Nineteen Eighty Four

      For those of you not familiar with the term "Nineteen Eighty Four", it is not referring to the year,  well......yes and no. "Nineteen Eighty Four" is a science-fiction novel by George Orwell, published in 1949. When this book first came out, it was set in a world beyond imagination. Now, it is not far fetched at all. For us living in the digital age of 2013 it reads almost like prophecy. There have been many popular novels written with similar concepts, for example, "A brave new world" and "The time machine". These are known as dystopian novels. Dystopia is defined as- a society characterized by human misery. (the opposite of an utopia).
     The setting of "Nineteen Eighty Four" is the year 1984.
Even though that was thirty years ago, we are now seeing many
parallels with the Sci-fi novel. This book has stood the test of time and even influenced our culture in small ways. The terms "big brother" and "thought crime" originated from the novel and have entered everyday life since the book's release.
This eerie, but classic novel reads almost like a modern day newspaper. The setting is the former nation of Great Britian known as "Airstrip one". The land is split into two parties, "the inner party" and "the outer party". It is a world of continuous wartime.
Everywhere you go there is round the clock, government surveillance and public mind control. The name of the system is "English Socialism" or "Ingsoc" for short. The system is under control of a privileged inner party elite, who persecute all individualism and independent thought. The tyranny is lead by god-like leader called "big brother", who may not even exist.
The main character is named Winston Smith, who works for the outer party. Smith is responsible for propaganda and historical revisionism. His job is to rewrite historical newspaper articles so that the historical record always supports the current party line. Smith is a hard worker, but secretly hates the Party and dreams of rebellion against "big brother".
     "Nineteen Eighty Four" has won many awards. Among them the novel was chosen by TIME magazine in 2005 as one of the 100 top English-language novels from 1923-2005.
The written work has been the influence for comics, movies, songs, TV shows and artwork for the past 65 years!
This great book begs the question........how close are we to 1984?  -BDB

Source- (Google Images)
http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/1984/