Reflections on 1984 by George Orwell

1984 blew me away. Orwell did such an amazing job of taking the reader out of our world and completely submerging him or her into this futuristic society in which history is rewritten and basic human nature is illegal. The leaders of this society have taken complete control of everyone even making certain thoughts illegal. There is literally no escape. There is thought crime, execution, torture, and a complete loss of one's self. They break every member of society down to a hollow shell where their soul and mind no longer resides. As I read this novel, I went from being grossly intrigued to questioning the meaning of life and humanity. This story wasn't something I could separate myself from; it planted ideas and thoughts that are both frightening and devastating, much like the leaders of this society intended. Although the society as a whole is grim and distopic, to me the most distopic idea in the story was presented towards the end. The entire book the main character, Winston, explores and questions his love for Julia, the girl rebel girl he has an affair with. It is not until he is captured that he decides he truly does love Julia and yet it is during his captivity that he is broken to the point that he is incapable of love. Winston is faced with his greatest fear and death and he pleads to transfer his fate to Julia. Later on he sees Julia and defends himself, saying that he did not mean it, he was just too desperate for correct thinking. Julia disagrees. Julia knows that in that very moment he hated her and had no amount of care or affection towards her. She knows this because she did the same thing and truly meant it herself. They would have done anything to survive, even kill the one they supposedly loved the most. This concept reducers human beings to animals, incapable of a love that transcends self preservation and fear of death. That is the most hopeless idea I could ever hope to imagine.