Ok, read Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and really enjoyed it. Before I read the book, I opened it at random, and came across a phrase i really liked, one that seemed to fit quite well with the tone of the project I'm working on: 'Thought Police'. I noted a few quotes that really stood out to me:
Page 56
'How could you have a slogan like "Freedom is Slavery" when the concept of freedom has been abolished?'
A comment made to Winston by a fellow 'comrade' called Syme, when they are discussing the progress of the latest Newspeak dictionary, leading to the comment on the party as a whole. Winston rather astutely predicts Syme's fate as a result of this comment:
'One of these days, thought Winston with a sudden deep conviction, Syme will be vapourised. He is too intelligent. He sees too clearly and speaks too plainly. The Party does not like such people. One day he will disappear. It is wrotten in his face.'
In a rather Stalin-esk gesture the Party moves to protect itself from people like Syme whose plain understanding of the nature of the Party itself could undermine it, by removing him, as it has with countless other 'comrades'.
Page 266
'The command of the old despotisms was "Thou shalt not". The command of the totalitarians was "Thou shalt". Our command is "Thou art".
Thus O'Brien lays open the (rather disturbing) heart of the world Winston inhabits. Obedience isn't enough, Big Brother intends to secure itself by changing the way the citizens think, as demonstrated by the presence of the Two Minute Hate, Hate Week and the destruction of the family unit as we understand it, replacing it with a unit of spies that wait for an opportunity to betray one another. This understanding of Big Brother's plans for the society is crystilised in a phrase a little later in the book:
Page 280
"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - for ever."
I enjoyed the book, but I wasn't sure about the ending. It left me rather disatisfied because, in the end, Big Brother wins.
Page 56
'How could you have a slogan like "Freedom is Slavery" when the concept of freedom has been abolished?'
A comment made to Winston by a fellow 'comrade' called Syme, when they are discussing the progress of the latest Newspeak dictionary, leading to the comment on the party as a whole. Winston rather astutely predicts Syme's fate as a result of this comment:
'One of these days, thought Winston with a sudden deep conviction, Syme will be vapourised. He is too intelligent. He sees too clearly and speaks too plainly. The Party does not like such people. One day he will disappear. It is wrotten in his face.'
In a rather Stalin-esk gesture the Party moves to protect itself from people like Syme whose plain understanding of the nature of the Party itself could undermine it, by removing him, as it has with countless other 'comrades'.
Page 266
'The command of the old despotisms was "Thou shalt not". The command of the totalitarians was "Thou shalt". Our command is "Thou art".
Thus O'Brien lays open the (rather disturbing) heart of the world Winston inhabits. Obedience isn't enough, Big Brother intends to secure itself by changing the way the citizens think, as demonstrated by the presence of the Two Minute Hate, Hate Week and the destruction of the family unit as we understand it, replacing it with a unit of spies that wait for an opportunity to betray one another. This understanding of Big Brother's plans for the society is crystilised in a phrase a little later in the book:
Page 280
"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - for ever."
I enjoyed the book, but I wasn't sure about the ending. It left me rather disatisfied because, in the end, Big Brother wins.
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