70th Anniversary of George Orwell's 1984

1984 is celebrating its 70th anniversary and yet it has not lost its relevance even after 70 years of its publication.

In the novel, Orwell describes the twists and turns that take place in a communist state after they overthrow the capitalists (Revolution). The Revolution promises to give a better life to each and every individual, but the scenario that we witness in the novel is quite contradictory. The story in the novel revolves around the protagonist, Winston Smith who lives in a dystopian state known as Oceania. As pictured by Orwell, the State becomes the sole power and tries to regulate each and every move of its citizen. There are telescreens and microphones all over the places in order to monitor as well as track their activities.

The Party (Big Brother) makes the people believe that they are living best of their lives, freely and equally. The Party created a place where even to think outside the realm of the State is a crime (thoughtcrime), a place where the children are taught to be violent right from the very beginning of their upbringing, a place where you can't have a love affair, a place where sex is done only for producing more Party members, not for the sake of pleasure. And once a person is found violating all these, are killed, vaporized. In such a condition, Winston finds himself to be a lunatic, questioning the working of the Party (even though he works in a Party Office, Ministry of Truth). He even keeps a diary which is illegal and he would be vaporized if the Thought Police came to know about it.

As I was reading the book, it gave me chill through my veins, the book is so terrifying, I felt as if reading the book is a kind of a crime, as if the Thought Police would arrest me any minute!