Hi Everyone!
I am writing an article that discusses the underlying theme of hope within the novel 1984, and was wondering if anybody could assist me with a few pointers? Could anybody give me some assistance with this topic?
- Daniel
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Hi Everyone!
I am writing an article that discusses the underlying theme of hope within the novel 1984, and was wondering if anybody could assist me with a few pointers? Could anybody give me some assistance with this topic?
- Daniel
IMO, Winston thought that there was a little hope there for love and freedom, at least to exist in his mind. Well, even to dream about it was a total no.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pashpash
Hope in 1984. Winston thinks "our hope is with the proles". He hopes that O'Brien is likeminded. Other than that I can't really think of any other instances of hope in the book.
Jonus
Why shall the world revolve around ouselves when we should be letting thiings come to us and treasure the moments we have. No just asking for them.Understand?
Well why can't we ask?
You cant ask because its like a begger no one stops to feed him but somehow he ends up in a better place. Dont ask and youll not be like the begger and it will come to you!Understand?
Hope within 1984? I'm not sure I'm following you. Are you looking for specific examples of hope within the text, or rather the role played by hope as an intangible force throughout the entire text?
Jonus already mentioned some examples. Winston hopes that O'Brien is likeminded because he feels alienated. He can't understand why everyone else acts as they're told, why they lack any type of memory whatsoever, when he doesn't. He is aware of the situation, and that makes him a loner. He hopes for a companion.
When he claims that hopes lies with the proles, it's because he believes that only they, constituting the 85% of the population, have the necessary power to overthrow the Party. However, he soon realizes this idea is a waste, since as he wrote in his diary: "Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious."
After he meets Julia, he falls in love, and a new reality pierces his mind. He still knows all what he knew, but he doesn't see it the same way. Love overwhelms him with a wide variety of sensations, all which manage to divert his mind from the current state of things. He doesn't long for anything else other than hoping that this new life he has found will last, because while it does, everything else seems meaningless. Love is the exact opposite of the totalitarian structures of the life governed by Big Brother. Its mere presence is an act of defiance towards the regime, as Orwell tells us:So far, those are some specific examples. But they don't really encompass hope in full scale. He had confidence in several things, but not in hope itself. Regarding hope in a broader scale, take what O'Brien says: "It is intolerable to us that an erroneous thought should exist anywhere in the world, however secret and powerless it may be. Even in the instant of death we cannot permit any deviation."Quote:
In the old days, he thought, a man looked at a girl's body and saw that it was desirable, and that was the end of the story. But you could not have pure love or pure lust nowadays. No emotion was pure, because everything was mixed up with fear and hatred. Their embrace had been a battle, the climax a victory. It was a blow struck against the Party. It was a political act.
What the party hates the most is that someone, somwehere, refuses to acknowledge the Party's power, the fact that someone would refuse to submit to Big Brother's grasp, that someone dares to think that the possibility of a better situation is plausible, that it may, in some way and at some point, happen. O'Brien resents hope in a brighter future. This is, in fact, what distincts the enemies of the Party. Hope in a kinder reality implicates negating the inevitability of the one you're in, that is, denial of Big Brother's absolute rulership. While that exists, while hope exists, the party's dominion isn't total.
Following this line of reasoning, let's see what Winston thinks after being captured and tortured, but before being broken by the Party. Neither the proles, nor O'Brien (of course), nor his love for Julia have been able to beat the Party. All of those have proven ineffective in the long run. But he still has something left. Take this parograph, for instance:
Winston hopes of something greater than man as an individual. He believes in the possibility that something will rise from the corrupted sphere that the Party brought on humanity and that it will end its tyranny. He no longer longs on practical, actual things, but in something far more relative. Something that has no grounding whatsoever, something he's not even sure what it is, but he still believes in it. That's the only thing he has left (until he finally cracks). That's Hope.Quote:
'I don't care. In the end they will beat you. Sooner or later they will see you for what you are, and then they will tear you to pieces.'
'Do you see any evidence that that is happening? Or any reason why it should?'
'No. I believe it. I know that you will fail. There is something in the universe -- I don't know, some spirit, some principle -- that you will never overcome.'
'Do you believe in God, Winston?'
'No.'
'Then what is it, this principle that will defeat us?'
'I don't know. The spirit of Man.'
I don't like you
Quote:
Originally Posted by i_rock_poems
I second that.
It appears as though Orwell’s 1984 is a ‘liberal’ performance of Plato’s classical The Republic. The political philosopher’s vision of a society split into the inner party, outer party, and the proletarians is presented in 1984 as a society were personal feelings, selfishness and materialism are not present. I guess Orwell show us that Plato’s ideal is possible through an ultimate authoritarian state, which leads to the eradication of natural human feelings.
I think Orwell writes this in such a way that there is little hope. Julia an Winston try to achieve better but know they will get caught. Orwell writes " hope lies with the proles" but then shows us that there's no hope for them. This is shown in the pots and pan section. Perhapes the underlying theme of hope is that there isn't much.
Not true. I would gladly give a few cents and or dollors i have to spare to someone in need.Quote:
Originally Posted by i_rock_poems
I believe that most of the novel is based on hope and how hope is sometimes a bad thing. If Winston did not have any hope than it would not have bothered him that O'Brien wasn't on his side. Winston's hope it what created the plot of the novel. It all started with the glimmer of hope that this life can be change, then it went to the hope that O'Brien was on his side. Winston's hope is ultimately what killed him. It speaks to our society today because sometimes hope it what causes the hurt. We see hope in positive terms, but sometimes it's very negative. Hope can be the reason behind the hurt, but hope it also important. Hope is a dangerous thing. That topic is brought up many times in this novel.