Do the characters look or feel real in the novel 1984 by George Orwell?

To a certain extent he captures the despair of the people and that seems real, although it is hard to imagine a world where all people would follow so mindlessly and where a speech can be made where the enemy changes in the middle of that speech and the audience just go along with it. So some situations of control used in the book and the people depicted can mirror our own lives but for the people to live in such dreary servitude without question just seems a bit too far to imagine. I know many who do question just disappear only to return completely changed and then usually publicly dealt with for crimes that have been fabricated, but who in this day and age will not stand up for themselves. Basically very few.