Read this when
Nineteen Eighty-Four
When someone keeps telling you 2 + 2 = 5 until you start to believe it. Orwell had a word for that before we called it gaslighting.
Who it's for
The Party's methods (rewriting records, demanding people believe contradictions, isolating them, punishing loyalty to anyone but itself) give readers who have lived with gaslighting or coercive control a precise vocabulary for what happened to them; words like.
Feelings it meets
What it is
George Orwell's 1949 dystopian novel follows Winston Smith, a low-ranking worker at the Ministry of Truth in the totalitarian state of Oceania, whose job is rewriting historical records to fit the Party's line. He secretly keeps a diary recording his hatred of the regime and its leader, Big Brother, and begins a hidden affair with a young woman, Julia.
Where to find it
In print (Penguin / Signet); widely available from libraries (Libby/Hoopla) and as an audiobook. Not public domain in the US (published 1949). Film adaptation (1984).
Before you start
Heads up: Extended torture scenes.
Age: Ages 14+
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings.William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 2
