1984 by George Orwell, Final Thoughts

I really liked reading 1984. It had a lot of twists and turns, and showed me something I had never thought about. It showed how a government can make people ignorant by outlawing books (in a more deep way than Fahrenheit 451). They also kept people under constant surveillance to make sure they didn't do anything wrong. One of the most interesting concepts I notice was that there weren't really any laws, other than "you cannot commit thoughtcrime." Thoughtcrime, simply put, means going against the government. People who committed thoughtcrime were taken to the "Ministry of Love" where they were tortured until they believed that everything they knew was a lie, and that the government was there to help them and make their life better (see passage 2). In 1984, the government controlled everything, from the clothes people wore to history itself. They even had a "Ministry of Truth" which was dedicated to changing old newspapers, history textbooks, and magazine articles to make it look like the government (or "The Party, as it is called in 1984) was always right. Party members had to master the concept of "doublethink," which was to simultaneously believe two conflicting ideas, so they could know that they are changing history, while also believing that the "new history" had always existed. But I don't want to give too much of the book away. 1984 has a little something for everyone. It's for anyone who likes a good romance, a tragedy, a mystery, or just a book about futuristic government.