1984 by George Orwell is typically considered to be a great classic- a perfect example of dystopian fiction. However, this book is the most frequently banned in America, and for good reason. Reading 1984 is a terribly boring feat.
Firstly, this book is utterly flavorless. It is filled with almost no content, and there’s an entire chapter devoted to Winston, the main character, reading a book “out loud.” 33 pages, which merely recites the entire premise of the book, and restates things that have already been explained. This is a perfect example of Orwell’s awful worldbuilding and this entire portion could have been cut, as it weighs down the entire book. Additionally, the stiff and bleak writing style of Orwell combined with the scarcity of content makes the book depressing and barely digestible.
However, that is not the only thing that burdens the 1984 experience. Winston is a drab character. He is wholly dull and uncomplex and adds little to nothing to the book. If anything, he is simply a tool for the reader to experience the totalitarian society through his eyes. He lacks personality; at best he has traces of the traditionally stoic, aggressive, intellectual, contemplative man who was glorified in the 1940s, the time when the novel was written. Modern-day readers often make excuses for Winston’s dullness by claiming that Orwell intended to make him bland to express how a controlling government dehumanizes everybody. But we don’t have to make excuses like that for characters in modern literature, we should simply just accept that Winston/bad characters weigh down the book. Nevertheless, casting Winston as a main character certainly drags out the book.
Most importantly, this book is unnecessarily vulgar. Misogyny is extremely prevalent throughout the book and while this can be interpreted as a theme following that “totalitarianism is bad and is commonly inextricably linked to sexism,” this strand of the literature is so underdeveloped. It is unclear whether or not this is part of a subplot or if it can be attributed to the standards of the book’s era. To be specific, 1984 often depicts Winston having thoughts of violently killing or hurting girls- these fantasies even fall upon what would later be his love interest, Julia.
It is only a meager 15 pages into the book when this phenomenon becomes clear.
“Vivid, beautiful hallucinations flashed through [Winston]’s mind. He would flog her to death with a rubber truncheon… he realized why he hated her. He hated her because she was young and pretty and sexless…”
Considering this, is this really okay for high school students to have been reading for decades? The inability to separate the unnecessary explicit content from any discernible message leaves the continuous motif to be seemingly encouraged. Is this mindset truly reasonable to be taught to 9th and 10th graders?
In conclusion, 1984 is not the pinnacle of dystopian novels. The insufficiency of Orwell’s writing, the blandness of the characters and the inappropriate content make this book just plain bad.
