Alan Gay's story about 1984
« Back to The Book That Changed My Life
Author: George Orwell
SynopsisHidden away in the Record Department of the sprawling Ministry of Truth, Winston Smith skilfully rewrites the past to suit the needs of the Party. Yet he inwardly rebels against the totalitarian world he lives in, which demands absolute obedience and controls him through the all-seeing telescreens and the watchful eye of Big Brother, symbolic head of the Party. In his longing for truth and liberty, Smith begins a secret love affair with a fellow-worker Julia, but soon discovers the true price of freedom is betrayal.
My Story
'1984' by George 0rwell chimed with my own understandings of reality which, at the time first read, were largely home-grown. I was trying to sort out a plethora of competing theories which to me seemed unsatisfactory: religion, humanism, politics, phenomonology, when it hit. Understandings of the world could only be perceived adequately if seen as constructs made by humans themselves. The story is very bleak and ends with the hero Winston being completely submerged in a world constructed by a super-elite whose only wish was to attain power. It opened my eyes to the power of language and this has informed my writing ever since. The underlying message I took from '1984' was concerned with how necessary it is to apply "eternal vigilance" (Winston Churchill) to all those who hold power over us. Orwell was a socialist, as I am, who said of the scenario set out in the book. "Don't let it happen".
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