1984

By George Orwell

Review by Jamil Singley

1984 is a mysterious, outspoken, classic book that tells a story about a dystopia called Oceania (Dystopia is the opposite of a Utopia. It is a place you would not want to live.) In this world you have no privacy. You have to bow down to a telescreen which mostly has a picture of the absolute ruler, Big Brother. If you were caught going against Big Brother (which is called Thought Crime) you would get arrested and vaporized by the special police called the Thought Police.

I consider George Orwell a genius. He had foreshadowed almost every important event in the book. Orwell created a good book: Animal Farm—and then, he created another good book: 1984.

Winston, the main character, always felt that he needed to write in his diary so that he would not totally lose his mind. Writing in a journal is going against Big Brother. Then, Winston found a girlfriend—also against the rules. They would date secretly so that they would not get vaporized. Eventually, they were caught, tortured, and brainwashed to hate each other. In the end, both of them were vaporized.

Through the whole book, you would not have thought Winston would have been vaporized. That is why this is a good book. I can recommend this book for ages 13 to adult. This book will challenge everyone’s reading ability. There are many concepts that make you have to read this book very carefully.

Jamil Singley interned at TRC during the summer of 2005 as a recent graduate of KIPP DC KEY Academy. He spent his freshman year at Lawrenceville Academy, Lawrenceville, NJ.