Generation X Nostalgia

In th 1970's, the 911 Emergency Call system was put into service. It was real easy to call the police after that. Surveillance cameras were installed in libraries across the country, "To keep people from stealing the books." In high school we had homework and that homework included reading "classic" literature, books like "The Grapes of Wrath". There was a list of books we could read and, oddly enough, there were "banned books" included on the list. Here's a summary of some of the banned books that were on the list. If you don't believe us, go to the library and ask for a copy of one of these books!

1984: This book was actually written by George Orwell in about 1940. The book is about a country called "Oceania" where a continuous world war is called "peace" love is called "hate" and ignorance is called "bliss" by the state run Ministry of the Press. Also, people are under constant surveillance by the Thought Police who are part of the Ministries of Truth and Peace. The plot is about a Ministry of the Press analyst named Winston who gets curious about an inconsistency in a story about the leader of Oceania, Big Brother. Winston follows up on the inconsistency, as is his job, and his friends start to disappear. Soon he is being followed by a Ministry of the Truth worker named Julia who tries to stop Winston from doing his job, but Winston ends up seducing Julia. Fianlly, Winston and Julia get caught making love without a license and Winston is forced to meet his biggest fear by the Ministry of Peace... Winston is afraid of rats. The book ends with two interpretations, one tragic, one hopeful, when Winston comes to "...love Big Brother."

Animal Farm: This book was also written by George Orwell. The plot is about a farm that is taken over from its wicked human master by the animals. The animals run the farm pretty well at first and they even learn to read and write their own Constitution. Unfortunately, the pigs (literally the pigs) get greedy and become dictators over a farm being run into ruin. A few animals escape before the pigs break the final law of the Animal Constitution: They put on clothes. The farm is ruined and finally a new human master comes to run the farm. The animals that escaped the tyranny of the pigs return and are hopeful that the new human farmer will run things better than, well, the pigs did. Only problem is, the animals can't tell the difference between the men and the pigs anymore.

Farenheit 451: This book was written by science fiction author, Ray Bradbury. It's about a world where books and reading are banned completely. It is the job of the Fire Department to burn down the houses and imprison people who read or covet books. The story ends when a Fireman ends up collecting some books of his own... and gets caught by his own Department.

Anthem (We Freedom): This is a book about a post-nuclear-war world where the word "I" and the concept of individual identity has been abolished. The most modern technology is the candle. One man rediscovers a light bulb and ends up thrown out of civilization. Finally he escapes civilization with his Golden Girl and runs off into the forest where he finds a house with a library and rediscovers the word "I". The man does not share his discovery with "them" and remains with his Golden Girl in the forest at the end of the book.

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