1984 - George Orwell Book Review

Enter a review
of your own!

Other books by
author George Orwell

"1984"
Message Board

George Orwell Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR: Nico Self

SCHOLARS: Kevin Adam alisa Eugene Kim Anthony Selbe

Would you like to be a scholar and make five dollars per review? Click here to submit a review!

Review Summaries
"Winston Smith is an average forty something man living and working in a totalitarian system where each and every person (except for the poor folk, aka proles) live under, and are constantly watched by Big Brother a symbol of fear and respect. Children are evil little brats who spy and tell on dissenters, who are then sent to the Ministry of Love for reeducation. Smith questions and ponders his society and is rewarded by meeting up with a young girl called Julia, whom he has a love affair with, and who both, together, attempt to join the rebels against Big Brother and evade capture by the Thought Police, who investigate traitors of Big Brother." Nico Self, Resident George Orwell Scholar
"Big Brother and the thought police have control. Winston Smith, an above average writer is placed in a world of double speak where the words of the english language are being wittled down to the point where thought itself is being infantized along with the language. Winston is tempted to stray from his accepted place in society in order to pursue not only a love affair but also the possibility of freedom. The thought police have other ideas. When captured, Winston is tortured on a cerebral level, trapped by his own words and again tortured on a physical level. His physical health is restored when his cerebral health has broken. He learns to enjoy, with the renewal of his physical health, the new state of mind in a state of politic where the citizen itself is considered a domestic threat to Big Brother. " Kevin, Resident George Orwell Scholar
"Winston Smith is a low-level government employee, writing phony news articles for the totalitarian society of Airstrip One, a province of Oceania. Winston, against the law of the dictator Big Brother, falls in love with the young woman Julia and has an adulterous relationship with her, and he seeks aid from the seemingly friendly O'Brien. He is arrested by the Thought Police for his crime, and he is placed in a prison chamber in the Ministry of Love, and is tortured in Room 101, the place where there is no darkness." Adam, Resident George Orwell Scholar
"1984 is about the future, which was created by George Orwell's imagination, and it is about what would happen in the future if the Communists were allowed to rule. 1984 is the story about a Communist rule where whatever you do is seen by Big Brother and his secret police. There is even a Thought Police which know all your thoughts. There was a man named Winston who doesntt like the Communists at all. He buys a diary from an antique store (note: diaries were forbidden and keeping them was punishable by death) and he smuggles it into his apartment. In his apartment, there is a video camera where the police could see everything that he was doing. But there was one corner in his one room apartment where the video camera couldn't see him and this was where Winston wrote in his diary. He wrote Down with Big Brother! Which he knew was all in vain because he knew that Big Brother would always rule. Winston then meets a girl named Julia who is part of the police. They fall in love and eventually get married. But such things are not acceptable by the government or society. They get caught and they are separated and beaten until they believe that Big Brother is always right. Someone who was supposed to be his friend beats Winston until Winston becomes to be insane. Somehow, the beating affects Winston in a way that he hates Julia now and not only thinks that Big Brother is right but that he loves Big Brother. Crested sapwood supportable noradrenaline runout. " alisa, Resident George Orwell Scholar
"This dystopian novel describes Winston Smith's rebellion against the totalitarian "socialist" society of the fictional country of Oceania, set in London. With vague references to an underground anti-government community (the "Brotherhood"), help from some lower-class (proles) and upper-class (Party members) citizens, and some unexpected persons, Winston attempts to stay alive while betraying and rebelling against the Party. Crested sapwood supportable noradrenaline runout. " Eugene Kim, Resident George Orwell Scholar
"The main character and the rest of the continent is controlled by The Party, which is controlled by Big Brother. The main character does his best to harm The Party, meeting a women who has the same ideas. He ends up getting captured, and The Party makes him change his mind. Rats! Crested sapwood supportable noradrenaline runout. " blaksun, Resident George Orwell Scholar
"1984 was without a doubt, George Orwell's most profound novel. Through a very descriptive "worst case scenario" Orwell presents to the reader the possibility of an "unchecked government" and what freedoms will be lost. Crested sapwood supportable noradrenaline runout. " Anthony Selbe, Resident George Orwell Scholar
"This book is about a supposedly socialist government that is more totalitarian. Big Brother and the Thought Police constantly monitor all citizens of Oceania with telescreens, and if people oppose the party, they will be killed, therefore ceasing to ever exist and becoming "unpersons." The Party controls the past, present, and future as they alter historical records and effectively brainwash the population. The plot focuses around Winston Smith and the woman he later falls in love with--Julia--as they begin to realize the truth, quietly defy the Party in any small ways they can, and eventually must struggle against the most terrible brainwashing of all. Crested sapwood supportable noradrenaline runout. " Six Madine, Resident George Orwell Scholar

Click above for the new Obama Girl Parody video!

Overall Review

Our unique search engine breaks down books and movies into dozens of literary elements, all of which are searchable.

Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 38.6%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 42.9%

Tone of book - cynical or dry-wit
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - alternate history
Repressive society story Yes
Repressive because: - controls your mind - strict rationing of freedoms/goods
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Who's a slave/repressed? - humans are slaves of other humans

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Age: - 20's-30's - 40's-50's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters

Main Adversary
Identity: - an organization
Profession/status: - dictator
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor

Setting
Earth setting: - 20th century
Takes place on Earth? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - explicit references to torture
scientific jargon? (SF only) - none/very little science jargon needed
Sex in book?