Matthew Feeney
In
October 1947 Eric Blair, known today by his pen name George Orwell,
wrote a letter to the co-owner of the Secker & Warburg publishing
house. In that letter, Orwell noted that he was in the “last lap” of the
rough draft of a novel, describing it as “a most dreadful mess.”
Orwell had sequestered himself on the Scottish island of
Jura in order to finish the novel. He completed it the following year,
having transformed his “most dreadful mess” into “1984,” one of the 20th
century’s most important novels. Published in 1949, the novel turns 70
this year. The anniversary provides an opportunity to reflect on the
novel’s significance and its most valuable but sometimes overlooked
lesson.
The main lesson of “1984” is not “Persistent
Surveillance is Bad” or “Authoritarian Governments Are Dangerous.” These
are true statements, but not the most important message. “1984” is
at its core a novel about language; how it can be used by governments
to subjugate and obfuscate and by citizens to resist oppression.
Orwell was a master of the English language and his legacy
lives on through some of the words he created. Even those who haven’t
read “1984” know some of its “Newspeak.” “1984” provides English
speakers with a vocabulary to discuss surveillance, police states and
authoritarianism, which includes terms such as “Big Brother,” “Thought
Police,” “Unperson” and “Doublethink,” to name a few.
The authoritarian government of Orwell’s Oceania doesn’t
merely severely punish dissent — it seeks to make even thinking about
dissent impossible. When Inner Party member O’Brien tortures “1984’s”
protagonist, Winston Smith, he holds up his hand with four fingers
extended and asks Smith how many fingers he sees. When Smith replies,
“Four! Four! What else can I say? Four!” O’Brien inflicts excruciating
pain. After Smith finally claims to see five fingers, O’Brien emphasizes
that saying “Five” is not enough; “’No, Winston, that is no use. You
are lying. You still think there are four.”
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