1984
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Answering O'Brien's Question
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Mickey
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Feb 01, 2016 04:40PM
During O'Brien's and Winston's conversation about the party, Winston states that the government in Oceania will not last. O'Brien asks him what force he believes will defeat the Party, and Winston has trouble answering this question. Supposing that the Party is true (and not just a story), what do you think will be the downfall of the Party?
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Some great natural disaster, perhaps. It'd have to be global, though, not some wimpy earthquake or hurricane. I could see a large asteroid strike doing the Party in, or a great solar flare. Either way, it'd have to not only be the end of the Party, but also enforce a temporary hiatus from civilized society in general.If all else fails, the inevitable expansion of the sun in a few billion years would destroy the Party. Of course, it would take the rest of humanity with it, but oh well.
I can never remember the exact quote but it's got something to do with hope resting with the proles. Winston notes that the proletariat (lower classes) are not watched in the same way people like Winston are watched. There are also a lot of them. Winston believes that if they could somehow wake up to what is happening then they could rise up against the party. But (if I remember correctly, it has been a little while since I read the book) they are mostly occupied with the day to day struggles of caring for children and putting food on the table. So they usually believe what the party controlled media tell them. Those bright sparks who do try to speak up are taken care of by the spies of the party. But (I think it's called a paradigm shift) if they all woke up at once, then the party would be in real trouble.Winston may not have wanted to draw O'Brien's attention to that fact.
The eventual desiccation of the cogs. This could come about by major global incident, asteroid, aliens, some disaster movie level interruption in the system. Or the eventual resource failure, mass casualties from failure of resource utilization or just straight overpopulation. I don't think it could have ever been an uprising. I'm a pessimist though.
