It has been a little over a decade since I read 1984. I am a huge Orwell fan and have read many if not most of his works. I read 1984 way after that year...it was in the mid 90s when I was assigned this reading. I remember a deep sense of dread and impending doom. I understand it more now than when I was in high school. I believe that it is something I should probably read every 10 years.
Personally, I find it very amusing how everyone uses the term 1984 these days but many people do not understand the full scope of the novel. They just say "Big Brother" as if 1984 is solely about loss of privacy and having government involved in your life. It is about so much more...it is about individualism and totalitarianism, information freedom and control, torture both psychological and physical, as well as the importance of language. I read this book and I think of North Korea. How the government controls information and you hear about North Koreans who escape are shocked that the rest of the world is not like NK and everything they ever learned was wrong.
In essence, I still love 1984 even though my heart hurts when I read it. So I will end my post with 3 words...Information IS power!
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2 comments:
Yes, information is power and being a librarian is AWESOME and powerful!!!!
I second that emotion! Apologies for not getting to read this book again, though like Erica, I know that I must.
I did think of it last week when I had a note from Barbara Hoffert asking if I had any thoughts on the closing of Kirkus Reviews.
I mentioned that I'm sorely afraid that, if we're not careful, we will be limited to so few choices of information providers on tv, the Internet and in magazines and newspapers, that only one opinion will be considered valid.
It's 1984 just a couple of decades delayed.
Erica, liked your reference to people who leave North Korea in awe at the world out here.
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