George Orwell’s masterpiece, Nineteen Eighty-Four, celebrated its 75th anniversary on Saturday. The novel tells the story of Winston Smith, a resident of an oppressive future state who slowly rebels against the system. The book is a powerful study of totalitarianism and how it affects individuals. It takes place in a future world of war, poverty, rationing, and absolute state control in which every action, word, and even thought is monitored and controlled by the leader, ‘Big Brother,’ and ‘The Party.’
The novel was written during the Cold War era when communism was spreading across the world and was set in re-imagined London. The book is famous for its depiction of a rainy, filthy, and battered city, almost entirely devoid of colour, warmth, or comfort. Orwell wrote the novel in an isolated and beautiful corner of the Isle of Jura, where he sought to escape the noise, smog, and damp of London.
Orwell’s son Richard Blair, who turned 80 in May, recalls the time they spent on Jura with fondness. He remembers having access to fish, lobsters, crabs, meat in the form of rabbits and venison, making their lifestyle high quality despite being relatively simple. Orwell continued to write on Jura, completing the novel just before Christmas, after he was hospitalised at the sanatorium, and was finally well enough to complete the novel for which he would become most celebrated.
Nineteen Eighty-Four has gained a vast reputation and has had linguistic relevance, coining terms such as “Big Brother,” “Thought Police,” and “Orwellian.” The book has become a masterpiece in its time, with its influence on the power of the state, totalitarianism, the role of technology, and the surveillance culture of society. Orwell’s prophetic writing style and the wisdom he imparted to the world will continue to be celebrated and read by generations to come
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