Information AboutProles |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT PROLES | |
| nineteen eighty-four | |
|
''Proles'' is a term used in several well-known fiction books to refer to the working class, i.e. ''proletariat''. The term always implies the degraded and oppressed state of this social class in the society described. The word is used in Orwell's novel '' Nineteen Eighty-Four '' (see later in the article), Tom Wolfe 's novel Bonfire Of The Vanities , Jack London 's novel Iron Heel and Harry Harrison 's trilogy To The Stars . It also appears in the British comedy Blackadder (season 3). PROLES AS A SOCIAL CLASS According to this , Outer Party , and proles (upper, middle and lower classes). In the novel, 85% of the population of Oceania (former Britain, Ireland, Australia, the Americas and a large part of southern Africa) are proles. They were given little education, worked tough physical jobs, lived in poverty (but qualitatively richer than the Outer Party members with regard to certain freedoms inherent to their relative anonymity), had plenty of children, and usually died by the age of sixty. They are represented allegorically in '' Animal Farm '' by Boxer, Benjamin and all the working animals. THE PARTY'S CONTROL OVER PROLES Proles were still free. As the Party's slogan put it: "Proles and animals are free." This is a sharp contrast to the control of the members of Inner and Outer Parties. The Party members were constantly monitored by product (including shoelaces and razor blades); they were free because they posed no danger to the Party. To keep them in control was not difficult. A few agents of the Thought Police moved always among them, spreading false rumors and marking down and eliminating the few individuals who were judged capable of becoming dangerous; but no attempt was made to indoctrinate them with the ideology of the Party. It was not desirable that the proles should have strong political feelings. All that was required of them was a primitive patriotism which could be appealed to whenever it was necessary to make them accept longer working-hours or shorter rations. And even when they became discontented, as they sometimes did, their discontent led nowhere, because, without general ideas, they could only focus it on petty specific grievances. The larger evils invariably escaped their notice. Even the civil police interfered with them very little. There was a vast amount of criminality in London, a whole world-within-a-world of thieves, bandits, prostitutes, drug-peddlers and racketeers of every description; but since it all happened among the proles themselves, it was of no importance. In all questions of morals they were allowed to follow their ancestral code. The sexual Puritanism of the Party was not imposed upon them. Promiscuity went unpunished, divorce was permitted. For that matter, even religious worship was permitted (and many of London's historic Churches, which were in Prole areas were still standing) They were beneath suspicion. PROLES AS THE ONLY HOPE One of the recurring themes in the novel is if proles revolted they could establish something like a utopia. It's a struggle between a wild hope carried by Winston Smith , the main character, and his realization that proles were incapable of such an act. Winston admired proles because as he said, “Proles remained human.” That means that they preserved emotions which Party members had to avoid because they were in constant surveillance of telescreens. Any “non-patriotic” emotion expressed, even involuntarily, by a Party member resulted in “ Vaporisation ” (i.e., total deletion from all the records – such people, for all intents and purposes, never existed). Thus Winston believed that if there were any hope, it lay with proles. Proles preserved the essence of life, human emotions, and even the English Language ( Oldspeak ) and the Party could not control it. However, Winston's hope clashes with O'Brien ’s view that the proles would never revolt because they would never have the need to do so. Winston also recognized that proles were not capable and/or willing of organizing a revolution. It is also important to note, that nobody (even Winston) had any thoughts that the Party could collapse by itself. It had too tight control over the Party members who had already lost their human feelings (Winston himself recognized that he no longer felt compassion; children reported their parents to the Thoughtpolice on a daily basis; sex became a “duty to the Party” with the only purpose to produce children). The younger generation (represented by Winston’s love of Julia ) showed a rapid degradation of humanity. and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.'' REFERENCES |
|
|