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Tag: George Orwell

  • Nineteen Eighty-Four

    Winston Smith is a low-ranking member of the ruling Party in Airstrip One, the former Britain, now a province of the superstate Oceania. He works at the Ministry of Truth altering old newspaper articles so that the historical record always matches the Party's current line. Telescreens watch every room, the Thought Police hunt dissent, and posters of Big Brother look down from every wall.

    Privately, Winston hates the regime. He begins a forbidden diary, dreams of a mysterious brotherhood of resistance, and starts a dangerous secret affair with Julia, a young woman from the Fiction Department. He is also drawn to O'Brien, an Inner Party official he suspects shares his doubts.

    Published in 1949, shortly before Orwell's death, the novel gave the language Newspeak, doublethink, thoughtcrime, the memory hole and Room 101. It is a study of totalitarianism, propaganda, surveillance and the manipulation of truth and language, and it remains a reference point in debates about state power and technology.

    Book details

    AuthorGeorge Orwell
    First published1949
    Original languageEnglish
    GenreScience fiction
    TypeFiction
    Pages (approx.)328
    SettingLondon, Airstrip One, Oceania, 1984

    Themes

    • Totalitarianism
    • Surveillance
    • Propaganda
    • Truth and language
    • Individual freedom

    Who should read it

    Anyone interested in politics, propaganda and surveillance, and readers who want the defining dystopian novel.

  • Animal Farm

    On Manor Farm in England, the elderly boar Old Major shares a dream with the other animals: a world in which they are free of human masters and keep the fruits of their own labour. Not long afterwards, neglected and hungry, the animals rise up and drive out the drunken farmer Mr Jones, rename their home Animal Farm, and paint seven commandments of equality on the barn wall.

    The cleverest animals, the pigs, take charge of planning. Two of them, Snowball and Napoleon, quarrel over the building of a windmill and the direction of the farm, while the persuasive Squealer explains every new decision to the others. The hardworking cart-horse Boxer, the cynical donkey Benjamin and the sheep with their slogans show how ordinary citizens respond as the rules quietly change.

    Written during the Second World War and published in 1945, the book is an allegory of the Russian Revolution and Stalinism, but its warning about how power corrupts ideals and how language is bent to justify it applies far more widely. Its simple style makes it a common school text.

    Book details

    AuthorGeorge Orwell
    First published1945
    Original languageEnglish
    GenreClassic
    TypeFiction
    Pages (approx.)112
    SettingManor Farm, England

    Themes

    • Corruption of power
    • Revolution
    • Propaganda
    • Totalitarianism
    • Class

    Who should read it

    Readers of any age who want a short, sharp fable about how revolutions can betray their own ideals.