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"1984" is a book that i personally consider great because it manages to portray very well the socialist regime in which i've spent a small part of my childhood. i was too little to experience it fully, but reading the book brought back some memories. i remembered what i was feeling back when i was 5-6 years old, when coming back from kindergarten and the first thing i would say to my parents would be: "do you love nicolae and elena ceausescu?" and they'd say "yes" and only AFTER that we'd ask "how are you?" or whatever. there were pictures of ceausescu on the first page of every book or magazine. you weren't allowed to go to church. i seriously tell you that, as a child, i was made to believe ceausescu was a sort of almighty being. and i seriously believed that. i didn't even know what the word 'God' meant as it was never used. you weren't allowed to express your opinion about the regime, you weren't allowed to complain even to your own family members because ANY ONE of them could have been members of the 'securitate' (a sort of socialist secret service). or they could have planted bugs in your home. as a normal citizen, you weren't allowed to go abroad. all the mail coming from other countries was sorted, read and you were supposed to give declarations and say who is the person who's sending you letters, why do you communicate with them etc etc etc. you weren't allowed to watch movies and shows from the west. you couldn't anyway. almos all that was aired were patriotic marches and shows featuring the visits of ceausescu to different factories. and i tell you, as a child, i was a perfect product of that socialist environment. in december of 1989, when the revolution broke out and ceausescu was on the run, i couldn't understand why my family was so happy. i even remember now: i was outside, playing. my nan called me to come upstairs. when i entered the appartment, she just ran to me and took me in her arms and said: "ceausescu ran away!" and i couldn't understand why she was happy. i mean didn't we love ceausescu? that's what i was thinking with my 6 year old mind. and even after his execution and the fall of socialism, i was personally sorry for not becoming a 'pioneer' anymore (that's what you were called in elementary school). anyway, many of these aspects were caught in that novel and i felt ashamed and guilty while reading it, because as a kid i honestly believed and loved that regime. the book almost made me feel like i was raped back then, like i was deprived of a normal education, and it reminded me once again to treasure the freedom we have now. so "1984" is not so much sci fi or dystopic to me as it is a reminder of a reality in which i lived. speaking of which, has anyone read "Fahrenheit 451"? now that is a slightly exacerbated example of the reality in which we live today.
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