1984

War is peace

Freedom is slavery

Ignorance is strength

This slogan pretty much sets up the tone of the book. One of the classics of 20th century, it is about a dystopia, a re-imagined version of the world in 1984 where the totalitarian regime dominates the world. The story sets up in Airstrip One, which formerly called known as Britain, in Oceania controlled by Ingsoc, as it is one of the three superstates (the other two are Eurasia and Eastasia). It covers the whole continent of America and Australia, and Airstrip One. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU. Commit any unorthodox behavior and you will be vaporized, become an unperson.

I knew about the book because of Shailene Woodley. As she told John Green in one of the vlogbrothers video, it is her favorite book of all time. And from many critics I saw, it has a pretty good score. So I gave it a try and I was shocked from what I got after finishing the book. It struck me as a lightning bolt, a chill running down my spine as it is frightening. I actually had insomnia the night I finished the book, because it provoked so many disturbing thoughts inside me and they kept buzzing me.  Now I am just glad that the human race didn't go down that way. 

What strikes me the most is realizing how easily alterable the history is. Do you ever notice that everytime when we recall a memory or retell it to somebody, we kinda alter it at the same time? What we remember isn't always what really happened. Luckily we have records like history books, photos and videos to track down the history. But how if all these records are fabricated. And if everybody is brainwashed as in the book and you are the only one who remember the past, how can you ever be sure that what you remember is the truth and not what you created in your mind? If the truth is a lie and lie is truth, what is to hold on anymore? It just gives me goosebumps thinking about it.

Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past. 

I don't know why but it all reminds me of the Malaysia history text book. During high school, many people and I did know that there were many inaccuracies in the text book, like Raja Abdullah was the founding father of Kuala Lumpur instead of Yap Ah Loy. But we never gave a damn about it. All I knew was that it was for the exam, memorized the text book and answered the questions as what they set as the correct answer. Now I realized the danger about altering the history and the importance of truth. Anyway, who can prove that Yap Ah Loy was or was not THE founding father? The past has no physical existence anymore. The truth is only so because the records say so. To quote the book,

We control matter because we control the mind. Reality is inside your skull.

An interesting thing about the book is that there is an essay within the book, practically a fictional non-fiction, a book that exists only in 1984 which is called The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism. There is only part of the essay exposed inside the book, describing how the world has became as it is in the book and how the totalitarian regime functions. However in the final chapter of 1984, it kinda completes the essay in a way, explaining the motives of Big Brother and the Party. Anyway the essay has some interesting ideas but be careful, there are some potentially dangerous ones.

It is a book everyone should read because the dehumanizing ways which the Big Brother and the Party use to rule Oceania, will make us realize how fragile our current social structure is, why the peace is so precious, how easily it all can be tilted and turn ugly, and how human rights can easily be violated if we are not careful enough. 1984 is a warning, a warning to all of us.