In the wake of the creation of "alternative facts" and "fake news" I found myself downloading the ebook of Nineteen Eighty-Four, which I'd never read before, although it's a thing I've always meant to do at some point.
I read the whole book in two days this week and I loved it. It's bleak as f*** and the end is really depressing, but it's brilliant, of course. I really enjoyed the Appendix/essay. Spot the language nerd! While the whole book is more relevant in 2017 than it's ever been since publication in 1949, the Appendix is especially fascinating when considering the language used in American politics at the moment.
I'd also say that the descriptions of Britain having been absorbed politically into the US as part of "Oceania" are fantastically more appropriate since its writing, as the "special relationship" has developed and American habits and phrases have been passed across the Atlantic by osmosis.
Sharing a common language across all of Oceania - the superstate containing Britain, the Americas and Australia and New Zealand - the ruling Party have created "Newspeak" (as opposed to "Oldspeak" or standard English) to be phased in and ultimately used exclusively.
As I say all of this, I'm sure lots of other people, much smarter than me, have spent time analysing the book, pulling it apart and inspecting it over the decades. Nonetheless, it's quite eerie that the solitary state newspaper which writes the Party's "alternative facts" in the book uses the same language that Donald Trump has been using for months now in all of his speeches. Words like "bigly" and "bragadocious" compare directly to Newspeak's "ungood" or "speedful." Banishing reporters or publications he disagrees with from the Briefing Room is like the Thought Police "vanishing" someone for talking ill of Big Brother in his sleep. And it's starting to creep over here too, with the Tories yesterday sacking Lord Heseltine as an advisor after he voted against government policy on Tuesday.
Something that struck me in the third part of the book was the real meaning of Room 101. Growing up in the 90s I took the meaning from the BBC programme of the same name: that Room 101 was where one could consign things which they didn't like, suggesting a vast cavern full of everyone's pet peeves. However, Orwell is quite clear in the use of Room 101 and it's not that at all. It's a small, plain room with a restraining chair and little else. Once in the room, however, a prisoner of the Party is subjected to torture by their worst fear. For the sake of anyone who hasn't read Nineteen Eighty-Four yet (you must, it's awesome) I won't say what the protagonist is subjected to, but I will say that I would probably end up in a room full of spiders.
The current political climate is fraught and uncertain, but with rational discussion and sensitive debate, we can all find our way through democratically. On the other hand, if we're to be subjected to four years of Trump-isms and bully tactics, perhaps I'm already in Room 101 after all...
Until next time.
FG xx
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