Lottery for the proles
“It was probable that for millions of whom the Lottery was the principal if not the only reason for remaining alive”. In the dystopian novel ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’, George Orwell has made clear a stark segregation between two classes of people; the party members and the proles. One of the ways this is evident is through the introduction of the proles’ main ‘delight’ and ‘intellectual stimulant’, the Lottery. Proles are described as uneducated, unrefined and live day-to-day in dirty slums, and so it is essential that this large work force of the population are given a source of joy and ‘reason for remaining alive’. While the proles are completely absorbed in the Lottery, everyone in the party knows that no proles can ever win the grand-prizes, “The winners of the big prizes being non-existent persons”. The principals of Ingsoc (English socialism) that govern the party and proles were founded in an effort to dissolve the inequalities between capitalists and the working class. The history books from the party state that life was much worse for ordinary folk before the ‘revolution’. “Everything existed for their [capitalist’s] benefit. You – the ordinary people, the workers – were their slaves”. Yet in this 1984 the ordinary people don’t even have access to the truth. In George Orwell’s dystopian future, the key reason 85% of the population remain alive is a lie, moreover one that the other 15% are aware of. From this small example of deception and manipulation of the proles, it is apparent that this classism within a communist governing could be said as even worse than the classism present before, in a capitalist society.
“It was their delight, their folly, their anodyne, their intellectual stimulant.”
“…he [Winston] was aware the prizes were largely imaginary”
“The winners of the big prizes being non-existent persons”
Zelda,
The arguments are developing really well here. I would encourage you to state the main point (are you confident in your main point?) at the beginning of the paragraph, and then carry on with the analysis as you’ve written it.
I agree with your observations, but the ‘main point’ that I think you might be reaching towards may have more to do with ‘freedom’ than ease of life. It’s easy to provide the population with anodyne pleasures, which keeps them placated, but the real crime is to prevent the individual from having the means to think for themselves, or even to ‘be’ themselves.
What do you think?
C