To avoid a dystopian future, we must become "savage"

If we’re likely to fall prey to anything, it is this: lack of virtue, gentility, and enchantment. And if we lose these things, we lose all the rest—we lose the independence and integrity that constitute members of a strong, accountable republic.

For Winston and the Savage, the enchantment of ancient works and words drew them to a better, more noble life. It beckoned to them, beyond their own bleak reality. It gave them strength to act with passion and conviction.

In both cases, it was books—ancient volumes with tangible presences, with enchanting beauty and winsome words—that spoke to them from their place of emptiness. We too can find comfort and conviction in these objects.