prole questions

[happygirl12]

A couple quick questions about the proles, if you please!

So the proles are the lowest class, and, in my mind, they seem to be the happiest (though I use that term loosely). They can go to pubs, play lotto, use makeup, read smut, etc. My question is, what made the proles the lower class? Why are they separated from normal Party members? Were they a threat to Big Brother or what?!

Also, it's not really important, but why did Winston feel the need to "confess" to his journal about his experience with the prole prostitute?

Thanks! :thumbs_up

[rabid reader]

A couple quick questions about the proles, if you please!

So the proles are the lowest class, and, in my mind, they seem to be the happiest (though I use that term loosely). They can go to pubs, play lotto, use makeup, read smut, etc. My question is, what made the proles the lower class? Why are they separated from normal Party members? Were they a threat to Big Brother or what?!

Also, it's not really important, but why did Winston feel the need to "confess" to his journal about his experience with the prole prostitute?

Thanks! :thumbs_up

The proles are also regularly bombed and sacerficed to maintain the fear in the Party classes. The reason they are given all these extra rights is to dumb them down and make them easier to control, they have little interest in politics and the such all they care about is getting boozed up and layed. Now in that sort of ignorance, I guess they are as happy as the party members are, as you see in the lower party a sort of contentment in their ignorance (or at least in the majority of the lower party).

And yes the paroles are a threat to Big Brother. As it says in Goldsteins book the lower class is where the power is, throughout history when the middle class was outraged they would try to manipulate the lower class to upraise and over through the upper class, and then the upper class would become the middle class and the middle class the upper class. Because the majority of the population must be the lower class, and the following classes luxury is derived from the labours of the lower classes, when the lower class is allowed to organize and work for themselves the upper and middle classes are left at the mercy of the lower class. So in that sense the paroles are always a threat to Big Brother and the Party. Which is why they bomb them regularly, and give them all these minor "joys" to distract them with.

[motherhubbard]

That was an excellent explanation, and I liked the vote link at the btm.

[bazarov]

Proles is latin word for proletariat, and Karl Marx, philosopher who had great influence on Russian Revolution, first used that word as a sociological term, referring on working class. There is also a higher class, bourgeoisie; which is unreachable for proletarians. If you add also political factors, you get working class or the proles, and on the other side you get Party members. You cannot go from one class to another, according to Orwell; at least in Winston's world.

[rabid reader]

That was an excellent explanation, and I liked the vote link at the btm.

thanks:D

[David40]

So the proles are the lowest class, and, in my mind, they seem to be the happiest (though I use that term loosely). They can go to pubs, play lotto, use makeup, read smut, etc. My question is, what made the proles the lower class? Why are they separated from normal Party members? Were they a threat to Big Brother or what?!


BB is not as concerned about thoughtcrime on the part of the proles because the proles only do manual labor. If a Party member like Winston commits thoughtcrime it is likely to eventually slip into how he writes the propaganda that he writes as his job every day. But if a prole commits thoughtcrime it is less likely to affect their work.

Put another way, the Party members have to think in certain ways in order to do their jobs effectively. As such, BB is very concerned with how the Party members think, that they avoid thoughtcrime, and that they be capable of doublethink when the need arises.

With the proles, who do manual labor, it is not necessary that they think much at all in order to do their jobs. Hence BB prefers to stop the proles from thinking at all as opposed to policing their thoughts. BB allows the proles minor "pleasures" like booze and raunchy materials to discourage them from thinking much at all. BB probably doesn't have the resources the monitor the proles individually (they are far more numerous than the Party members).

BB nevertheless does keep an eye on the proles and if any prole did show outward signs of thinking too much and gaining any following in opposition to BB, you can be sure BB would find out soon enough and deal with it.

[Sweetheart :]]

The proles are a threat to the government, they have an extreme amount of power, but they don't realize it. They are so caught up in thinking that they are better now than the past, because Big Brother eliminated everything that proves that they were better off in the past. Also, Big Brother keeps them caught up in the small things in life, to keep them from taking any action, or really paying attention to what the government (BB) is doing.

[Sweetheart :]]

The proles are a threat to the government, they have an extreme amount of power, but they don't realize it.:( They are so caught up in thinking that they are better now than the past, because Big Brother eliminated everything that proves that they were better off in the past. Also, Big Brother keeps them caught up in the small things in life, to keep them from taking any action, or really paying attention to what the government (BB) is doing. That is why Winston gets so angry, when the woman are all fighting over the pots and pans.

[Randal Johnson2]

I think the reason that BB made the proles the lowest class is becaus ethere is so many of them. They make up 85% of the population according to the book. As long as BB keeps them happy and lets them do what they wish, he is possitive that they wont try to revolt. (because they would most likely win if they did....)

[groovygal]

I think that the proles are considered to be the lower class because most of them either do not have jobs or cannot get a job.

They are sperated from the normal party memebers because they dont have telescreeens and they dont have any say in the two minutes of hate either.

I do think that they might be a threat to big brother because there are so many of them, they might be able to take Big Brother down.

P.S. I think Winston wrote in his notebook because he felt he had to also because he could not say anything aloud because the telescreens would might hear it and possibly vaporize him.

[bazarov]

I think that the proles are considered to be the lower class because most of them either do not have jobs or cannot get a job.

They have a job; they work in Parties factories. Actually, that's their only purpose.


They are sperated from the normal party memebers because they dont have telescreeens and they dont have any say in the two minutes of hate either.

They also have telescreens. How else would Winston and Julia got caught? Doy you remember telescreen in the room above the old shop?


I do think that they might be a threat to big brother because there are so many of them, they might be able to take Big Brother down.

They are so stupid, uneducated and unaware of what is happening around them so I doubt they could be a threat to Party.


P.S. I think Winston wrote in his notebook because he felt he had to also because he could not say anything aloud because the telescreens would might hear it and possibly vaporize him.

Why would he talk aloud? He's not crazy.... He wrote his diary so one day he or someone could see what history really looked like, not what Party wants people to believe.