Nineteen Eighty-Four

George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 was written at the very start of the Cold War. Orwell had seen totalitarianWhen a political system or leader requires complete subservience to the state. In a totalitarian system, people are not allowed to express their own opinions. socialist leaders begin to crack down on their people — and he wanted to send a warning to Western society. The story follows Winston Smith, a citizen of Oceania, a fully totalitarian state which is controlled by “The Party”. The government goes to extreme lengths to manipulate the population and stamp out any individual thought. Many phrases from the book — such as “thought police”, “big brother” and “doublethink” — have now become common usage. Today the book is still a bestseller. Why are modern readers returning to Orwell’s classic?