by Bertie Radcliffe

Created on: May 09, 2009   Last Updated: September 27, 2011

In part I of this book, we are introduced to the Winston and the terrifying world iIn which he lives; a world which is categorically controlled by the convoluted concept of Big Brother. We are also introduced to several of the normalities of daily life which we would consider obscene, such as the telescreen. Similarly, we discover the level of deceit that is upheld by the Party, which appears to control not only the present, but has the power to influence the past. In many ways, Orwell's book was written as a sign post, a warning to future generations, and it is this idea which I am about to explore.

In the opening section of Nineteen Eighty-One the truly shocking and terrifying world that Orwell predicted would be in place in the future. There are infact several comparisons between Winston's world and our own, though at first you would not think it possible. Firstly, there is an excess of useless technology, the advances of science put to use where it is not needed. For example, in the opening chapter of the book, we are told that the lifts are always off for economy drives while the telescreen is simultaneously receiving and transmitting information. Similarly, the massive advances in technology do not appear to have yielded any increase, nay a decrease in the standard of life of the proles and the outer Party workers.

In reality, this has also happened to an extent; take for example the millennium dome, around five million pounds wasted on a short term project, money that could well have been much better spent on the NHS, or on helping find a cure for HIV or cancer, but no. Now, Five years on, and it is nothing but a shell house. Personally, I think Orwell, writing in 1948, soon after the War, and the world still shuddering from the impact of the war and anxious that quality of life should be improved, would be disgusted if he knew, for this is what I believe he is trying to satire and warn the people of the next generation against.

However, not all of Orwell's ideas have been transposed into reality completely. At several stages, we are introduced to the desensitized nature of the people around Winston, as the children take enjoyment out of public hangings, and Winston kicking the ownerless hand casually into the gutter, when infact, quite the opposite has occurred, the people of this modern era are so sensitive that we are encouraged to feel even for the animals that are mere vermin. Contrastingly, though our expectations of courtesy have lowered, and

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