Orwell's novel 1984 is unusual in that it is written about the past, the present, and the future at the same time. Each reader may consider it in his or her own way. It is undeniable only that it describes the lives of people living in a system of absolute totalitarianism. It is significant that the author looks not only at the structure of the state apparatus. The focus of attention is the life of a private person - Winston Smith.
The novel provides a rather detailed description of the ministries that maintain the closed existence of the country and its inhabitants: the Ministry of Peace, Truth, Abundance, and Love. These governmental organizations control all spheres of life, monitoring not only the present, but also adjusting history according to the current foreign policy situation. They are in control of all the personal lives of their people. Ironically, however, the desire for total subjugation of the population does not protect the state from the presence of free-thinking people who wish to change the political system and their private lives as well. One such man becomes Winston. He finds true love, which, of course, is also forbidden. Together with his beloved, they try to join the opposition society, but soon enough find themselves in the hands of the government.
The most terrifying moment in the novel is the imprisonment of the main character. What makes this moment terrible is not so much the fact that Winston and his beloved were imprisoned, but rather the punishment meant for them. They were not imprisoned or sentenced to death, as one might think. They were chosen to suffer a much harsher fate. Through torture, physical and, worse still, psychological pressure, they were forced to confess and sincerely renounce their views. It seems impossible. But...nothing is impossible.
Orwell draws before us not only a bloodthirsty world of total control over the personal lives of the people, but, more horrifyingly, he shows a society in which even the thoughts of its citizens are watched. Although, when you think about it, people who do not have their own desires, feelings and thoughts, blindly obeying the will of the ruler, can only be called creatures...
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