War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.
1984 sets place in Airstrip One, which is a province located in Great Britain. Oceania, a totalitarian superstate, is constantly either at war with Eurasia or Eastasia. The hierarchy of the society is the inner-party, who are the upper class and about 2% of the total population. The outer-party, which are low-ranking members of the party and about 10% of the population. And the proles, which are common working class and accounts for the rest of the population.
The party is led by an omnipotent figure of Big Brother, who exerts total control over the citizens, including 24-7 surveillance through telescreens, propaganda, and manipulation of history (who they are at war with, resource production rate, who physically existed, etc). Individuality does not exist and even having any thoughts is considered thoughtcrime and will be hunted by the thoughtpolice. The party is mainly able to achieve this through the development of Newspeak, a simplified language that makes it impossible to have subversive thoughts, and double-think, which is the ability to hold two contradictory ideas at the same time. The party slogan: War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength, is such an example.
This order is maintained through four ministries…
Winston Smith, the protagonist, is a member of the outer-party working in the Ministry of Truth. His job is to alter news to align with the party’s narrative. However, he starts questioning about the past and begins his quiet rebellion against the party, such as writing in the diary, even though he knows he will eventually be caught.
"Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows."
He eventually meets Julia, and find they both share the same idea of fighting against the party. However, Julia’s rebellion is more focused on breaking the rules of the party individually whereas Winston’s is more intellectual and has the dream of overthrowing the party with a group in the future.
Winston and Julia's thoughts about rebellion were eventually brought to light in their meeting with O'Brien, who convinces to them he’s part of the brotherhood, but eventually betrays them and orchestrates their capture. Both undergo systematic torture and psychological breakdown by O’Brien until Winston was cured by the party — a love for Big Brother.
A few key takeaways.
The core of 1984 was about control and power. As O’Brien put it, Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. The party’s goal is to not only control the people, but also the reality and history of the society.
While the party’s power wins in the end of 1984, Orwell’s message was to paint a dystopian future controlled by a totalitarian power, which mirrors Stalin Russia and Nazi Germany use of propaganda and fact revisions.
The last chapter of part II was particularly interesting to me, as it explains the society 1984 lives in and why it is structured like this, and beautifully narrates it as Goldstein’s book.