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# Nineteen Eighty-Four

- [Made in Slatesource](https://slatesource.com/u/steph/nineteen-eighty-four)
- By [Steph](https://slatesource.com/u/Steph)
- Arts & Culture
- Created on May 4, 2026

![](https://cdn.slatesource.com/9/b/2/9b26f06f-6c6f-4a02-b719-61b155339c4c.webp)

## Nineteen Eighty-Four

The novel that gave the world Big Brother, doublethink, and Room 101. It permanently changed how we talk about power, surveillance, and truth.

## The Story

George Orwell's 1949 masterpiece follows Winston Smith, a low-ranking Party member in Airstrip One who secretly harbours doubts about the totalitarian regime of Oceania and its all-seeing figurehead, Big Brother. He begins a forbidden love affair and dares to rebel. A decision the Party has been waiting for. Published by Secker and Warburg. 328 pages. English. ISBN 978-0-451-52493-5.

journey·6 Parts

# Reading 1984

Intensity

/

Part

The World of Oceania

Unsettled

"Oppressive from page one. You cannot breathe."

> If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever.

Orwell wrote this while dying of tuberculosis on a remote Scottish island. He finished in 1948 and flipped the last two digits for the title. He died seven months after publication.

The book gave the English language Big Brother, doublethink, thoughtcrime, and Newspeak. Over 30 million copies sold. Sales spike every time authoritarianism makes the news.

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