In his dystopian novel 'Nineteen Eighty-Four', Orwell describes a pessimistic world that lacks freedom, emotions, and the human spirit. The solitary protagonist, Winston Smith's awareness of the doings of the oppressive government figure, 'The Inner Party' acts as a catalyst for his fight for freedom. Winston uses his knowledge to actively plan a revolt against the Party, but he unavoidably fails. Although, Winston's enduring desire to overcome the Inner Party, and restore life as it was prior to 'the Revolution', his awareness gives him no true advantage over the rest of the population, including his fellow rebel, Julia.
Orwell shows the readers the world of 'Oceania' to be a bleak, 'colorless' setting, which has lost all means of freedom, individualism, and pure emotions. The culprits behind the harsh reality Oceania poses on its citizens, 'The Inner Party', exerts 'power for the sake of power' and thus removing all sources of individual thought and stripping its members of the most basic human rights, such as clothing and food, all just to 'keep people frightened'. Winston Smith, who was born before the 'Revolution' is continually riddled by snippets of memories of his childhood. Through his memories, he comes to realise that the state of living he faces in his adult life, is far worse since the Party gained 'absolute power'. Winston recognizes that 'there was the most terrible oppression, injustice, poverty' and uses his comparison of history to the present to make an attempt to bring down the Party. This knowledge that Winston possesses allows him to thrive towards political freedom and a time where 'there was still privacy, love and friendship', such grasp on what is absent from life today, gives Winston an edge over his 'comrades'.
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The harsh realities of a totalitarian dictatorship are seen evidently in 'Oceania', with the 'masses', the eighty-five percent of the population that lives in calamitous conditions of poverty. The 'Proles' as they are called are accepted as 'animals' that run free in their own little world. This sub-population of Oceania is exempt from the normal regulations that the Inner Party inflicts on members of the Outer Party. The Proletarian population is 'kept stupid' through the Inner Party's free handouts of porn (from the 'pornosec'), cheap beer, and 'the lotto' (a fake lottery). However, although such a description of the Proles boasts nothing more than a grim lifestyle, the Proles embrace what they have, it is their 'folly, their delight'. When Winston approaches an old man of at least eighty' in a Proletarian bar, in the hope that he could recall the injustices of today's society compared to life before the 'Revolution'. Much to Winston's dismay, the man could only remember 'rubbish-heap details' in his alcohol-induced haze. Winston found that the Proles remembered little more than a 'million useless details' and everything relevant was 'outside the range of their vision'. Despite living in the lowest levels of poverty, and being blindly subjected to the Party's propaganda, the Prole hosts vitality, and hope and shows true 'human spirit', friendships, and families, things that have become nothing but a blur in their lives of the Outer Party. Winston suggests that 'if there is hope, it lies in the proles', despite being unaware that they are being neglected, they are able to embrace life in the pure forms, the things that make us truly human. Winston cannot possess these things without 'succumbing' to the 'thought police, which shows that his awareness of the past, does not give him an edge over the Proles, he cannot be human, 'The proles had remained human'
Winston's provocation for resistance against the corrupt Inner Party comes solely from his understanding of what the Party is robbing society of. But for his fellow revolutionist, Julia uses other motivations to stage her revolt. Winston reveals that Julia only 'questions the teachings of The Party when they...touched upon her own life', while Winston craves details of the past, of history and memories. Julia is consistently 'bored' by Winston's continual desperation for answers, she snaps, 'I'm not interested in the next generation...I'm interested in us'. Julia yearns for love, desire, and relationships rather than stopping the 'ungood' doings of the Party. In their fight for survival, Winston's knowledge of what they are actually being deprived of gives him no immediate advantage, and this is seen when they are both defeated. Both himself and Julia are capable of free, 'unorthodox' thoughts, demonstrating that Winston does not have an edge above everyone else, he too is defeated.
Orwell shows the devastating defeat of the protagonist, Winston, he is beaten, and he 'loved Big Brother'. Throughout the novel, we as the reader follow the journey of Winston and Julia in their bid to overcome the impossible, we see them make many attempts to subdue the Party, through their own individuality and love for one another, but they are unavoidably beaten. It is seen that Winston's knowledge and awareness of what society is lacking compared to the pre-Revolutionary time. But his knowledge merely gives him a reason to revolt, it does not set him apart from everybody else, and he still succumbs to the same fate that Julia does. Orwell shows that 'in reality, there is no escape'.
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