camohls

I was unsure when I bought this if it was classified as Fiction or Non-Fiction, and I believe it's Non; really, what this book reads like is a 232-page Newsweek article. It was a bit hard to follow with all of the organizations involved with the Spanish Civil War -- and all of the loyalties and ties that were always being made and broken -- but I think that's kind of Orwell's point. Although it wasn't exactly the most "interesting" "page-turner" with gripping plot, and full of digressions and entire chapters of political explanations, what I liked most about this book was the fact that Orwell was actually trying to hold journalists and "Media" accountable and give an accurate portrayal of what was truly going on versus what all of the propaganda and state-sponsored organizations and their mouthpieces were saying. What struck me off guard was the realization that this conflict was essentially a war-by-proxy, with the Russian Communists supporting one side and the German Fascists supporting another, with a whole bunch of local groups and revolting proletarians stuck somewhere in the middle. I've always been fascinated with WWII era subject matter but never fully understood how the war in Spain was basically an opening act for the Big Show. Kind of makes me wonder about the connection to things happening in the Middle East right now with us: is this an opening act in Iraq, with us helping half the Iraqis and Syria/Iran supporting the others? Is Afghanistan a proxy for a larger Muslim/Christian Crusades for the 21st Century? I have always considered 1984 one of my favorite books, and I always thought of Orwell as such a prophet. After reading this it's funny to see how everything correlates between what he witnessed in REALITY -- his raw material for his later work -- and the world of Winston, the world of Snowball: the endless shortages of everything, the rotating alliances, the constant fright and suspicions, the role of the media, the detention without trial or even charges. On the third to the last page, however, he states, "Curiously enough the whole experience has left me with not less but more belief in the decency of human beings." Really? Not only does it seem crazy that someone could return from such an experience without disillusionment and horror, but this sentence is coming from the man who ends 1984 with Winston loving Big Brother, who ends Animal Farm with the pigs turning into humans -- I always thought his world view was that of recognizing, admitting, and agreeing that the individual could be defeated, that we all have the memories of goldfish, that "the good" are few and far between. Huh. I've also read that he says 1984 and Animal Farm are written as "warnings of a future nightmare," so maybe he does possess the belief of decency but just writes this way to warn, so... Then the book ends with a fantastic final line, as Winston returns back to England, concluding with the thought that all the people back home are, "all sleeping the deep, deep sleep of England, from which I sometimes fear that we shall never wake till we are jerked out of it by the roar of bombs." Brilliant. I share that same fear as an American.

2022-11-14 18:33