LogFAQs > #929904742

1984
Book

You are a slow learner, Winston."

"How can I help it? How can I help but see what is in front of my eyes? Two and two are four."

"Sometimes, Winston. Sometimes they are five. Sometimes they are three. Sometimes they are all of them at once. You must try harder. It is not easy to become sane.

I spent a more time choosing the quote for 1984 than I will writing the rest of this post. There's a LOT of fantastic quotes from the book.

1984 is, in essence, the scariest horror story in existence. There is no better novel about a dystopian society and I don't think there ever will be. 1984 describes a world where free will is dead, facts can be alternative, and cognitive dissonance is a prized character trait. There's a lot of reasons why it's so effective, but I think the main reason is because of how uncompromising the prose is. 1984 doesn't pretend to be subtle. It directly and viciously describes how messed up the world is at every given point, showering you with uncomfortable one-liners like "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human facefor ever so that you never grow complacent to how far society in the book has degraded. There is no happy ending in 1984, or a happy middle or beginning either. It portrays a society where truth has lost and has no chance of ever returning, and that fact is never sugarcoated.

In a lesser novel it might have come across as too much, but in 1984 it only serves as a reminder that the state of society is recognized by the characters within it and none of them can do anything about it. In fact, the characters themselves self-regulate their own thoughts to ensure that they continue to love Big Brother, because that's all they've ever been taught to do. Specifically, main character Winston is a fantastic viewpoint character because he epitomizes every aspect of humanity that remains. You get the sense from his internal narration that he's not even remotely fully-formed as a person, and his attempts at gaining even a semblance of individuality end...poorly. The closing line of 1984 is one of the most chilling I've ever read.

Now that I think about it, 1984 holds a similar spot in my head that MGS2 was. Hit me in my formative years but has endured the test of time, but not in a way that I appreciate. Would prefer less doublethink in modern society, pretty please.

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Black Turtle did a pretty good job.