George Orwell’s 1984 follows the life of Winston Smith, an everyman who lives in a world controlled by a totalitarian regime. Under the thumb of this regime, human actions are closely scrutinized and controlled by the ruling party and the ever-watching leader, Big Brother.
Winston is a low-ranking member of the party who dislikes the omnipresent surveillance conducted by the party and secretly wishes to rebel. He records his secret thoughts in a diary, an act that is known as a thoughtcrime in the world of 1984.
As Winston’s disillusionment with the party increases, he suspects that a powerful party member, O’Brien, is secretly a member of the Brotherhood, a mysterious group that’s looking to overthrow the regime.