George Orwell\'s \"1984\" Steen George

George Orwell's "1984"

Steen

George Orwell's 1984

George Orwell's 1984 is set in London, where war and discord has changed life from one of freedom to one where every aspect of a persons life is controlled by the Party. Three super states, Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia, have emerged and are always at war with each other, frequently changing who they side with. Big Brother watches all of the people in Oceania, through telescreens and the thought police. Thoughtcrimes can be monitored and Big Brother is always watching. There are posters of Big Brother everywhere and the telescreens constantly promote the party in their programs.

Dissidents of the party, including those who have thoughts against the Party are vaporized or re-educated.

The principal character is Winston, who lives in London. He is dissatisfied with life as a party member and with his job as a records changer. Winston is a member of the "outer" party, or what we would term the middle class. The "inner" party, or the high-class people, control the rest of the population and have a better lifestyle than anyone else. They have the better jobs and homes.

The lower class populations are called the proles and are generally ignored, as they are found unworthy of attention.

Winston's memories of his mother and her love for him have made him more inclined to want more out of life than the party offers. His wife, Katherine, was married to him only to produce a child and left when they were unable to. He yearns for love, sex and a life of freedom. This yearning causes him to question more deeply the party line. He realizes that life prior to Big Brother was probably different, and he remembers the love of his mother. He searches for the answers. His rumination about the past and his future causes him to speculate, "the past was dead, the future was unimaginable" (Orwell, 28). He dreams of a woman who throws off her clothes when she sees him and fells that action, "with its grace and carelessness it seemed to annihilate a whole culture, a whole system of thought, as though Big Brother and the Party and the Thought police could all be swept into nothingness by a single, splendid movement of the arm" (Orwell, 33). This freedom and the ability to act with such abandon makes him dare to believe that he can know these pleasures for a short time.

Winston's diary reveals his private thoughts about the Party and his life. He writes of his experiences and what he thinks of the proles.

The proles, or proletariat, are the poor, working class population. They are not considered to be much of a threat by the Party and are generally not watched as closely as other people. The Party does not think the proles are worthy of attention, so they largely ignore them. They are the masses, the people who have no say in how anything is run and who ostensibly don't care. This includes prostitutes, and as matter of fact, the prostitutes serve a purpose for the Party. The Party believes that "sexual intercourse was to be looked on as a slightly disgusting minor operation, like having an enema" (Orwell, 69). The Party preferred that people use the services of the prostitutes rather than have a satisfying sexual life with a partner. 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 everyone else. 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.