Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nineteen Eighty-Four (sometimes written 1984) is a novel written by George Orwell, an English writer (1903-50). Nineteen Eighty-Four is a science-fiction tale about a man named Winston Smith, who longs for escape from life in a totalitarian society. At the end of the novel, his discontent is discovered and he is not only tortured into obeying the government, but into loving the all-controlling state as well. His free will is destroyed.

Canon References
Nineteen Eighty-Four is mentioned twice during the run of the series. It is one of the novels offered as part of Mr. O’Neill’s reading assignment in "Write Where It Hurts." In "Psycho Therapy," when Daria learns that the purpose of the family's visit to Quiet Ivy is for a psychiatric evaluation, Daria checks her wrist and says, "Gee, look at the time. Nineteen eighty-four already."

Note that Daria is shown clutching a copy of Orwell's Animal Farm when she gets out of her parents' car at Camp Grizzly, during the flashback to her first arrival at same.

Fanfiction References
Daria is reading Nineteen Eighty-Four in several fanfics (e.g., Invisigoth Gypsy's "Electricity" and Medea's "Sew What?."

On a more complicated level, Thomas's "A Stacy Orange" has a plot revolving around Nineteen Eighty-Four. In Victory Lane, by Brother Grimace, Daria's mental state after intensive therapy is compared to Winston Smith's at the end of Nineteen Eighty-Four, when he "loved Big Brother." In The Angst Guy's Daria 2007: The Girl from Hope, Daria calls the school-supplied electronics that only used school programming that cannot be altered "goodthink," and Jane catches the reference to 1984. In "Darkness," by the same author, an unsubtle comparison is made between the theocratic American government and Orwell's totalitarian state with the appearance of a billboard showing the solemn face of Christ, with the legend, "JESUS IS WATCHING YOU."