Saturday, June 13, 2009

1984 by George Orwell

Wednesday and Thursday were spent largely reading through this book. I heard about it before, but it never stood out from the pile of titles that were "important" in some way or another....

UNTIL: I read this article.

Oldthinkers unbellyfeel Ingsoc


I decided to order it from the library catalogue. I find it entirely intriguing. I would love to copy-paste the entire book (well, make that a lot of the book, not all of it...*hem*) and force you all to read it. It is definitely something you have to stretch your mind to take in.

What is your personal property? How does language define civilization? What would life be like if everything you ever did/said was watched/recorded? Does anyone one else have the ability to get inside your head? Can you doublethink?

I am still reeling from all of it.

The only thing is, in the book there is no religion. Religion is not a word. It means nothing to them. However, at the end of the book, these words came to me: And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matt. 10:28)
Even if such tortures and methods and "deepest fears" were used against me, there is One more powerful than man.

Even so, on this earth:
2 + 2 = 5
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength

What significance do things hold when they no longer mean anything?
Do yourself a favor, read 1984.

Doubleplusgood duckspeak
, I say!

2 comments:

RM said...

glad you enjoyed it. I finished reading it a few weeks ago. definitely one of the most fascinating and thought-provoking books I'd read in a long time.

Anonymous said...

For the record, Hillary Clinton mentioned it as one of her all-time favorite books.