1984 by George Orwell (1949)

How is it that, with every passing year, people think “This is finally the year where George Orwell’s 1984 is actually come to life”? I’ve pretty much heard this my entire life—and I was born in 1983!

But of course, this year it’s obviously true—what with our screen-filled homes, revisionist histories, and legacy media we can’t trust, 2026 is finally the year where George Orwell’s 1984 is actually coming to life!

I re-read this book recently, because it finally made it to our Sibling’s Book Club list. I’m a sucker for dystopian fiction, and—along with Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Aldous Huxley’s A Brave New World—1984 is the cream of the classic crop.

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Reviewing My Own History with 1984

Normally I’d open with a “Brief Summary of 1984“, but I’ll forego it this once. Instead, I want to contrast my first and more recent readings of this classic, warning tale.

I first read 1984 many years ago—likely as a college student for whom all the sex was an instant appeal. I recall getting incredibly bored with the manifesto, Goldstein’s book-within-a-book. I recall skipping that whole section and being mildly disappointed with the novel’s ending. Essentially, I recall hating the book that first time through.

I read it once again in my 20s—that time in its entirety—and recall the book having a slightly different effect on me. I wasn’t as bored with the manifesto, because I finally understood its context. I didn’t view it as a future that was literally possible, but more as a warning about what could be, if our country ever turned into a dictatorship.

Now at the ripe old age of 43, I’ve re-read the book for a third time, and I’ve come away with new lessons entirely. Now, I actually not only think this future is possible but also plausible. I better understood the reaction of “sex whenever we can” as a rebellion against a system that viewed autonomy itself as the greatest threat. I even found Goldstein’s manifesto to be my favorite part of the book!

How My Reactions to the Book Have Morphed

It’s easy to pinpoint the reasons for such change in my reactions over the years. Marriage and maturity is one reason. Being able to read about sex from this other side gives me a better understanding of what’s given and shared, and why the act itself could be taken as a positive rebellion against authoritarianism. My 10th grade son is reading this book in his literature class right now, and I know he’s not going to understand these portions or this reasoning—and I genuinely wonder how his Christian school teacher is going to handle it, with that classroom full of boys!

I’ve also spent a great deal of time in Myanmar over the past 5 years and have seen what war and politics have done to that people and nation. Emma Larkin‘s 2004 book, Finding George Orwell in Burma was an eye-opening read for me last time I visited. In her view, 1984 is the third and final part of Orwell’s biography of Burma—an unintended trilogy that proved to be historically accurate. What began with the semi-comfortable Burmese Days (1934) turned into the pigs-run-the-palace downturn of Animal Farm (1945), which then ended in the political hopelessness of 1984 (1949).

Reading the book with Myanmar’s current civil war in mind, I fully recognized the type of governmental control he envisions. Sure, Orwell placed these events in the future with technology leading the way and the Ministry of Love in full, violent control, but he also knew that such a future really wasn’t all that far off in time.

A Simple Story with a Powerful Emphasis

What amazes me about this book is its simplicity. In the annals of dystopian fiction, I honestly don’t know where this falls—chronologically or philosophically. I’m not smart enough for that.

But the world Orwell envisioned was so simply evil that we readers needn’t get bogged down in the details of what all took place in this future world. Instead we can focus on the how—how people would think and be forced to unthink the things they’d been taught. It’s far more a cerebral book than the more action-driven dystopian novels of today, like The Hunger Games.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

It also surprises me how all sides of a political argument—particularly in the USA, which for the past several decades has been stuck amidst the swings of a wildly sweeping pendulum—can always view their hero as Winston and their enemies as Big Brother. “Our side” is always the underdog, the one fighting the Man, the side raging against the machine.

Rarely do we stop to consider if the political system we support is as focused on “freedom” as we are. Rarely do we question the news from our favorite pundits to see if it’s true history or a tamed version of it. It’s a good thing when a novel forces us to question our political affiliations, as long as we’re willing to rectify whatever problems we notice when doing so.

Personally, I see “doublethink” as the conjoined twin of American Progressivism. Their upside-down logic is beyond belief (i.e. try matching their arguments in favor of both transgenderism and hormonal treatments to their arguments in the Lindsey Clancy case—impossible!). It’s Romans 1, “LIVE and In Color!” and it’s shocking that such a system continues to exist and even expand.

Get your kids off the phones and out of most public schools, Folks. It’s only going to get worse.

Conclusion

I absolutely love this book, and I’m sure it’s one I’ll be reading again sometime down the line. Perhaps it’s one worth re-reading every decade or so to see how things continue to change.

Orwell pegged the future accurately. I personally believe that, eschatologically, the world is on an ever declining spiral. Sure there may be some cultural “ups” every now and then, but even those ups would have been considered “downs” a generation ago.

It makes me long for the Rapture, the Second Coming of Jesus, the End of all this wickedness. To someone irreligious, that might sound downright depressing! But “The End” is actually “The Beginning” of an eternity with Satan bound, sin defeated, and Jesus on the throne.

And this thought also makes me think deeply about “The Meanwhile”—to long for more people to hear and believe the Good News of Jesus’ First Coming. If you don’t know enough about that, read it quickly here, and know that there’s wonderful hope in this life, even in this downward-spiral world.

©2026 E.T.

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