I read 1984 in 5th grade. (Many years ago.) I enjoyed the book and to this day, I see governments acting the way they did in the book. Look at political correctness as the modern version of newspeak. No one calls things what they are, and politicians are even worse about it. Look how alliances between countries shift. That is all out of 1984.
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Ahm...not exactly, it is something deeply ingrained in our political and social culture (political correctness may hace changed - as in what is pc has changed, but it isn't exactly a new development, even if the term was first used in regard of 'offensive language' in the late seventies and it became a household word in the eighties, the underlying principle is far older)that '1984' build upon as a dystopia and satire - not vice versa.
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What bothered me about the book was twofold:
1) I was forced to read it and discuss it in class, with a not very intelligent group of people. The discussions were shallow, pointless, and *long*.
2)It's not really a story - I mean sure, there's the appearance of the story, but it's so bare that I often questioned why it was there in the first place. The characters were flat, the plot illogical and uniteresting*, and it really all had the feeling of a cobbled togather excuse to get to where Orwell really wanted to go - descriptions of a dystopic world. The part I came the closest to enjoying were those in which he just settled back and described things from afar - for example, in the book that Winston's reading that describes how societies always behaved. I think the entire book should have been a 40 pages long moodiece with ocassional forays into actualy saying something - like the aforementioned book section where Orwell's political theory is revealed in fullness to the reader. THAT would have made for a fine read. Instead I slogged through 200 pages of, "meh, I kinda don't care".
* why the plot is illogical:
http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&am p;cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CC4QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org% 2Fwiki%2FThe_Chrysalids&ei=7EukUc_uBuL0iQLCnYHABw&usg=AFQjCNFHEXJLA fXyttAZYWyzTbvnBDI8mw&sig2=ENScafeFv1bJCkuArX3bag&bvm=bv.47008514,d .cGE
The Chrysalids by John Wyndhham is about the emergence of a telepathic human variant in an post-apoc society dedicated to preserving man from the mutants. Since the telepaths show no outward sign of mutation, they are able to hide, for awhile, but cause a crazed witch-hunt when discovered.
Speaking of Emergence...
http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&am p;cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CCsQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org% 2Fwiki%2FEmergence_(novel)&ei=IU6kUbnbJsTQiwKpxoH4CQ&usg=AFQjCNHbvn HZIWUMbci_SycCoRszngbCvA&sig2=xnLqWa81LJu3o-Vn8dB1wA&bvm=bv.4700851 4,d.cGE
Another good book- a young girl genius is playing in her Dad's home-built bombshelter when a bioweapon plague is released. She emerges to a empty world and has to survive & find other survivors. But the people that released the plague are still active- and intend to claim "their" newly cleansed world.
Just 2 of my favs. The 2nd might be hard to find- I understand its out of print and the author gave up writing for some other career.
What bothered me about the book was twofold:
1) I was forced to read it and discuss it in class, with a not very intelligent group of people. The discussions were shallow, pointless, and *long*.
2)It's not really a story - I mean sure, there's the appearance of the story, but it's so bare that I often questioned why it was there in the first place. The characters were flat, the plot illogical and uniteresting*, and it really all had the feeling of a cobbled togather excuse to get to where Orwell really wanted to go - descriptions of a dystopic world. The part I came the closest to enjoying were those in which he just settled back and described things from afar - for example, in the book that Winston's reading that describes how societies always behaved. I think the entire book should have been a 40 pages long moodiece with ocassional forays into actualy saying something - like the aforementioned book section where Orwell's political theory is revealed in fullness to the reader. THAT would have made for a fine read. Instead I slogged through 200 pages of, "meh, I kinda don't care".
If you liked that, you should check out the original.
* why the plot is illogical:
** spoiler omitted **
IIRC, the answer is sadism. "A boot stomping on a human face--forever!!!" Or something.
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If you liked that, you should check out the original.
Why, Trotzky just happens to be my favourite Bolshevik party member! Thanks for the link, but the essay in 1984 scratched my itch in that regard quite well.
IIRC, the answer is sadism. "A boot stomping on a human face--forever!!!" Or something.
Not only is that still nonsensical, but agian, it stands against how the book attempts to portray the govrenment as an ultimate, cruel, uncaring power. You have to care to be a sadist.
Well, you also have to care to run a totalitarian state. You don't go to the lengths of spying on people wearing make-up and copulating through indifference.
But, back in college, I was a little disappointed by that aspect of 1984 as well.
Still thought it was a great read, though.
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
It's a near-future United States that's suffering a general collapse of the economy, stable government, and of society as a whole. I found it deeply disturbing, and I read it in my early 30s... not sure how appropriate it would be for 15-year-olds.
Accelerando by Charles Stross.
It's a three-part novel about the Technological Singularity: part 1 takes place just before; part 2 takes place during; and part 3 takes place after.
Saturn's Children, also by Charles Stross, is set on Earth about a few decades after all of the humans have died off, but our sentient computers and robots have continued a society of their own. Also not sure how appropriate this would be for 15-year-olds: the protagonist had been a sexbot before the humans died off.
There's also the Three Californias Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. The books in the series are not direct sequels-- they each present an alternate future of California. The Wild Shore (1984) is a postapocalyptic novel set after a nuclear war. The Gold Coast (1988) is a dystopian novel set in 2027 Californina that logically extended the 1980s lifestyle into the future. Pacific Edge (1990) is a hopeful speculative novel in which humanity figures out how to build a technological utopia in harmony with the environment.
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If they haven't been mentioned I will list what's on my Gamma World reading list (have read) of books for young adults:
Star Man's Son/Daybreak 2250 AD - Andre Norton
Battle Circle - Piers Anthony
Horseclans Series - Robert Adams
...and many years ago, during my first Gamma Age I was reading the Deathlands series of books (too adult) and the C.A.D.S series of books (John Sievert) which detailed a military force that is trying to re-establish order after the world ends - and oh yeah - the all use Powered Armor. Also very violent - with powered armor soldiers killing PA trash and raiders.
They know about Winston, but they want to see how far he'll go, and then how far they can pull him. If they can control the subversive - who becomes subversive and who they can re-establish control over then they have won. They have absolute power over mind, body and soul. It has nothing to do with sadism. In the end they wanted Winston to love the State, right as he was about to get a bullet through the back of his skull. And as he dies, he did love the State, and 4 fingers held up were 5.
As far as logic, to me the function of the State in 1984 is 100% logical. You have power - absolute power - why not test it? Why not see how far that power extends? You can make a person into one thing, and then change him back, and then change him back again and then again. That is the point - power and the need to test that power.
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If they haven't been mentioned I will list what's on my Gamma World reading list (have read) of books for young adults:
Star Man's Son - Andre Norton
Battle Circle - Piers Anthony
Horseclans Series - Robert Adams...and many years ago, during my first Gamma Age I was reading the Deathlands series of books (too adult) and the C.A.D.S series of books (John Sievert) which detailed a military force that is trying to re-establish order after the world ends - and oh yeah - the all use Powered Armor. Also very violent - with powered armor soldiers killing PA trash and raiders.
** spoiler omitted **
Damn, forgot about Battle Circle. That is a good one.
** spoiler omitted **
I just re-read the speech O'Brien gives Winston about the future being a boot on a human face forever. If I had read it just yesterday, instead of years ago, and if I hadn't posted early in the morning before coffee, I might have said "love of power" instead of "sadism."
Reading stuff like "Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation. Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together in new shapes of your choosing," etc., etc., however, makes me wonder how different "love of power" and "sadism" are in Oceania.
Accelerando by Charles Stross is brilliant, though many of your young readers might find it challenging.
I'm 36 and have been reading difficult books for fun for years and I still thought Accelerando was challenging.