Men not be extremely misogynistic when otherwise having an ok point challenge: failed. I read Zamyatin’s We in high school after finding out it inspired 1984 and I feel like the emotional writing did a better job of conveying themes than Orwell‘s straightforward writing does. Honestly, 1984 felt like a political essay with some plot rather than a novel with political themes.

I hated that every woman served as an stereotype. Julia, who Winston imagines raping and ends up serving his sexual fantasies. Winston‘s mother is the absent parental figure only meant to birth him. Winston‘s wife who can’t have children he hopes/wishes will die or that he was able to kill her when he had the chance, and finally the grandmother who maintained her beauty after having 15 kids, and only exists to serve Winston.

Perhaps this was revolutionary when it was written, but I think the conflation between socialism and totalitarianism/authoritarianism to be contrived. The pros dragged in the info dumps were uninterest. Sure the language used, “double speak” or “big brother” are still used today, but it’s outdated and I think Orwell underestimated people’s ability to comply in advance. Big Brother is unnecessary when everyone is willing to sign over all their data and post every facet of their lives. Overall, this was boring
and I didn't enjoy it.