Literature Changing The Life Of Students by Ashley

Literature Changing The Life Of Students by Ashley - February 2015 Scholarship Essay

Throughout high school, I’ve read Beowulf, Macbeth, To Kill A Mockingbird and many more. The one book that has stuck out to me though has been George Orwell’s 1984. I believe this is a book that every high schooler should read before continuing their life onto either the workforce or higher education. I chose this book because the message behind this writing is extremely powerful. The novel opened my eyes to the government and the possibility of what this country could become. 1984 also encourages the reader to be an ‘outsider’ and to think for yourself. If you believe everything that’s fed to you during life, you won’t be able to think for yourself. Also, anyone can come around and ultimately control you or take away any human intellect that you could have.

George Orwell did an excellent job of taking the fears that many people have about the government and painting an alternative picture to what it could be. He took you through the life of the innocent protagonist, Winston Smith. Winston was a very average man. People had very opinions of him, just like they had for anybody else. Winston decided to fight Big Brother and think for himself; which is a critical thing for society. Nowadays, facebook or twitter takes over the life of many, and they forget the big picture. Society just rolls with the punches that they deal themselves, versus standing up for their ideas.

1984 teaches younger minds to think for themselves, and theoretically ‘stick it to the man’.