I fully admit that when I first read George Orwell's "1984" I hated it with a passion. It was the spring of my sophomore or junior year of high school and my English teacher, Mr. Lara, had us read the book. Lara was a genius, in fact I would dare to say my three favorite teachers in high school knew how to provoke thought better than many of my college professors. When Lara read the book, he had this smooth tone, this Hawaiian style that went with his nature that is very much the opposite of the book.
Thinking back on his reading now, I can think with fond memories, but at the time I hated the book not for his tone of voice but the subject matter. I hated the tone of the book, it was dark and depressing and it held no hope or restoration of such hope as I'd seen in almost every other book to that point. In fact, its very much the opposite of Orwell's other famous dystopian book, "Animal Farm" where there is at least a semblance of happy ending.
Later, I read it again and the book stuck with me, but not for the reasons many people think. Most will point to the authoritarian image, the semblance to our own time where government seeks to invade into every facet of private life. One side or the other politically will point to the book and say, "see they did this." Its not hard to see the resemblance when we trade our freedom for security as Orwell's book predicts. Most people miss the bigger point of the book, as I did.
The book isn't as much a warning to me, as it is a story of humanity. It is the story of a loss of love, of humanity, over any sense of security, self or purpose. We want to become Big Brother for the sheer power over others. Big Brother is a symbol of something which represents that final surrender of humanity to state or political ideal, a dependence to the point where we give up all we are in the vain hope of recovering what we just gave up. Why would someone not want that of themselves? Why would we not want to love Big Brother if he is us?
Reading the book, I would challenge others to see beyond the obvious tropes that anyone can point to and find your own lesson. It is only then that the true story of 1984 can blossom and the better ending be written by those of us who can tear down that picture of Big Brother from ourselves.
