1984 Hope

The novel 1984, by George Orwell, is set during a dystopian future in which totalitarian governments have taken complete control over Oceania. In this novel, the main character, Winston Smith, is the archetypal everyman who attempt to change the societies in which they are forced to live in. He does this by grabbing onto any threads of hope as tightly as he can. In this novel, the theme of finding hope in impossibly bleak situations is shown through the possibility of an uprising of the common people and the underground resistance groups, relationships and love overcoming the oppressive restrictions set by the government. In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, the hope of revolution against the Party is shown through the inferior proles, which

Julia hands Winston a note saying, “I love you”, thus beginning the second strand of hope in the novel. This represents exactly the reason that the Party does not allow marriage where there is physical attraction. Winston gains passion, a will to live, and confidence to take on challenges and risks. These are the qualities that the Party is trying to suppress, as it is easier to control a population if they do not have the willpower nor reason to resist. Once again, through the hope presented by Winston and Julia’s love, Orwell displays how the proles have the ability to overthrow the Party if they desire. The proles are left to their own devices and free to marry, love, divorce, and be intimate with whomever they choose, this gives them natural confidence and resolve as their basic human instincts are not being

In the world of 1984, where the government controls one’s speech and every action, a world where a person is not even safe inside their own mind, Winston Smith is able to look at the bleak world and see hope. He sees it in the common citizens that are overlooked by society, he sees it in a secret love he shares with Julia, and when all seems lost, he sees it in the very essence of Man himself. Living in a world where no children have been born for eighteen years and countless governments that have fallen due to it, Theo Faron sees hope within the fugees and the resistance group, he rediscovers the power of love through Kee and her child, and even though it cost him his life, he sees it in the future generation of children that can be born through the power of Kee’s child and the Human Project. Both the novel and the film had many differences between them, however, both works resonated the idea that hope will always be found in the darkest of times, it may not be obvious, but it is there. In the bleakest of times, Orwell’s words resonate: “if you loved someone, you loved him, and when you had nothing else to give, you still gave him love” (266). Being able to love is a basic human instinct, therefore, can humans be considered humans once that is stripped