I used to read lots of novels, in fact, I was finishing a novel per day for three or four years. Reading and writing has always been the focal point of my life since the day I learned to read and write. (I was about 3 and a half years old when I did so, actually) Sadly, I lost my will to read novels properly in recent years, though I'm always a keen follower of articles and encylopedic materials.
Anyway I've recently decided to return to my roots and start reading novels again. I finally had the chance to read Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell today. I started and finished it in the same day and avoided the sleep because of it, which is good news for me.
I knew I was a fan of dystopias, even though I didn't really had the chance to read dystopian novels at all. Dystopian approach to writing has always been with me, though. Nineteen Eighty-Four is probably the greatest novel I've ever read so far.
The double meaning caused by the pronunciation of the words utopia and eutopia leads to an interesting thought. The words can mean "good place" or "no place". Dystopia is a term that is used to describe "anti-utopia" therefore it's the opposite of good place, which makes obvious sense, but it also is an opposite of no place, which means the dystopian world is utter reality, the real world.
I'm going to approach the book from the situation in my native country, Turkey. The government is parliamentary republic here, but in recent years, that term really is just on paper. After AKP, led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took the office back in 2003, the country has been going into a territory of being ruled in a totalitarian system. The president (Abdullah Gül) is basically ineffective. He's been the president for five years now and I think there's only one or two bills that he has vetoed so far. AKP designs the constitutions, president approves and there you go. With the constitutional referandum that took place back in 2010, the people simply approved the path that leads to the ineffectiveness of the law. (by giving the chance to the government to lead the assignments) The seperation of powers has dissolved. Legislature, executive and judiciary belongs to the leading party. (even though it's not on paper) The health, the education policies are horrible. The agriculturalists all have a hard time. Importation is far higher than exportation, even though Turkey is a rich country in natural sources. The people are unhappy, the people who support the government are happy, because they simply don't know the truth, they're ignorant and just like in the book, they're brainwashed to love the government.
In this totalitarian system, it's not hard to find similarities between Oceania and Turkey. The country is basically a puppet of the United States, which probably I can call as the Big Brother in this situation. (although I'm not sure about that, because we all know that the one who's leading United States is not Barack Obama and the actual government) The Turkish government is the outer party, which is consisted of people who only works the inner party and losts their power when they betray and the majority of the population are the proles. Although there's a slight difference here, even though the people are being treated like the proles in the book, they actually have a right to vote, because of the system that is on the paper. But still, I don't think the "inner party" wouldn't allow the party the people select if they aren't on their side. There's lots of controversies going on in Turkish elections : for instance, a close relative from my family was an attendant in one of the ballot boxes in the 2011 elections, there was 4 AKP representatives and just 1 representative of the contrariety. From what I heard they force retarded people and the old people to vote for AKP, no need to talk about details, though.
Back to my point, the novel was published in 1949. There were telescreens on the book, there are security cameras, access to everyone through internet and eavesdropping now. The rules were harsh, there was no right no act against the ruler, the same now. Maybe John Stuart Mill did coin the word dystopia by thinking "the real world" instead of "the bad world". Who knows.
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