If “1984” were a roller coaster, it would leave you with wobbly knees, a sloshing stomach, and a greenish tint to your face. Orwell is a master puppeteer when it comes to the reader's emotions. Through his writing he is able to form this umbilical chord between the characters in his novel and the reader. With each page I turned I became more and more invested with Winston's struggles and victories, as well as those of Julia, and surprisingly Big Brother. At the end of the first book Orwell finishes with a message of hope, that Winston's existence will find meaning and that individualism is achievable. The second book leads the reader on to think happiness is an obtainable thing, only to bring it crashing down around our heads. Orwell works black magic in the third book, by managing to fuse the reader to the pages of “1984.” Because Orwell writes in the third person, and it is mainly limited to Winston's own thoughts, Orwell makes it easy to reach into the Winston's mindset and extract the emotion behind his harrowing experiences.
This book was banned in Russia, and considering the time period which it was written in, I can totally understand why. “1984” denoted a communist society in the most unflattering lighting. And perhaps this was due to the fact that when Orwell was writing this novel he was very sick with TB. In any case, I thought “1984” was illuminating and thought provoking. This novel should be on every avid readers list, and I believe, will continue to be relevant as long as there are oppressive forces in the world.
Answers to Questions:
Just because it is banned, does that make a book important, well-written, stylistically significant? What if a banned book is poorly written - what kind of attention do you give it? And would you read it if it were not banned?
Just because a book is banned, does not mark it as a classic or a must read. In fact several come to mind that are banned and not particularly well written. Becoming a banned book means someone out in the world did not agree with something within the writing, and cared about it enough to challenge it. In my opinion, if a book is banned and is poorly written, there is no glitter to be had, simply give it the time of day it deserves. I know that may sound harsh, but there are so many marvelous books out there in the literary world that it does not make sense to read a book based simply on the fact that it is banned. Some books should be read due to their lyrical nature, or the rich style of writing, or the plot line, or what have you; and some books, although banned, simply are should not be read. All of the books I have read and posted about so far, I would have read on my own accord, and will most likely revisit later on in my life. And I will be among the first to admit, reading a banned book has it's thrills and allure. Yet, at the same time there are many books that are magnificent testimonies to the power of the written word, that are not banned. So I suppose my philosophy towards literature is: read good books that you like, regardless of them being banned or not, for as any reader will know- there are far too many wonderful books in the world, and not enough hours in the day to read them all.
A thought for the evening:
Rules are made to be broken, books are made to be read.
- BookBender
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