图书作者与内容简介

1984 is a dystopian novel written by George Orwell, published in 1949. The story is the author's fictional imagination of the future at that time. It focuses on the effect of the party and the government’s manipulation, promoting totalitarianism, and implementing repressive rule. 

我的观点

After reading the book '1984,' I considered that the author was trying to draw attention to two following issues: 'abuse of power' and 'how government policies affected citizens.'
 
To begin with, 'abuse of power' is when someone misuses their authority to take advantage of, coerce, or harm other people. This phenomenon was clearly shown in the book through elements such as the Thought Police, telescreens, threatening posters, and so on. In my opinion, among all of them, the telescreens were the most manipulative. The reasons were as follows: First, there was a lack of freedom with telescreens installed in every house because they enabled the government to keep an eye on its citizens. Second, as the book mentioned, the telescreens could never be turned off. Therefore, I believed that the telescreens were one of the most brutal instruments in the story.
 
Compared to modern society, I associate it with CCTV, which has similar functions to telescreens. Unlike in the book, CCTVs are placed not only inside houses but also on streets and in hallways of apartment buildings. Today, however, the police no longer use it as a tool to spy on citizens, but instead use it to track criminals, missing victims, and accidents. In summary, CCTVs and telescreens are two different ways of utilizing advanced technology, leading to completely different consequences. The former is designed to help society, while the latter is meant to strengthen government surveillance.
 
Apart from controlling people, the government also had numerous methods to brainwash them, including the Two Minutes Hate, party slogans, Room 101, and so on. When I first read about the Two Minutes Hate, it reminded me of a cult because the participants acted so strangely that I felt like they had all lost their minds in worship of Big Brother, and they could not avoid joining in. As for the slogans, 'War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.' They completely twisted the meanings of words to emphasize what they wanted to convey to the citizens, which was an inappropriate way to do so.
 
Likewise, the world we live in also has the same problem of controlling people via policies and slogans. For instance, China implemented family planning policies, namely the one-child policy and the two-child policy, decades ago with the slogan, 'One is a lot, two is just right, three is too much.' The purpose of this was to address the overpopulation crisis. At the time, fines were required for violating the rules and having more children than the limit, which led many Chinese parents to hide their third or fourth children. Needless to say, the policies violated people’s reproductive rights. Moreover, before 1979, the 'Tehran Declaration' adopted by the UN had stated that 'parents have the basic human right to be free to determine the number of children and the distance between births' in 1968. This indicated that China prioritized its problems, ignoring human rights and international conventions, which was similar to the party in the book.
 
In addition to abuse of power, another matter I want to talk about is the correlation between government policies and citizens’ behavior. In the story, the protagonist, Mr. Winston, was concerned about many things. For example, he had to watch out for his behavior and date his lover, Julia, in the outskirts in order not to get caught. Overall, I think policies are the biggest factor in citizens' prudent behavior, and policies cause tension in society. Given the evidence from the book, society at the time resulted in an inability to express one's thoughts and a fear of taking action. It’s clear that policies had much to do with the citizens and the circumstances in which they lived. Thus, if there is a terrible governor in a country who adopts flawed policies, it will likely influence the whole society. On the other hand, if a governor implements good policies, society will probably move in a positive direction and lead to better lives.
 
In conclusion, the book broadened my horizons by showing me how the world would probably be if everyone were under control. Furthermore, it taught me that I cannot take what I have for granted because freedoms, rights, and other things are the result of other people’s previous efforts. People nowadays should be grateful to those who have brought us a better life.