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Phillip Chang
Mr. Tarr
English H
24 February 2014
Orwells 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 Aristotles
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. OBrien, one of the leaders of the Inner Party, responds to
Winstons 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
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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 Partys 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
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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 Parsons 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 first-
rate training they give them in the Spies nowadays better than in my day, even. What d'you
think's the latest thing theyve 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 Partys
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,
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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 OBrien turns off
his telescreen. Yes. We [Inner Party] can turn it [telescreen] off. We have that privilege.
(2.8.169) However, while OBrien 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 OBrien 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 OBrien has been watching Winston
for a very long time. In the end, after the torture, OBrien 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). OBrien
continuously manipulates Winston and even fallaciously proves to Winston that he is morally
superior. The Inner Party members are also relatively intelligent, as OBrien 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 OBriens 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 Winstons belief in an independent, external reality.
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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 Orwells 1984 and saw how the class structure was very
imbalanced. Contrary to Aristotles 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.