating was the feeling of being alone, in a world of well- programmed machines; Winston considers himself to be mad, even inferior because of his acknowledgment, of his intelligence. It is frustrating how he truly knows he’s right, yet his arguments could easily be disintegrated by the well-informed, I’d say well-fed, yet completely insane counterpart
"But the thought of being a lunatic did not greatly trouble him; the horror was that he might also be wrong."
However the real change in our perspective begins when we too get aware of the veil, definitely more transparent, I dare say subtler, that covers our own society. Here Goldstein’s book “The theory and practice of oligarchical collectivism” plays a primary role in the reader’s process of acknowledgment, it also explains why everyone should read this masterpiece.
So our journey starts when we finally open our eyes and become aware, just like Winston. Through the foggy mess of deception and control we gain awareness and we really empathize with the main character. We expect him to win, because we feel like we won by becoming aware, we find that nothing and no one can take that away from us. Through the obsessed control of Big Brother, we find out how precious and stable our own inner conscience is. No one can steal such a precious treasure from us, we've finally found our anchor, our solid stone. We take a long exhale. We are safe.
This is why I would describe this book with one word.
Helplessness
Winston seems to have reached the same safe land as we have. Then he stumbles, he's captured, beaten, tortured, his consciousness is dragged out of him through suffering, pain and manipulation. We believe, we want to believe, he won't cease, in the depths of his soul he knows the truth, he's aware. But in the end he's just broken. He had been shattered to the core, his individuality destroyed, his conscience uprooted and reprogrammed. That insanity, folly, violence, inhumanity won. We are left with this feeling, or certainty that it will always win. It is clear that men, especially when grouped in an unconscious mass, have the instinct to pragmatically receive whatever information is fed them, as long as they feel safe, because rooted in the very bone of the human mind, and I say mind nor heart or soul, there is a beast threatening to imprison us: this beast is made of fear, thirst for power, violence, the need to survive, that goes with the annihilation of the other. In a very hobbsian way, Orwell displays us the true nature of the modern society; though not with humans living in their state of nature, at the very origin of their identity, but in a predestined future. Another intriguing character is Juliet. At first being introduced as a passionate supporter of the regime, the perfect slave, the diligent lab rat, filled with anger and hatred, it comes without saying that the reader views her as a threat, a potential spy. That is why, when the note drops on Winston’s hand, those three words completely overturn us.
I love you
We soon learn to appreciate her, “the great pretender”, the actress among mindless people. Her relationship with Winston is like a flash of colour in a black and white universe, like a flower blooming in a barren desert. And again we perceive their love as strong and untouchable, yet fragile, almost like a rose in a crystal case, we feel the thrill that comes along with the perilousness of their encounters, they are aware of their actions being illegal, forbidden, but at the same time so natural and spontaneous. The dense atmosphere of the book is at times broken by these lovely scenarios: their first encounter in the “golden country”, or their little private room above the shop, where they can eat chocolate and drink coffee. Yet a sense of dread and danger seeps through the cracks of these peaceful moments, almost like an ascending climax, from their first rendezvous, to the voice:
You are the dead
And then the repudiation of Juliet, when terror takes hold of Winston’s mind. It all converges in it. The sense of helplessness. Not even love could break the system.
Initially I thought Orwell was giving us a warning, a chance of redemption, but in the end, we realize how helpless we are against the rapid development of modern society.
Aurora Dicarlo