Procreation was the only purpose for sex. Winston thinks that the proles alone have the ability to change life. They make up such a great deal of the population of Oceania and have been able to hold on to their emotions and some semblance of life without Big Brother watching every moment. He is discouraged about the chances of that happening as he writes of the proles, "until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious" (Orwell, 74). Although they have the strength in numbers and have the options of loving each other, having children and not being watched every single moment, they have not attempted to stage an uprising against the party. The few at the top control all of the others below them, and with seemingly very little opposition, other than the Brotherhood, which seems to be elusive and no one has proof that they actually exist. Instead of using the power the proles have, mainly the freedom they experience, they just live as they are expected to. They are uneducated, poor and lacking in initiative to change anything about their future. Winston thinks if they would wake up, they could change the future of Oceania. Common sense tells us that the sheer numbers of the proles would be able to take over any of the Ministries and gain control. Big Brother and the Party don't expect this, for good reason, and don't restrict the prole's actions.

George Orwell makes a poignant point by having only 1% of the population controlling...

This is not unheard of in history. In fact, it is everywhere in history. The Nazis not only controlled the Jews and the poor, they committed genocide to the tune of 6 million persons. Rwanda is another example, and many other societies in the history of the world. What is about the proles of the world that they do not rise up, as a mass of people and take their lives back from the Party? The proles in the story have no money, no education, and seemingly no will to make their lives different.
There is a similarity in today's society. Populations of some countries have the right to vote and have a say in their future. Despite this, someone else makes the final decisions about their lives. In democratic countries, there is a good probability that the decisions will be at least in accordance with what the population wants, but the very poor are still ignored. These poor, the homeless, street people and prostitutes have little or no say about their futures beyond the personal decisions they can make. There are advocate groups for this population, but the bottom line is they can affect little change. In other populations, the poor have no say in the decisions that affect their lives. They are similar to the proles, who use all of their energy to make it from day-to-day and have no strength left to fight for a change.

Some aspects of George Orwell's 1984 are very similar to today.

Works Cited

Orwell, George. 1984. New York: Signet Classic, 1949.