Let me start off by saying that George Orwell, in my opinion, is in the top 3 for best writer ever. Now, with that being said, I have not read as many books as many of you guys have, but let me tell you, if you have not read any of his books, you seriously are missing out on some amazing writing. The way he links his works to the social issues of the time is absolutely brilliant. He is definitely before his time, much like Twain was.
Now, let me talk about the book before I start going off on a tangent about Orwell. The book explains what life will be like in the year 1984. How the government will control its people, how the government forces the people to worship them, or they are either tortured until they believe or they die from being tortured.
Orwell uses devices called telescreens which over looks everything a person is doing. Every house has one, and people cannot escape from it. If a person so much as bad mouths the government (Big Brother), they will be taken for committing a Thought Crime. It is actually pretty funny how accurate he was. Maybe not in 1984, but nowadays, anyone can track someone using their phones. The government can use photo-radar cameras at the intersections to catch people doing serious crimes. It blows my mind how someone back in the World War 2 decade can predict so much about the future.
Orwell was a great writer who did not feed into the same crap that 99% of the common folk did. He was a rebel in many ways, and I tip my imaginary hat to him for being so courageous and writing works that people did not want to hear.
Can you imagine what Orwell could have written if he'd lived longer? He died so young. I absolutely agree that, like Twain, he was ahead of his time. I also agree that he's one of the top English writers ever. I love his essays most of all -- "Shooting and Elephant" and "A Hanging," for example. Truly, the man was a visionary and absolutely one of a kind. Kimberly
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