If there is hope it lies on the proles

What specifically is Orwell warning us against, and how does he achieve this?

Posted on by diegop14

What is dystopia? Dystopia is a place where the government, the laws, citizens and the life is a disaster, where there is no happiness, it is all the opposite of utopia, that is a perfect place to live. 1984 is Orwell’s idea of a dystopia and with it, he warns us of all the dangers that exist in a totalitarianism city. You may think how does he warn us? Well at first, one of all the major themes you can find out in the book 1984 is “newspeak” and how they use it for reducing our  language, because by controlling what everyone can and can’t said, they can control their lives. Even now at days you make think that this has no importance but of course it does, because even now when you think you are free to said whatever you want, the reality is the you can’t, our parents, teachers and authorities control most of the things we can and can’t said, we have to use a different choice of words depending with whom we are. He tries to achieve his warning by demonstrating how a manipulated community would be, because he was communist he could see and realize how a totalitarian government really is. He is preoccupied of how this era would be, because if the government continues in the way they are, I mean, being so corrupted, the world will become a disaster. This book is almost like a long propaganda, where he wrote an overview of the hopeless nature of system, that they all had in those times with the hope that in the future it would be different.

Written by: Sheyla Kafie

“If there is hope it lies in the proles”

Posted on by diegop14

“If there was hope, it MUST lie in the proles, because only there in those swarming disregarded masses, 85 per cent of the population of Oceania, could use the force to destroy the Party ever be generated.” Winston thought that the proles were the only individuals capable of defeating the Party. Their vast number of members, their physical capacity, and the loyalty that best characterizes these outsiders were some of their attributes to overthrow the totalitarian regime.

In my opinion, George Orwell is trying to implant the idea that all of us, even the ones that may seem insignificant in everyday life, have a purpose in life. The proles, which are considered the lower class of society, are the ones who can revolutionize Oceania with their ambitions and desires. It works the same way in our nowadays society. Since many of our leaders seem to ignore the poor in order to benefit themselves, they instantly neglect the idea that the poor can change the nation by granting the government a new hope of living.

Taking in account that in most countries the ‘proles’ make up the greater percentage of the country’s population, George Orwell is trying to inspire these ‘society’s foreigners’ and make them realize that it is through their determination and heart that they can defeat the injustices of the government. The poor, as insignificant as society labels them, can change the course of the nation. Due to the fact that this is the class that mostly endures the tribulations and hardships of society, is that they contain the hope of a new way of living.

Written by: Ernesto Ponce