Prior to actually putting together my reading list, I had decided to read many of the books that ended up being on the list. When selecting the first book, I looked for one that stood out to me as being something I should have read a long time ago, but for whatever reason never did. Several books fit this criteria, but the first one to do so was the George Orwell classic, 1984.
For background on the story and its influences, check out the Wikipedia article.
As I started writing this post, I got stuck very quickly. I found myself going back and forth trying to figure out what to discuss and what to write about. I saved a draft copy of the post and came back to it several times over the course of a week or so, but I never managed to get very far. So, to help me organize my thoughts and figured out where to go, I stepped away from the computer and grabbed my journal. I find that when I put pen to paper, often what flows comes from a much deeper place than when I try to write electronically.
What follows is a mostly unedited transcription from my journal. Please be aware that while I don’t really discuss much in terms of plot specifics, I still reveal a great deal about the story. If you haven’t read the book, I strongly urge you to do so.
From my journal:
“I need to write up a blog post regarding my thoughts on the book 1984, but I’m having trouble organizing my thoughts or even deciding what to write about. What direction do I want to take? What aspects of the book do I want to write about? What did I think of the book? Well, I liked it and didn’t like it. I enjoyed it up to the point where we realize that Winston and Julia have been discovered. Not just discovered, but that their actions had been known all along. Up to that point, the story contained a tangible element of hope. Hope that the dire world around them might not always be that way. But at that moment when we are made aware that their secret had never been secret, all of that hope is lost. But even more that that, we realize that there had never been any hope to begin with! For the remainder of the story, I found myself clinging to the hope that maybe, just maybe, Winston would be able to overcome. That maybe he was strong enough, smart enough to fool them into believing he had been reformed. I held onto hope that he could secretly still be waging a private war against the party. But, in the end, Winston was defeated. The system had won, and he fully submitted. Willingly. I was very discouraged by this ending. I am an optimist naturally, and I choose to believe that in the end, good can prevail. But more even than that, I was discouraged to discover that in the process of being broken down by the torture of the party, Winston and Julia had both betrayed one another. And not just in a surface-level kind of way, but in a deep, profoundly selfish kind of way. I hope I would be able to be a better man, but I fear that my own flaws would lead me down the same path.”
Overall, I truly enjoyed the book. It was an incredibly thought-provoking read for me, largely because it conflicted with my natural tendency to believe that things work out for the best. It truly made me think about a lot of things, from politics and government to the role of technology in our society to relationship dynamics. And when a book really challenges your thinking, I believe that is the best measure of a great piece of writing.
