Sales of George Orwell’s classic Book “1984” have risen in what is believed to be a politically motivated protest.
What occurs within the original book?
In the book, which was published in 1949, a super-state government called "Big Brother" controls the people and tries to destroy the concept of independent thought. The book was meant to reflect the theme of Orwell’s anti-totalitarianism views, and was influenced by Yevgeny Zamyatin's Russian dystopian thriller, “We.” The book made recent news after copies had become the sixth most popular book for sale on Amazon.
However, many suggest that the book’s popularity may be a reflection of a political protest against the current administration.
This is not the first time the book’s sales increased after a relevant current event
The controversy had been reportedly instigated after Kellyanne Conway, who serves as an adviser to current President Donald Trump, coined the expression “alternative facts” in a recent television interview. The expression was made after reports came out that numbers concerning current President Donald Trump’s inauguration had been exaggerated, referring to claims that there had been a record- breaking number of attendees made by White House press secretary Sean Spicer.
According to reports, comparisons have been made with current events to the book's terms of "newspeak" and "doublethink," words that were incorporated into English lexicon after being coined by the book, which reflects language that reflects political propaganda and people being manipulated into believing false information, respectively.
Reportedly, this is not the first time purchases of the book have spurred as some form of political protest. The book also saw a surge in popularity at the time of the Edward Snowden incident, in which classified information from the National Security Agency was leaked, revealing various global surveillance programs. Sales of the book rose around 10,000%, making it the third most popular book on Amazon at the time. This in part led to an internet meme claiming that the book was not intended as a “survival manual.”
