Chang 1 Phillip Chang Mr. Tarr English ¾ H 24 February 2014 Orwell‟s 1984: Writing Assignment The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle once said, “The most perfect political community is one in which the middle class in control, and outnumbers both of the other classes.” In 1984 by George Orwell, there are also three distinct classes, but is it is far from Aristotle‟s perfect community. Instead, the elite Inner Party hold all the power, and keeps the lower proletarians ignorant and the middle Outer Party is kept under strict control. 1984 is about an Outer Party member named Winston that can see through the manipulation of the Inner Party, and attempts to rebel against the Inner Party. However, he realizes that this is impossible without the help of the lower class, the proles that make up eight five percent of the whole population. He then meets Julia, another member of the Outer Party that has not been manipulated into being controlled by the Inner Party. However, the Inner Party has established control so tightly that it is impossible for anyone to rebel against the Inner Party. The government is always watching everyone through the use of telescreens, and even having an unusual expression on your face is a crime. Eventually, Winston and Julia are captured by a member of the Thought Police (undercover agents that capture criminals that disobey the Inner Party). Winston is repeatedly torture and broken completely as he is turned into a loving member of Big Brother, the leader figure set up by the Inner Party. O‟Brien, one of the leaders of the Inner Party, responds to Winston‟s rebellious retort by saying that Winston is the last man. The Outer Party and the proles will never be able to rise up against the upper class. The upper class has set everything up
Chang 2 so that there is no individual freedom for the Outer Party or the proles, and the members of each class are forced to conform to the Inner Party‟s control by torture and brainwashing. The proles are completely left stupid and ignorant so that they will not rebel, are not conscious that they could change everything if the whole prole population rose up as a whole and rebelled against the Inner Party. As Winston notes, “But the proles, if only they could somehow be conscious of their strength, would have no need to conspire.” (1, 7, 2). Although the proles are free to express emotion, they are still kept stupid by the Inner Party to be more easily controlled. The proles have been manipulated to the extent that they believe that they are guilty if arrested by the government. "„Down with Big Brother!‟ Yes, I said that! Said it over and over again, it seems. Between you and me, old man, I'm glad they got me before it went any further […]. Who denounced you?" said Winston. "It was my little daughter," said Parsons with a sort of doleful pride. "She listened at the keyhole. Heard what I was saying, and nipped off to the patrols the very next day. Pretty smart for a nipper of seven, eh? I don't bear her any grudge for it. In fact I'm proud of her. It shows I brought her up in the right spirit, anyway." (3.1.48-50). The children of Party members such as Parsons are so overcome with love for and indoctrination by the Party that they survey and turn in their own parents for thoughtcrime. The proles are eighty five percent of the population, and could overwhelm the Inner Party with sheer numbers if the proles were aware that they could. However, although they, like any Outer Party member, are also kept under control, although by keeping them stupid. They are still forced to undergo torture and other things when captured. The proles are given relative freedom, but are still forced to do whatever the Inner Party tells them to. The Outer Party are full of the middle working class, which have arguably the worst conditions. They are forced to work for the Outer Party in controlling the proles, but are
Chang 3 powerless themselves. “Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no color in anything, except the posters that were plastered everywhere. The black mustachioed face gazed down from every commanding corner. There was one on the house-front immediately opposite. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption said, while the dark eyes looked deep into Winston's own. Down at street level another poster, torn at one corner, flapped fitfully in the wind, alternately covering and uncovering the single word INGSOC.” (1.1.4). The members of the Outer Party are also kept under constant surveillance, and are immediately tortured and killed upon the first sign of rebellion. In fact, fear runs so deep in Winston that he thinks that by turning his back on a telescreen, his rebellious spirit will be detected. “Winston kept his back turned to the telescreen. It was safer, though, as he well knew, even a back can be revealing.” (1.1.6). In fact, even Parson‟s daughter is taken away from him. The children have all been manipulated and trained so that they have loyalty to and only to Big Brother. “That's a firstrate training they give them in the Spies nowadays – better than in my day, even. What d'you think's the latest thing they‟ve served them out with? Ear trumpets for listening through keyholes! My little girl brought one home the other night – tried it out on our sitting-room door, and reckoned she could hear twice as much as with her ear to the hole." (1.5.67). The Party‟s reach extends technology and telescreen surveillance, and includes children. Children are employed as surveillance tools against their parents, and any loyalty they have is to the Party. The Inner Party will be staying in control for quite a while, since the children will be the future Outer Party members. As Winston concedes, there is no possibilities for the Inner Party to be overthrown. “Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.” (1.7.4) The Outer Party is continuously oppressed,
Chang 4 along with their emotions. They are kept under strict surveillance and control. There is no individual freedom or privacy for the Outer Party members. Inner Party members have lots of individual freedom and privacy, on the contrary. They can choose to be free from constant surveillance and propaganda, as seen when O‟Brien turns off his telescreen. “Yes. We [Inner Party] can turn it [telescreen] off. We have that privilege.” (2.8.169) However, while O‟Brien deviously pretends to be a part of the Brotherhood, he is actually one of the leaders in the Inner Party. The Inner Party is very manipulative, and control all of the people in Oceania. The Inner Party is skilled at deception and manipulation, such as when O‟Brien leads Julia and Winston to confess to him that they “believe that there is some kind of conspiracy, some kind of secret organization working against the Party, and that you are involved in it. We want to join it and work for it. We are enemies of the Party.” (2.8.16). However, this turns out to be a ploy, and it is revealed that O‟Brien has been watching Winston for a very long time. In the end, after the torture, O‟Brien asserts that the Inner Party will never fall, and that "If you are a man, Winston, you are the last man. Your kind is extinct; we are the inheritors. Do you understand that you are alone? You are outside history, you are non-existent." His manner changed and he said more harshly: "And you consider yourself morally superior to us, with our lies and our cruelty?" "Yes, I consider myself superior." (3.3.58-59). O‟Brien continuously manipulates Winston and even fallaciously proves to Winston that he is morally superior. The Inner Party members are also relatively intelligent, as O‟Brien notices that “Who controls the present controls the past," said O'Brien, nodding his head with slow approval. "Is it your opinion, Winston, that the past has real existence?" (3.2.39-40). To O‟Brien‟s dismay, Winston continues to deny that the mutability of the past leads to control of the present. However, the prolonged torture has been corroding at Winston‟s belief in an independent, external reality.
Chang 5 Inner Party members have lots of freedom, and control the other two classes. If an Inner Party member were to rebel, they would be noticed and captured immediately anyway. Aristotle would cringe if he read Orwell‟s 1984 and saw how the class structure was very imbalanced. Contrary to Aristotle‟s vision of the perfect society, where the middle class has the power and the most people, 1984 provides a model in which the lower class is the largest, and possess no freedom or power. In fact, they are controlled through manipulation. The lower class are kept stupid, making the proles easier to manipulate. The middle class is forced to work for the upper class, and are also placed under strict rules and restrictions. The upper class holds all of the power, and are also the smallest part. Totalitarian principles are adopted, and they rewrote the past to the point where they can make people believe whatever they want. Even outdoing Stalin, the Inner Party rewrote history and books, realizing that truth is only what the people perceive. In conclusion, the lower and middle classes are subjugated and controlled, while the upper class gloat at the overwhelming power they have obtained.
