1984 by George Orwell (British, 1949)

Summary:
After a nuclear war that ravaged Europe and the United States, the remaining countries around the world rearranged into three blocks: Oceania (current Britain plus the American continent), Eurasia (former Soviet Union and the rest of Europe), and Eastasia (Far East). Oceania is under the totalitarian rule of the English Socialist Party ( also known as ´Ingsoc’), whose leader is referred to as Big Brother. Winston Smith is a citizen located in London who happens to remember how the world was back during his childhood, when the nuclear war was still raging on. Although he hates the Party’s indoctrination and knows its claims to be false, Winston does not openly rebel out of auto preservation since those who oppose to the Party are arrested by the Thought Police. It is known that the Thought Police tortures those who dare to think too much into irrevocable submission, bending them until there is no will left in them but only resignation. Moreover, Winston notices that those who had been imprisoned, reconditioned, and released, end up mysteriously disappearing. 
 One day, following an impulse, Winston commits a small act of rebellion by allowing himself to buy a journal at a pawn shop. Since Ingsoc strives to eliminate any link to the past, Winston thinks the journal itself defies the Party by being an actual proof of what life was like and for being a beautiful object; in addition, keeping a journal encourages to develop an awareness of the self, the very same thing that the Party punishes with death, but putting his thoughts on paper would ease Winston’s mental burden without the risk of getting caught by the microphones and cameras that are everywhere. Taking advantage of a blind spot at his flat, Winston eagerly fills a whole page of his journal with the line “Down with Big Brother”. 
 Back at work in the Ministry of Truth—an ironic name, as Winston’s job consists of rewriting news from old The Times issues in order to strengthen the idea that the Party is always right and in control—Winston’s attention is caught by a young woman who seems to him an enthusiastic Party member, for which the protagonist instantly loathes her. To his surprise, days after he first noticed her, the young woman trips in front of Winston forcing him to help her up so as not to betray his disgust for her and, by extension, for the Party. It quickly proves that the woman staged the whole thing with the purpose of clandestinely passing Winston a note in which she has written “I love you.” Feelings and human relationships are not encouraged in the new regime: marriages are arranged by the government, sex is only allowed for reproduction purposes, children are taught to be allegiant to Big Brother rather than their parents. As the woman’s actions entail defiance, Winston resolves to contact her soon. So, to arise no suspicion, Winston awaits a few weeks before approaching the woman in a busy street, where she whispers him directions to meet her in the country in their next day off work. Julia, the young woman, proves to be much more rebellious than Winston, but even more thorough at building her façade: while she has successfully maintained numerous affairs in the past, she has never been caught because she chooses locations in which hidden microphones are fewer, and she has discovered these places thanks to the numerous walks in the country which the Party organises to keep the citizens healthy. Additionally, Julia volunteers at the Junior League, advocating for celibacy and distributing pamphlets appraising Big Brother and warning against fraternising with Emmanuel Goldstein, leader of the rebellion, or his flock of followers, known as the Brotherhood. Even though Julia hates the Party and is constantly defying its rules, she has no interest in learning how the world was before Ingsoc or in understanding how the Party works in order to manage to keep ruling. Nor does Julia think things can ever change, all of which deeply frustrates Winston as he himself is convinced that the proletariat is the key to overturn the government. 
 Winston is hopeful to the extent that he believes his superior O’Brien to be part of the Brotherhood in spite of the Party’s continuous reports that there is not such a rebel group nor, for that matter, a breathing and alive Emmanuel Goldstein.
 Winston decides that he is right when O’Brien approaches him at work and offers to lend him his Newspeak dictionary but quickly asks Winston to personally collect it at O’Brien’s own flat under some weak excuse. Excited, Winston informs Julia of his conversation with O’Brien and the two agree to visit him at the set date and time. Once at O’Brien’s study, he further surprises Julia and Winston by turning off the telescreen—the device that transmits and records at the same time every minute—after which both confess their mutual love and their willingness to join the Brotherhood; O’Brien questions to what extent they would go for the sake of the Brotherhood. The couple promptly accepts each new scenario O’Brien proposes until he confronts them with a hypothetical case in which one would have to kill the other, to which they refuse. O’Brien thanks Julia and Winston for their honesty and reciprocates by explaining that the three of them will eventually be discovered and eliminated, but that their rebellion is necessary to secure the future overthrow of the Party. Before allowing them to depart, O’Brien advises them both to keep a low profile and gives them instructions to acquire a copy of The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism, written by none other than Goldstein. Weeks later the couple meets at their usual rendezvous, Mr. Charrington’s flat atop the pawnbroker’s shop where Winston bought his journal. Since Mr. Charrington is a proletarian, he is not actually considered a citizen or member of the Party, for which he lives in poverty but is not observed through the telescreen because his status means he was not provided with one. From the forbidden book, Winston learns that the three super-states are fairly similar, in spite of what the propaganda claims, keeping the pretence of being at war with each other as a way to distract their respective populations from organizing a revolution against the totalitarian governments. One evening, when resting in Mr. Charrington’s flat, the lovers are confronted by an armed member of the Thought Police. Before their being arrested and taken to the Ministry of Love, Mr. Charrington reveals himself to have being impersonating an old man all along in order to lure and trap nonconformists like Winston. 
 Once in the Ministry of Love, Winston spends an unquantifiable amount of time locked in cells; when one day O’Brien finally enters his cell Winston finally lets go of his hopes. To make matters worse, O’Brien admits to be have been an agent of the Thought Police for quite some time, making Winston realise his rebellion was doomed from the very beginning. Winston then faces months of physical and psychological torture but is not released until he yields his last piece of freedom, his love for Julia, by asking O'Brien to torture Julia insteadof him. Some time later after he is released, Winston spots Julia in the crowd and has brief and awkward conversation with her, in which she confesses to had betrayed Winston in much the same way he betrayed her. After parting ways for the final time, Winston takes solace in the realisation that he has come to genuinely love Big Brother.

Another summary:
As the title of the work indicates, the story takes place in 1984 in London, a city belonging to Airstrip One, a province of Oceania. The context in which it develops is that of a society marked by war and controlled by the Party, a totalitarian government based on the Ingsoc ideology and divided into four ministries: the Ministry of Truth, which deals with issues primarily related to education, history, and news; the Ministry of Peace, in charge of all matters war; the Ministry of Love, tasked with lawmaking; and the Ministry of Plenty, in charge of the economy. 
 As a weapon of social control, the Party has a leader character called Big Brother, an intimidating entity which appears in propaganda of the dictatorship in all public spaces; the State also uses the Thought Police and Telescreens to monitor people anytime, anywhere and, in case of unfaithfulness to the Party, that individual is disappeared immediately.
 This story is told from the point of view of Winston Smith, a worker for the Ministry of Truth, responsible for rewriting history to enforce the stories that suit the Party's purposes. As he carries out this task, he realizes how terrible this form of government is, a government that bases its strength in ignorance, freedom in slavery and peace in war. This causes him to start opposing the Party, which makes him a "thought-criminal." One of the few people he interacts with at work is his partner Syme, who reveals to him to be writing a dictionary of English that manages to reduce the capacity of human thought; later on, Syme disappears without a trace, just as it happens to any other traitor to the Party.
 One day, Winston meets Mr. Charrington, the owner of an antique shop where he buys a journal in which he writes his treacherous thoughts about the Party. When Julia, a co-worker for whom he feels a deep desire, confesses his feelings for him, they begin a secret romance and share their repudiation of the Party, which means they are guilty of a double betrayal. Later, they rendezvous in the room that Mr. Charrington rents them.
 After that, another of Winston's coworkers, Mr. O'Brien, approaches him and proposes to join the Brotherhood, a resistance group led by Emmanuel Goldstein, a strong enemy of Big Brother. Moreover, O'Brien shares with Winston a copy of The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism, written by Goldstein himself. Both Winston and Julia read the book and discover many secrets about the form of social control exerted by the Party.
 Nevertheless, they soon discover that both Mr. Charrington and O'Brien are loyal to the Party and are part of a trap to catch traitors. This happens when Winston and Julia are captured at Mr. Charrington's store and taken to the Ministry of Love. There, they are tortured for several months until they are "cured", which happens once they give up their own thoughts and adjust to what Big Brother wants them to think: for example, to accept that two plus two equals five if that is what the Party says.
 O'Brien tells Winston that he will be released as soon as his brainwashing process is complete and that he will return to society for a time before his execution. Winston thinks that the worst thing that the Party can do is force him to betray Julia, which happens eventually, when he is taken to Room 101 to end his reeducation process by being forced to face his biggest fear: rats. Winston asks for Julia to be tortured and, finally, betrays her. 
 After being released, Winston is reunited with Julia, both confess having betrayed each other and Winston realizes that the Party also managed to disappear what they once felt for each other. They go away as strangers and later, when Winston is sitting all alone in a café, he realizes that he loves Big Brother.

Another summary:
The book is set in the year 1984 when the world has been divided by war. Three giant states are constantly fighting each other, the largest being Oceania, which is where the main character, Winston Smith, lives. People live in a dystopic society under a totalitarian regime overlooked by the ever-present entity known as Big Brother. People are divided in three social structures. The proles are at the bottom of the pyramid and are given little to nothing. The Outer Party are mostly office workers and would be the equivalent of the middle class. At the top there is the Inner Party, who have way more privileges than the other two put together. There are also four branches of government which are the Ministry of Peace, in charge of war and defense, the Ministry of Plenty, in charge of economic affairs, the Ministry of Love, in charge of law and order, and the Ministry of Truth, in charge of the news, education and divulgation of culture. 
 Winston Smith is part of the Outer Party and is acutely aware of what the Party is doing. The book begins with him sitting in an apparently secluded part of his house to illegally write a diary. He is not sure what to write at first, but a memory comes to him of a day while in Hate Time. This is a moment of the day in which they dedicate two minutes to hate on Goldstein, the leader of the Brotherhood, which is an organization dedicated to bringing down the Party. At the end of hate time he shares a meaningful look with a member of the Inner Party called O’Brian which makes Winston think that he agrees with his own ideas on the party. Winston works in the Ministry of Truth, his job consists of rewriting past records to make the past conform to the reality the Party wants to show. Afterwards, while in a walk down in the Prole streets he gets to the small antiques store where he bought his diary. There he talks with the owner and sees that he has an available room that doesn’t have a telescreen, which means there is complete privacy, a luxury nobody has. The following day at work he happens upon a woman named Julia, who secretly slips him a piece of paper and, while he thinks the paper might be a threat or an invitation to the Brotherhood, it turns out to be a love confession. Very discreetly, they arrange a meeting in the middle of the forest where they share a moment together thinking they can’t be watched there. The following months they continue with their encounters and finally decide to rent out the bedroom in the antiques store to have some privacy. Afterwards O’Brian approaches Winston to offer him to join the Brotherhood. Both he and Julia accept the terms but, shortly after, are apprehended and sent to the Ministry of Love for crimes against the Party. There Winston is tortured endlessly in an attempt to make him forget his individuality and critical mind to accept the Party’s ideas and love Big Brother. After a long time in the Ministry of Love Winston gives in to the torture and betrays his love for Julia, the only thing he had left. He is reintegrated into society a new man that blindly follows the Party and loves Big Brother.

World view: The world portrayed in the story is an hypothetical society which seems to be worse than the one the author lives in.
Future projections: It’s a fearful prediction of the possible outcomes of today’s actions. Thus, it warns us against the terrible disasters (e.g. overpopulation, war, climate change) which would follow if there is no change in direction.
Ideology: The control or suppression of futuristic technology is used as a means to maintain dominance and stability.
Characters, plot and writing style: The rebellion fails or revolution is regarded as a difficult irrelevance.
Classification: Non-dystopia