In George Orwell's acclaimed novel 1984, the plot features an opinionated man trapped in a strict dystopian community. As part of the summer project, I decided to read this book. My decision was based on the fact that the book featured the now-a-days widely popular environment of a futuristic dystopia in coming of age novels. I wanted to compare the literary masterpiece against the recent famous series like The Hunger Games or Divergent. I haven't finished the book, yet too many things to talk about have arisen in my mind to just wait until the last page is turned.
Nineteen Eighty-Four has been around for over 75 years now and it is still being analysed by experts, educators and students. The first I noticed was the extensive vocabulary Orwell uses in the book. With that came strong attention to the writing style form my part. I noticed how paragraphs and sentences were written incredibly, intense and fresh descriptions that gave the book something different and refreshing. How can a book be "something completely different and refreshing" 75 years after its publication?
What happens to the main character, his mental state and his trail of thought is so human that it immerses the reader into the then futuristic London. The love affair highlights the human flaws and defeats the current fairytale romance featured in YA books. For young students, this is something new. The average teenager has grown up in a world that tells them two of the most contradictory things: 1) that they can achieve everything if they try hard enough and 2) that life is unfair and not everything is a fairytale. Somehow, most modern teenage novels fail to address both of these statements. Authors create worlds in which characters face problems (usually involving a perfect romance) and somehow have a happy ending, but still don't let the character get 100% of what they want or think they deserve.
I concluded that the problem is with the books that are being released after. George Orwell's novel is recognised as modern literature and has been acclaimed by experts. How did he achieve this? I believe it's because Orwell's purpose of writing this book was to create a readable masterpiece. Now-a-days, most authors do the exact opposite, they write because they want to sell. This is the major difference between 1984 and The Hunger Games.
This brought to my mind the complex question of why is it we do the things we do? In the Innovation Academy class we have decided that grades are not everything, instead, quality work that exemplifies excellence is. This statement unconsciously shifts the purpose of doing work in school "to get good grades" to "to create quality work". Numerical values such as grades and money are the enemy of quality work and excellence. The most successful individuals and organisations acknowledge this and pursue a path seeking excellence in a world that seeks high numerical values.
That is the difference between George Orwell's novel and Suzanne Collins' trilogy.
Nineteen Eighty-Four has been around for over 75 years now and it is still being analysed by experts, educators and students. The first I noticed was the extensive vocabulary Orwell uses in the book. With that came strong attention to the writing style form my part. I noticed how paragraphs and sentences were written incredibly, intense and fresh descriptions that gave the book something different and refreshing. How can a book be "something completely different and refreshing" 75 years after its publication?
What happens to the main character, his mental state and his trail of thought is so human that it immerses the reader into the then futuristic London. The love affair highlights the human flaws and defeats the current fairytale romance featured in YA books. For young students, this is something new. The average teenager has grown up in a world that tells them two of the most contradictory things: 1) that they can achieve everything if they try hard enough and 2) that life is unfair and not everything is a fairytale. Somehow, most modern teenage novels fail to address both of these statements. Authors create worlds in which characters face problems (usually involving a perfect romance) and somehow have a happy ending, but still don't let the character get 100% of what they want or think they deserve.
I concluded that the problem is with the books that are being released after. George Orwell's novel is recognised as modern literature and has been acclaimed by experts. How did he achieve this? I believe it's because Orwell's purpose of writing this book was to create a readable masterpiece. Now-a-days, most authors do the exact opposite, they write because they want to sell. This is the major difference between 1984 and The Hunger Games.
This brought to my mind the complex question of why is it we do the things we do? In the Innovation Academy class we have decided that grades are not everything, instead, quality work that exemplifies excellence is. This statement unconsciously shifts the purpose of doing work in school "to get good grades" to "to create quality work". Numerical values such as grades and money are the enemy of quality work and excellence. The most successful individuals and organisations acknowledge this and pursue a path seeking excellence in a world that seeks high numerical values.
That is the difference between George Orwell's novel and Suzanne Collins' trilogy.