1984
question
The lottery and the Proles
1984 is also my favorite, alongside Twain's Huck Finn. But I think that he was not extreme with the proles, just brutally realistic (and a little bit pessimistic).
In my opinion, the lottery, the computer-generated music, novels, movies and newspapers produced for the proles has the same purpose of the drug "soma" in Huxley "Brave New World", which is: anesthetize the people and make them forget about their condition. Also, prevent them to rebel.
And the most terrifying of all is that today I can see music, movies and soap operas trying to do exactly the same thing...
In one word: I too think that Orwell was a genius.
In my opinion, the lottery, the computer-generated music, novels, movies and newspapers produced for the proles has the same purpose of the drug "soma" in Huxley "Brave New World", which is: anesthetize the people and make them forget about their condition. Also, prevent them to rebel.
And the most terrifying of all is that today I can see music, movies and soap operas trying to do exactly the same thing...
In one word: I too think that Orwell was a genius.
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i think Orwell was too extreme with proles.this book is so deep that i wouldn't get it well.
I don't think he was too extreme. A majority of working class people do have petty concerns. Survival is the most important thing to us humans, and if what we need to survive is a few tin pots, a lottery win, paying the mortgage etc. That's what will occupy most of our thoughts.
I would compare the 'petty' concerns of the Proles to Winston's (and other Party members) extreme care to be above suspicion. isn't it the same thing? Winston's extreme attention to his facial expressions, his words etc, are just another version of the Proles fighting for tin pots... that's what he needs to do to survive.
@ Raphael... I agree that the most terrifying thing about the book was to see so many similarities with modern life... computer generated music with meaningless lyrics, collective thought (you either agree or there is something wrong with you) etc.
I would compare the 'petty' concerns of the Proles to Winston's (and other Party members) extreme care to be above suspicion. isn't it the same thing? Winston's extreme attention to his facial expressions, his words etc, are just another version of the Proles fighting for tin pots... that's what he needs to do to survive.
@ Raphael... I agree that the most terrifying thing about the book was to see so many similarities with modern life... computer generated music with meaningless lyrics, collective thought (you either agree or there is something wrong with you) etc.
Orwell had great love for the proletariat. I'm not sure if you've read his journalistic work (Homage To Catalonia, Road to Wigan Pier, Burmese Days)but mostly he covered struggles & daily lives of the proletariat.
Homage to Catalonia chronicled his life fighting with the P.O.U.M. as a militia man. Wigan Pier was characterizing miners in Northern Britain. The second part of that book is explaining why the miners don't take up a class oriented struggle. Why they themselves cannot sympathize with socialism, or more importantly how the "middle class socialists" romanticized the working class but despised actual contact.
If you read the nonfiction you can truly understand where his pessimism about revolution, the proletariat, & centralized government comes from. I feel his contempt lies with the hope that the proletarian could & would rise. That hope somewhere turned to pessimism after his experiences in the Spanish War & his dealings with the Communists. His contempt also comes from a deep rooted fear. One that he believed to be a possible reality. That is, if the proletariat doesn't wake up.
Homage to Catalonia chronicled his life fighting with the P.O.U.M. as a militia man. Wigan Pier was characterizing miners in Northern Britain. The second part of that book is explaining why the miners don't take up a class oriented struggle. Why they themselves cannot sympathize with socialism, or more importantly how the "middle class socialists" romanticized the working class but despised actual contact.
If you read the nonfiction you can truly understand where his pessimism about revolution, the proletariat, & centralized government comes from. I feel his contempt lies with the hope that the proletarian could & would rise. That hope somewhere turned to pessimism after his experiences in the Spanish War & his dealings with the Communists. His contempt also comes from a deep rooted fear. One that he believed to be a possible reality. That is, if the proletariat doesn't wake up.
