The futuristic novel entitled 1984, was written by political novelist, George

Orwell and was published on the year 1949. The book was supposed to be titled
“The Last Man Standing” however, Orwell changed his mind and decided to call
the novel 1984. The book became a world- wide success but sadly, Orwell did
not see it for himself. It was written by Orwell which in his exact words to: “alter
other people’s idea of the kind of society they should strive after”.

The book was a dystopian type of literature that envisions a world full of
chaos, manipulative and controlling government that watches every little move of
an individual under their power. This novel also falls into social science fiction, a
subgenre of a science fiction as the novel comments on the society depicted on
the year 1984. It also talks about the different social classes of people in the
story. Lastly, the book also had a taste of political fiction due to the political
commentary and rebellion of the main character against the government and
also, talks about the ruthlessness of its government.

On my own perception, the novel 1984, was intended to every adolescent

since the novel serves as an eye-opener to us especially those who were on the
low level in the society. Being knowledgeable is very important so that those
who were on the position would not be able to rule over our whole existence just
as what the Inner Party at the novel did to those in the Outer party and on the
proles.

The novel was all about the life of Winston Smith and his frustration about
the governance of the Party and its main ruler, Big Brother. Winston did different
rebellious acts against the party. First, he wrote a diary that contains details on
what’s happening around him that involves the Party. He also he had a secret
affair with a fellow Outer Party member and had sex with her. He explored and
met different people to answer his frustrations and at the same time, to know
what is truth. Upon exploring, Winston had a hard time not to get caught.

The setting of the book took place at the province of the super state
Oceania, specifically, at the chief city of Airstrip One, in London, on the year
1984. The novel pictured out London on the year 1984 as a place full of terror
where freedom is controlled by an omnipresent government. The description of
the place was not so nice. Big plasters of posters were placed on every corners
of the place with the face of the so called “Big Brother” and on it, was written “Big
Brother is Watching You”. A lot of bomb sites can be seen on the place and
houses that were wrecked from the war. The whole place was pretty unlikable.
Never in my life would I choose to live in a place of wreckage and terror. I could
never fathom how the characters felt like living on a place like hell.

The main character of the story was Winston Smith. He was at the age of
about forty-five and was described on the novel as a handsome man. He always
wears blue overalls as his uniform for he was a member of the Outer Party.
Winston works at the Records department of Ministry of Truth. His job there was
to rectify or to alter the original text on every kind of literature or documentation
like newspaper, articles, to serve as an evidence by the Party to their prediction
or to prove every falsification had happened.

Winston started to write a diary for the purpose of informing the “unborn”
or the people from the future about what the life was on his time but he was a
little confused if it was really 1984 at that moment. On their time, writing a diary
was not Illegal since there were no laws but if detected you could either be
punished to death or serve in prison camps. He had a lot of dreams about the
London from the past. It made him really confused if his dreams happened in
reality or the articles that the Party made from the past were the real ones.
Winston had a lot of questions and did every little thing he can to search for the
reality.

What I like about the main character, Winston, was his act of bravery to
face his frustrations and to answer it without the help of anyone. On their time, it
was a crime to talk or think against the Party, and if caught, you will get
vaporized. His courage amazes me because he will do anything too seek for the
truth even if it would spare his life.