1984 – George Orwell

Brief Description of the Book

1984 is a dystopian political novel that examines totalitarianism, surveillance, propaganda, control of information, erosion of truth, and psychological domination. Set in the fictional state of Oceania, the novel shows how power sustains itself by rewriting history, manipulating language (Newspeak), normalising surveillance, and crushing dissent.

“Big Brother is watching you.”→ GS-2 Polity / Essay: Surveillance state, privacy, misuse of technology, digital governance

“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.”→ Essay / GS-4: Authoritarianism, abuse of power, erosion of human dignity

“War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.”→ Essay / GS-2: State propaganda, doublethink, manipulation of public discourse

“Power is not a means; it is an end.”→ GS-4 Ethics / Essay: Power for its own sake, ethical decay of authority

“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”→ GS-2 / Essay: Control of history, narratives, misinformation, institutional memory

“In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it.”→ Essay / GS-4: Suppression of reason, post-truth politics, coercive conformity

“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four.”→ GS-4 Ethics / GS-2: Intellectual freedom, free speech, truth as ethical foundation

“Orthodoxy means not thinking—not needing to think.”→ Essay / GS-4: Dogmatism, blind obedience, ethical stagnation

“The choice for mankind lay between freedom and happiness.”→ Essay: Trade-off debates—security vs liberty, welfare vs rights

“The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake.”→ GS-4 Ethics / GS-2: Unchecked authority, lack of accountability

“Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimetres inside your skull.”→ Essay / GS-4: Psychological autonomy, inner freedom under oppression

“Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else.”→ Essay / GS-4: Perception control, cognitive manipulation, propaganda ethics