1984 Must Read Book

Thesis: The novel 1984, by George Orwell, must be read because it tells a story about an over-controlling government, shows the negative consequences of censorship and how people’s privacy can be invaded in a way that takes away their rights and freedom to live as they want to because it fills them with fear of what will happen if they cross the government. By telling this story, George Orwell is trying to warn people of what happens when they let someone control too much of their lives; this invaluable message is why this book must be read.

The novel 1984, by George Orwell, must be read because it tells a story about an over-controlling government, warning people of its dangers.  That is to say that in this context, the government controls almost everything and when they cannot control something they completely destroy it and even all memory of it. When someone thinks against the Party (the name of the government regime in 1984) they are committing a crime, and anything that gives the slightest impression that they might have committed a so call ‘thought crime’ can and will be taken as all the evidence to arrest and most likely execute the perpetrator. The main character in the book, Winston, has a diary. While he is writing in it against the party and particularly their leader, Big Brother, he gets very scared that he might be found out. He soon however, realizes that “Whether he wrote DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER, or whether he refrained from writing it, made no difference…The Thought Police would get him just the same. He had committed-would still have committed, even if he had never set pen to paper-the essential crime that contained all others in itself. Thought crime thy called it.” (Orwell 19). He knows that the crime is already committed and that he is doomed “whether he wrote DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER, or refrained from it.” This ‘thought crime’ is an example of the over-control of the Party; it is a symbol of the absolute control, even a person’s thoughts belong to the Party.  The Party believes that they can stop any opposition before it is even a real threat. The Party’s overassertive power is scary and such power must never be given to any person group or anyone else. This must be conveyed for when a person gives this power they do not think they are giving someone total control of them but rather that they are putting their trust in them, as the society of the book who blindly gives Big Brother and the Party complete and utter control of themselves.  Therefore to not read this book or to prevent it from being read would take that warning out of the world and its own ‘Big Brothers.’ People always need to know to shout “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” when such a power tries to rise up.