Everything faded into mist. The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth
Orwell describes a dystopian future with the fervour of a man desperate to avoid it. This is the kind of book that deserves to be re-read or analysed thoroughly after one has read it. The sense of unease and dread that pervades this story can still be felt after finishing it.
One of the reasons this book has lasted so long is that it touches deeply upon what it means to be human and what it means to be real. Not so much in the material but a corporeal sense. How do we detect facts, what can be believed and what cannot? These questions are explored as Big Brother in this book tries to change humanity's basic assumptions, through mental and physical domination and a language called Newspeak. This cultminates in the word Doublethink which is the action of believing two contradictory beliefs in your mind simultaneously. It is the final act of throwing away your rationality and logic, your trust in your own senses and instead believing in what the party believes, at all times.
At the surface this can be seen as a warning against a totalitarian government and its natural precursors, but digging a little further I believe this to be an exploration of what it is to be human and a fascinating work of epistemology. The main character has a desire to be free, free from the rules and free from the Thought Police; even if it means he is almost certainly going to die. The unquenchable human spirit drives him forward, illogical as it may seem. Even towards the ending which some may see as the final victory of the party of the human spirit, I do not believe this to the case. Winston has shown the humanity will live on, even in torrid and dire times.
A frightening, incredible book which only becomes more powerful with time.