I was talking with my husband this morning about 1984 and as I was explaining to him why I find this book so challenging, I realized that the brilliance of this book is that Orwell -- with his paragraphs upon paragraphs of detailing the menial tasks and the routines that Winston has to follow on a day to day minute to minute basis -- literally drowns the reader's anticipation that anything is going to happen. And so, even when there is the slightest change in the scenery -- and introduction of a new character, a new task at work -- it recommits the reader's(my) interests.
I find myself each time thinking, OKAY! NOW something is going to HAPPEN! SOMETHING is going to take place that is going to start things a'changing. But each time, I am left down. And then more depressed and feeling more oppressed as ever by the weight of this book -- knowing that I still have over 150+ pages to go. Like I said in my subject line for this post: I GET IT NOW! Even though it's killing me to keep reading....
One passage/exchange I did love that I read, recently was the lunch Winston had with his friend-enemy Smythe (sp?). Mr. S is working on the 11th edition of the Newspeak Dictionary and I just found it so fascinating how zealous he was in his effort to complete the work and "destroy all words" that would not be needed now or in 2050.
Given that I am reading this book in 2011, I think it is fascinating that these characters (this government system) believes so completely that they are in control of all things that no new ideas, thoughts, or inventions will take place in the next 70 years.
As a literacy specialist, and as one who holds the view that literacy is "deitic" (Leu, 2000), I find this idea of controlling thought and language indefinitely, fantastical (truly a fantasy/), and a model example of hubris.
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