2 + 2 = 5

1984

by George Orwell

I did it! I finished my first book off the list: 1984 by George Orwell.  This is one of the many books on that list that I'm pretty sure I should have read in American Lit X in high school.  Maybe it was on the reading list, but I somehow circumvented reading it.  Although, to be fair, I think that at that time in my life I definitely could not have fully appreciated this book, or any of our required reading in high school, as much as I can now.
1984, for those who don't already know, is about the futuristic society of 1984, shown through a post-WWII lens.  In the book, the world has been reorganized into three super powers: Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia.  The story is set in Oceania, and the main character is a separated government worker named Winston.  This futuristic society has adopted communism and is ruled by a force called "Big Brother" who is present in every room in every building through a "telescreen" device.  I don't know about you, but I can't help but note the resemblance between Big Brother, and Adolf Hitler, the antagonist of the time period in which this story was written.

 Big Brother rules by three creeds "War is Strength, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength."  These three contradictions are the essence of the power that Big Brother has over the people.  They are in a constant state of reverence for and obedience to Big Brother, living in an illusion of the success of the communist government and economy.

The Happily Ever After Problem

As I read 1984 I kept wondering how it ends.  As Winston and Julia were defying Big Brother I kept thinking to myself, "Well, the only way for this to end happily is for an uprising to occur, or Winston's ex-wife to die or Oceania to lose the perpetual war, and then Winston and Julia will be able to be together."  Because the average book has a happy ending.  But as you keep reading you can't help but wonder, what would the happily ever after ending be?  How could this book possibly end happily? 

And indeed it did not for the world of 1984 was a dystopian society.  I'm not going to spoil the ending for you but it certainly wasn't the fairy-tale down-with-Big-Brother ending I was anticipating. If anything, it ends with a victory for the book's antagonist.  But then again, this book is supposed to be set in real life and in real life there aren't always happy endings.  And perhaps, therein, is the reason why 1984 is on Amazon's 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime.  If this book had had a happy ending it would not have made as much of a statement about where society could head, or is heading.

But then I still can't help but wonder, if 1984 had a happy ending, what might it have been?