Tuesday, February 24, 2009

George Orwell 1984 response

In 1984's dystopian society, George Orwell created a world where history could, and more than often was, rewritten with just a word on slip of paper, issued from a superior. Through their semi-humorous descriptions of a pre-revolution society in Britain, the party describes themselves as the Ingsoc (English Socialism in Newspeak) champions, who fought the capitalists out of office. In reality The party is a different embodiment of the same old capitalist principles, in many ways even more arrogant the the previous rulers. They call themselves socialists, but the greatest contradiction lay in the common people. Their name says everything. The proles, as called by the party are the new, modern embodiment of the proletariot envisioned by Marxism in the Communist Manefesto, while the party is an exampl of the Marxist Burgeosie. They are in many ways inferior to the party but in many of those regards, the Proles are allowed better possibilities. The proles enjoy better food, less interuption in their lives, and nearly endless freedom. Th Outer Party has better housing and income while lacking all of the things the proles enjoy. The members of the Inner Party have the best housing, food, income potential, and while having substantially more freedom than the Outer Party, they still lack the freedom afforded to the proles. This is because the proles are not the parties concerns. The party brainwashes the party members thouroughly throughout their entire lives, making it nearly impossible to appropriate rebellion. The proles however, are let roam with no intentions of controlling their thoughts. After reading the book i have to believe this is because there is noone to lead them to glorious rebellion. After the death of Winston, There is noone within the party who can possibly think negatively about the party. Winston was the last remaining link to a previous era of thought and opinion, and with his death, total control is assured by the party.