The proles

[Teacher]

MW....One thing i am not sure of in 1984 is the proles, and how big brother treats them. it seems that big brother focuses most of its efforts on preventing a rebellion from the outer or inner party class. they just ignore the proles. it dosn't really make much sense to me because the proles are probably the biggest threat. they have the most people, they have pretty good motives(Big brother treats them with no respect, they are pretty much all poor, want to move up in life, etc.), all they need is a leader to unite them, to revolt vs. bbig brother. i think that they could cause damage to big brother, what do all of you think?

[wolverinewanaBE]

i agree with you but the proles dont revolt or anything because Big Brother keeps them drunk and uneducated so they will not think about a revoloution!

i hope this is what you were looking for!

[Eva Marina]

I agree with you, wolverinewanaBE. Big Brother is trying to oppress the prole society in such a way that they don't think of it as oppression but simply as a way of life. No one revolts because they don't think they have a need to. Big Brother and the government provides them with the establishments they want in their part of town (I assume it was their part of town, considering the lack of Party members populating the pubs and Winston's unease about his situation when he is initially there) so they have no need to go to the "Party" part of town. They are kept ignorant, as are most citizens that we know of or that we assume to be ignorant (it is difficult to imagine that there aren't many people aware of the fluctuations and falsehoods in the news), and are easier to keep oppressed.

[Xamonas Chegwe]

The proles won't revolt without a leader. Big brother therefore, concentrates 'his' efforts on nipping any potential leaders in the bud. The proles are fed lies and booze to keep them in a state of docile befuddlement.

In real life revolutions, it is the populace that does the actual revolting but the impetus is provided by intellectuals and thinkers; those with the eloquence and persuasiveness to convince the proles that things will be better after they replaced their current oppressors with new oppressors. This has been true of all revolutions that I can think of - I would be glad to hear of any counter-examples.

[gilthas]

The reason Big Brother doesn't bother to deal with the Proles is because they are of no threat to him. He knows that the proles are too uneducated, and too clueless to do anything. Goldstein says so in his book, saying that "The Proles have only ever rebelled against the present day government to establish a government of even more nightmarish proportions." Orwell is basing this on the Russian lower classes, who were fed nothing but garbage from the Pravda [Russian Newspaper], so that they were literally brainwashed.
I agree with all of you, but add that Big Brother knows he has manipulated them so much that they are completely hopeless.

[Zumba]

The reason Big Brother doesn't bother to deal with the Proles is because they are of no threat to him. He knows that the proles are too uneducated, and too clueless to do anything. Goldstein says so in his book, saying that "The Proles have only ever rebelled against the present day government to establish a government of even more nightmarish proportions." Orwell is basing this on the Russian lower classes, who were fed nothing but garbage from the Pravda [Russian Newspaper], so that they were literally brainwashed.
I agree with all of you, but add that Big Brother knows he has manipulated them so much that they are completely hopeless.

Another thing is the proles do not know they are being repressed or opressed in any way. As some one mentioned they are kept drunk and uneducated for that purpose. and even though they do have a large part of the population it still doesnt matter becasue if big brother is as big i believe it is in the book, it would have soem kind of contingency plan to deal with a prole uprising.

[gilthas]

Yeah, plues, they are the lowest class, the peons of society [sorry to coin the WCIII term]. Big Brother knows that they are too hopeless to do anything about it, and that they don't have enough mental, physical, or military power to overthrow him.

[1948-1984]

The proles basically are ignorant to the fact of Big Brother. If they are worried about pots and pans, then I guess they would rather have material posession rather than knowledge of current events. However, I would NOT rule a society where they are used to violence, and murder isn't an as highly punishable law as treason. Someone, besides Winston, is bound to revolt. And they will have sense enough to inspire revolution.

[Iluvicecream]

The proles are are uneducated and don't know the strength that lies within their own class. The Proles are the majority and their is obviously power in numbers but they don't realize the power that they have. Also the proles are kept busy by lots of alcohal and porn magazines which keeps them from questioning things.

[gilthas]

I think the fact is that the proles did have power, but because they have been manipulated, opressed, tortured, brainwashed, and in some cases, killed, by BB. As a result, Big Brother destroyed and crushed the only group that could give him any kind of resistance.

[Force Recon94]

I agree with you but i think big brother dosnt feel threatened that the proles will revolt because they are always drunk. Big brother tries to keep them dumb and stupid so they wont even think about a revbolt.

[gilthas]

exactly.

Keep the one thing you fear most off the populace's mind, and it won't happen.

[XXdarkclarityXX]

I think this would be a good time to bring in Plato's theories on single and double ignorance. He states that single ignorance is not knowing something, but having the presence of mind to understand that and attempting to find out whatever it is that is not known. Double ignorance, what the proles have, is not knowing something and not realizing you don't know it. It is this sort of ignorance that affects the proles and causes them not only to have a lack of knowledge, but also to not do anything about it. More or less, Big Brother is dealing with intellectually deactivated people so he doesn't need to worry about them revolting.

[Teacher]

Phay...The proles will not revolt and will never revolt even though the make up almost 98% of Oceania.The reason is because they are uneducated and very ignorant.The proles are to worried about stupid problems of there own.Even though winston wants the proles to take over big brother it would probably never happened.

[WanderingPoet]

One thing that we seem to be neglecting here...is the fact that the proles are kept in survival mode. How can they revolt when they can barely survive, and why should they revolt when they can do nothing more than survive. They are weak, unorganized, and completely in the power of their respective world powers. America is not too far from becoming like the world of 1984. Bush has already begun to take away our essential liberties. That of course is what the patriot act is. It is an invasion of privacy...and another thing...who would argue would he to say that an individual whom he disagreed with on some points was a terrorist? No one because like the people of 1984, americans too live in a world of fear. Those who give up their essential liberties for temporary safety, deserve neither safety nor liberty. We are become the proles. Bush and his corporate buddies are obliterating the middle class. Year by year people are finding it more and more difficult to survive. It is in this way that dictatorships and a world like that of George Orwell's 'nightmarish' vision, are given unto fruition. The proles do not revolt because they are afraid and barely alive.