A MARXIST CRITICISM

of Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

By

Abayon, Marcus Moziah V.

Del Rosario, Francesca Lucy U.

Godoy, Gerard Steven B.

Pascual, Gabrielle Ruth F.

Trabado, Ramil Joshua D.

Young, Javrielle O.

HUM01 - IS207

December 2018
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Literary Discussion

Published on June 8, 1949, George Orwell’s ​Nineteen Eighty-Four,​ also published as

1984​, is a dystopian novel that shows the dangers of totalitarianism. It exhibits a world governed

by surveillance, censorship, and propaganda. ​Nineteen Eighty-Four ​became one of the most

significant novels of the 20​th Century for it challenged and questioned the existing political

system. Regarded as “the masterpiece that killed George Orwell” by McCrum (2009), ​Nineteen

​ as Orwell’s last published novel before his death on January 21, 1950 and was
Eighty-Four w

equally successful and well-received as his first masterpiece, ​Animal Farm​.

Author’s Background

A generational novelist, essayist, critic, and an avid supporter of politics, George Orwell

fashioned a legacy unparalleled by no other and was deemed, together with his works, the

conscience of the generation. Orwell was a man of strong opinions who publicized his intense

disapproval of some of the major political movements of his time, particularly totalitarianism,

fascism, imperialism, and communism through his most celebrated and preeminent works such

as ​Animal Farm ​(1945) and ​Nineteen Eighty-Four ​(1949).

On June 25, 1903 in Motihari, Bengal, India, Eric Arthur Blair, who decided George

Orwell to be his pseudonym, was born to a family, which he described in ​The Road to Wigan

Pier (​ 1973), in the “lower-upper middle class.” As stated by his biographer Bernard Crick in

George Orwell: A Life (​ 1981), Orwell used a pen name partly to avoid humiliating his parents, to

protect himself against failure, and to replace the name ‘Eric’ for it “reminded him of a prig in a
Victorian boys’ story.” He was the second child of British parents Richard Walmsley Blair and

Ida Mabel Limouzin, and had an older sister named Marjorie and a younger sister. Orwell’s

family resided in Indian Bengal where his father was working as a minor customs official in the

British Civil Services. At the age of four, his mother brought him and his older sister back to

England, where they settled in Henley-on-Thames, a village near London. As a child, Orwell was

shy, diffident, and self-doubting as he grew up sickly – often battling bronchitis and the flu.

Orwell was an outstanding student and an ardent writer. At a young age, he found a

distinct enthusiasm and eagerness for writing – a passion that is manifested in the very first poem

he wrote at the age of four. He garnered one of his first literary successes at the age of eleven

when one of his poems was published in the local newspaper. Subsequently, he was fond of

spending long hours reading, particularly genres of ghost stories, science fictions, and several

plays of William Shakespeare and fictions of Rudyard Kipling, Edgar Allan Poe, and Charles

Dickens. From there, he went on to attend established institutions such as Wellington College

and Eton College on scholarships, where he dedicated himself to reading. When Orwell did not

obtain a scholarship to continue studies at university, he joined the Indian Imperial Police,

receiving his training in Burma – and was the first and only Etonian to attend the Burmese police

training – but resigned a few years because of his tremendous abhorrence for imperialism. In this

light, he was able to write his first novel, ​Burmese Days ​(1934) and essays such as ​A Hanging

and Shooting an Elephant.​ After leaving Burma, Orwell was also able to write ​Down and Out in

Paris and London ​(1933) to account for his life in poverty.

Unbeknownst to a number of people, Orwell was an anarchist in the late 1920s, but by

the 1930s, he considered himself as a socialist. He always thought of himself as a member of the
‘dissident Left’, and on July 1936, he arrived in Barcelona, Spain to and joined the militia, in the

light of the Spanish Civil War, where he was shot in the neck and severely injured; thus, Orwell

was forced to escape from the Soviet-backed communists who were repressing socialist

dissenters. With this experience in mind, Orwell became a lifelong anti-Stalinist and began

fashioning his works around this – one of these masterpieces is ​Animal Farm​.

By August 17, 1945, Orwell’s first masterpiece was published – an anti-Soviet satire

entitled ​Animal Farm which combines animal fable with political mockery and caricature,

particularly the events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917 until the Stalinist Russia of

the Soviet Union. This fable intends to expose the truth of the failures of communism through

animals that speak and act as though they are human. Four years later, Orwell was able to

publish ​Nineteen Eighty-four​, an intricate satire on modern politics ​predicting a world wherein

humans are made less human in a world where citizens under the control of an oppressive

totalitarian government. Both masterpieces by Orwell involve his immense antipathy toward

certain political viewpoints and his desire to cause social reform.

Whilst Orwell was accredited for his novels by the modern world and the men and

women of the latter-day, his journalistic pieces and essays are affirmations of his deep-seated

fascination of the politics of his time. Adamant and assertive to his subject matter, Orwell wrote

with a purpose that will resonate as long as time prevails – a purpose to kindle the consciousness

of people and to challenge the status quo. The master works of George Orwell do not simply

dwell on entertainment; rather, these works intend to captivate the audience and challenge the

norm. Orwell stressed on innovation and uniqueness in his lucid style of writing. Enduring years
of sickness, Orwell was diagnosed with Tuberculosis in 1938, which ultimately became the

reason of his death on January 21, 1950.

Summary

During 1984 post-revolution, Oceania was reigned over by the Party led by Big Brother

that implemented a totalitarian government and forbade individuality or thoughtcrime.

Thoughtcrime was any rebellious belief against the Party and was punishable by death. The

government dismantled the notion of freedom and privacy as the citizens, particularly the Outer

Party members, were under constant surveillance through telescreens. The two-way screens

operated as security cameras and microphones to detect instances that transgress the law;

however, it did not cease Winston Smith from defying the party and revealing its wraths through

writing in a diary.

Winston Smith was an Outer Party member who worked in the Records Department of

the Ministry of Truth, the ministry responsible for distorting literature to get ahold of the people.

It was a continuous cycle of turning a lie into a truth and turning it into a lie again in order for

history to be in favor of the Party. Smith was among the victims of the Party’s tyranny that

continued to obtain absolute power while disregarding the needs of humankind. He recognized

how the Party manipulated and brainwashed the society into becoming ignorant. Winston

deviated from the Party through writing and having an affair with a fellow Outer Party member,

Julia.

The Party condemned all sexual acts and relationships as it was perceived as a threat to

the loyalty of the members to the Party. Winston and Julia continued their clandestine affair in a

room above Mr. Charrington’s shop that was free from telescreens, where they shared their hate

against the Party, and hoped to be emancipated from the captivity they are in. They then

confessed their hatred for the Party to an Inner Party member, O’Brien, who they regarded as
someone who shared the same aversion to the Party. O’Brien revealed how he rebelled against

the Party through joining the Brotherhood and gave them a copy of Emmanuel Goldstein’s book,

which discusses how the Party remained powerful. Winston read the book to Julia until the

thought police barged in and caught them. It was revealed that Mr. Charrington, the proprietor of

the store, was a member of the Thought Police and concealed a telescreen in the room.

Winston was torn away from Julia and was brought to the Ministry of Love which is

responsible for enforcing loyalty to Big Brother through torment. It was also revealed that

O’Brien was a Party spy who only pretended to be a member of the Brotherhood in order to lure

and trap Winston into committing an open act of rebellion against the Party. O’Brien tortured

and brainwashed Winston for months and then sent Winston to the dreaded Room 101, the final

destination for anyone who opposes the Party. Winston was forced to confront his worst fear,

rats; he snapped and pleaded with O’Brien to do it to Julia instead of him. His spirit was left

broken and he was released to the outside world. He met Julia again, but he no longer felt

anything for her for his loyalty now remained only to the Party and Big Brother.
 CHAPTER 2

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Introduction of Theory

This paper revolves around utilizing Marxist Literary Theory as the primary lens in

analyzing the novel, ​Nineteen Eighty-four b​ y George Orwell.

Based on Marxism, the Marxist Literary Theory is considered as one of the most

influential critical theories to analyze literature (Alam, 2017). Marxism is the school of thought

founded by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, a German philosopher and a German sociologist

respectively. Both Marx and Engels coined Marxism as Communism which is ​an ideology of

economic equality through the elimination of private property (Dhar, 2014). In 1848, both Marx

and Engels publicized the emergence of Communism in their jointly-written ​Communist

Manifesto.​ Nevertheless, Marxism still proves to be relevant in the modern world despite its

emergence from the distant past because of the fact that it gives readers a consequential way of

understanding society, history, literature, and the world in general. In particular, Marxism targets

the society and its ideology, as well as history and the economy.

Marxism sees economics as base on which superstructure, or the social, political, and

ideological, is built (Alam, 2017). ​One of the most fundamental supposition of Marxism are the

material circumstances referring to economic condition that, in turn, generate the other premise

of social, ideological, or political atmosphere – the historical situation (Alam, 2017). Marxism

highlights the socioeconomic class divisions as well – particularly referring to the bourgeoisie

and the proletariat – that entail class struggles which have plagued human history and
humankind. In line with this, Marxism targets ideology as a belief system, which necessitates the

economic base known as economic determinism.

Therefore, Marxist literary criticism integrates all of these phenomena of base,

superstructure, and ideologies exceptionally. Marxist critical theory simply employs historical

materialism as a functioning approach. The theory explains the phenomena of ​changes in various

material conditions – ways of people producing life necessities – and how these ​changes

influence the social organization. To put it simply, the way someone works defines his or her

aspirations and existence. It is essential to distinguish how other materialist philosophies

eliminated the significance of having a logical explanation of things. Unlike these approaches,

Marxist perspective does not only stress to understand the ideologies of the world but also focus

on changing it. In this light, Hamadi (2017) wrote Marxism as follows:

Marxism views works of literature or art as the products

of historical forces that can be studied by looking at the material
conditions in which they are produced. This theory generally
focuses on the conflict between the dominant and repressed classes
in any given age. In other words, Marxist literary theory starts
from the assumption that literature must be understood in relation
to historical and social reality of a certain society.

While the perspective of a Marxist opposes the idealist philosophy that focuses on

conceptualizing a spiritual world. The idealistic approach believes that spiritual world controls

and influences the material world we live in. However, Marxist criticism perceived literary work

as a product whose practitioner or creator emphasized the role of ideology and class.

Looking through the lenses of a Marxist literary theory, a literary critic takes into

consideration the material or historical conditions of the text. A literary critic utilizing a Marxist

literary theory keeps in mind that the text reflects the existing ideology of a society (Alam,
2017). With this, it is important to manifest the relationship between the people, as well as to

investigate the text as a critique of Capitalism, since Marxism is generally a critique of the

Capitalistic view of the world.

Objectives

The literary criticism on ​Nineteen Eighty-four aims to criticize Orwell’s work through the

Marxist lens. This criticism attempts to determine how the novel challenges the current

socioeconomic structure and how it reflects social institutions as instruments for promoting

social stratification and strengthening the status quo. The study also aims to determine whether

the novel protects, promotes, or invigorates the Marxist ideologies and agendas.

Research Questions

1. How does the superstructures protect the status quo, and aggravate the social and

economic marginalization in the novel?

2. How does the novel challenge the existing socioeconomic condition, and reveal the

presence of class struggles in the society?

3. How does the work manifest the ruling power and economic structures of the capitalist

ideology and society? Specifically, how does the work portray the social structure of a

dominant class and an oppressed class?

4. Does the work protect, promote, or invigorate the Marxist ideologies and agendas or does

the work revert back to the ruling capitalist ideology?

 CHAPTER 3

Application of Theory

On Winston

The novel was narrated in the perspective of an Outer Party member, Winston Smith.

Winston may be perceived as an intellectual, a fatalist, and a rebel. It was evident in the novel

how he restrained from drowning in the lies and propaganda fed by the Party and how he was

conscious on the Party’s tyranny. He successfully resisted the mental oppressive forces of the

Party and continued to conceive rebellious thoughts against the Party, thus, maintaining his

individuality. However, Winston still had the tendency to refuse individuality and reason on his

resistance. This conveyed the oppressive system of the ​Party,​ ​Big Brother,​ and the ​Thought

Police for he feared on attempting to think against the system. He is denied the right to contest

his disagreement to the ruling system and forced to conform to it. Although Winston attempts to

oppose individuality, he is incapable of eliminating his distaste on the Party and resisting the

urge of overthrowing ​Big Brother with still, however, pessimistic and inevitable views of the

future.

‘For a moment he was seized by a kind of hysteria. He

began writing in a hurried untidy scrawl: they’ll shoot me i don’t
care they’ll shoot me in the back of the neck i dont care down with
big brother they always shoot you in the back of the neck i dont
care down with big brother.’

Winston was convinced on how he will remain powerless for only few will be capable of

recognizing the deceitfulness of the Party and how the Party shall continue to maintain its

position and will take absolute control over the society, until the society becomes conscious of
the Party’s menacing ways. This, however, shall not be attained for the people are already

manipulated through the Party’s propaganda. In addition to this, the system continues to

strengthen as superstructure continue to promote and protect the status quo.

‘And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed – if all
records told the same tale – then the lie passed into history and
became truth. "Who controls the past," ran the Party slogan,
"controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."
And yet the past, thought of its nature alterable, never had been
altered. Whatever was true now was true from everlasting to
everlasting. It was quite simple. All that was needed was an
unending series of victories over your own memory. "Reality
control," they called it: in Newspeak, "doublethink."’

The Party’s primary goal was for people to exude ignorance through shaping its image to

the minds of the people as an ideal government in order to eliminate rebellion. It was shown how

the Party targeted intellectuals for its propaganda was insufficient for them to conform to the

society; it attains it through force and torment the Party. This was evident in the event wherein

Winston had to face his greatest fear to betray Julia and pledge his loyalty to Big Brother alone.

It showed how the Party took complete control over the mind of Winston through treacherous

ways.

On Social Structure
 Figure 2. Social Structure in Oceania
Social Stratification was present in the novel for the division of social class – Inner Party,

Outer Party, and Proles - was evident (Figure 2). It may be deduced how marginalized the proles

were for they were perceived as outliers and did not have access to necessities including goods,

education, literature, and etc. It could also be seen how wealth and power was concentrated

among the inner party, even though it only makes less than 2% of the population.

The dissimilarity between the two parties were evident on the descriptions of Winston

and Julia, both Outer Party members, and O’Brien, an Inner Party member. It may be seen in

comparing the physical attributes of Winston and O’Brien. Winston was described as a small

ill-favored person in the excerpt:

‘a smallish, frail figure, the meagreness of his body merely

emphasized by the blue overalls which were the uniform of the Party.
His hair was very fair, his face naturally sanguine, his skin
roughened by coarse soap and blunt razor blades and the cold of the
winter that had just ended.’

O’Brien, however, was described exactly the opposite. He was pertained to as a man who

was large and burly with a thick neck and a coarse, humorous, brutal face. Their physical
description suggests how the Outer Party members lacked nourishment compared to the Inner

Party members for they did not have access to basic necessities.

It could also be seen how the way the Inner and Outer Party differed in the way they live.

Winston was said to be living in a neglected and dilapidated apartment, the Victory Mansion,

where it had a dysfunctional elevator, broken pipes, tiny kitchens, and etc. The flat was described

as falling apart compared to O’Brien’s lifestyle wherein he lives luxuriously.

It was also presented when Julia brought Winston chocolate from the black market. It

seemed peculiar to Winston for he was used to eating bland chocolate available for them.

‘Even before he had taken it he knew by the smell that it was

very unusual chocolate. It was dark and shiny, and was wrapped in
silver paper. Chocolate normally was dull-brown crumbly stuff that
tasted, as nearly as one could describe it, like the smoke of a rubbish
fire.’

It was also evidently displayed when Winston and Julia were offered wine while they
were visiting O’Brien in his home.​

‘It is called wine,’ said O’Brien with a faint smile. ‘You will
have read about it in books, no doubt. Not much of it gets to the
Outer Party, I am afraid.’

This shows how the Inner Party members had access to and could afford luxurious items

while the Outer Party members’ lifestyle was practical and simple.

On the Proletariat Class

Nineteen Eighty-four ​has characterized the proletariat class, which is the one of the

centerpieces of Marxist criticism, in a way that explicitly resembles how Karl Marx depicted the

oppressed proletariat class. The resemblance of the ​Proles,​ as characterized in the novel, was

evident throughout the entirety of the novel.

 Karl Marx’ centerpiece in his Marxist theory is the capitalist society composed of the

bourgeoisie and the proletariat, and this capitalist society was highlighted in the novel. The

bourgeoisie were represented by the ​Inner Party i​ n the novel, while the proletariat were

represented by two classes, namely the ​Outer Party a​ nd the ​Proles,​ with the ​Outer Party

portraying the roles of the workers of the totalitarian system of ​Oceania and are presumed as part

of the proletariat class. How Marx describes the proletariat class exactly resembles how the

Proles​ were represented in the novel,

‘​They were born, they grew up in the gutters, they went to

work at twelve, they passed through a brief blossoming-period of
beauty and sexual desire, they married at twenty, they were
middle-aged at thirty, they died, for the most part, at sixty.’​

In line with this, the ​Proles ​were given a burden in terms of the workload they had to put

through, just as how Marx describes the working class of the capitalist society. These ​Proles

would be bombarded by worthless things to ease them, in a vague manner, of the work that they

had to do on a daily basis, as seen in the line in the novel,

‘Heavy physical work, the care of home and children,

petty quarrels with neighbours, films, football, beer, and above all,
gambling, filled up the horizon of their minds.’

With this, the entirety of the novel centered on portraying the main idea related to the

Marxist idea of social classes. In Marxist theories, the proletariat class must overthrow the

bourgeoisie in times of economic crises; hence, resulting to a revolution in classes, with the

capitalists being overthrown, while the working class be on top of the social triangle.

Subsequently, this is one of the many ways that the novel challenges the ruling ideology of a

capitalist society, that those in power need to be overthrown by the those being oppressed which,

in relation to the novel, were the ​Proles​. The change in the society, therefore, lies in the hands of
the proletariat class, or the ​Proles a​ s represented in the novel. ​Nineteen Eighty-four ​expresses its

disapproval of the capitalist society and, in turn, desires a change through the proletariat class.

‘​If there is hope, wrote Winston, it lies in the proles.’​

In this light, the revolution that Marxist theories promote could only be achieved once the

proletariat class realize the problems of the ruling capitalist ideologies, which was strongly given

importance in the novel,

‘​Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and

until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.’​

Through this, the capitalists that Marxists theories pertain to which, in the novel, is

represented by the ​Party ​manipulates the population through fear. The capitalists acknowledge

the fact that the proletariat class have the power to rebel. In turn, the capitalists do everything in

their power to strip the proletariat class of the power that they have. Because of this, the

capitalists plant ideas in people’s minds so as to not have the power to rebel. Until the people

become conscious of this, they could never rebel, and the only way to rebel was to think against

the ruling ideologies – to commit ​thoughtcrime a​ s showcased in the novel.

The ​Party a​ s portrayed in the story controlled the society and everything within the

society in a way that favors the ​Party,​ the same way how capitalism controls the society. In the

novel, the ​Party ​would alter the course of history, so far as to wipe-out the mere existence of a

person and the records of the said person. This is a representation of how capitalism controls the

society and ultimately controls the idea of communism. Capitalists would engrave every detail

about the capitalist society on every person’s mind, making these people reject the idea of

communism. Communism was resisted, thereby increasing the power of the capitalists by

causing people to not let the former happen. As evident in the novel, anything caught against the
 ​ ould be deleted permanently from the system, therefore concentrating the power on the
Party w

Party o​ nly:

‘​People simply disappeared, always during the night. Your

name was removed from the registers, every record of everything
you had done has wiped out, your one-time existence was denied
and forgotten.’​

Overall, the ​Proles o​ f the novel, consisting of the workers of society, were showcased as

​ as portrayed as the “oppressors”. The

the “oppressed” in Marxist theories, while the ​Party w

​ ith the proletariat class of Marx goes to show how the novel
exact resemblance of the ​Proles w

expresses the social classes of the capitalist ideological system. However, these ​Proles e​ ven

though were treated as the ne’er-do-wells of society, ironically were more alive rather than just

existing, as pointed out in the line,

‘​What mattered were individual relationships, and a

completely helpless gesture, and embrace, a tear, a word spoken to
a dying man, could hold value in itself. The proles, it had suddenly
occurred to him, had remained in this condition...The proles had
remained human.’​

Nineteen Eighty-four ​not only portrayed the ruling capitalist ideologies and how the

workers the society were oppressed, the novel also portrayed the challenging of the societal

norms by emphasizing the power vested upon the working class of the society, and how these

workers have the power to overthrow the ruling capitalists.

On the system
The novel’s take on the system immensely showcased the implications of absolute power

and how the superstructures promote and protect the ruling system. It presented how the system

manipulates the society in order to maintain and strengthen its power.

 Big Brother portrayed the image of a totalitarian leader who watches and dictates every

​ as an endless catchphrase
action of the members of the society. ​“Big Brother is watching you” w

in the novel that conveyed the constant surveillance of the government and its dictatorship,

which strengthened the power of the Party even more; it forces the citizens to conform to the

system as it engraves fear among the minds of them. Winston mentioned that ​“thoughtcrime

does not entail death; thoughtcrime is death.” This shows how the people greatly feared of

deviating from the Party even in their thoughts which eradicated individuality among the people

and allowed the government to fully control them.

The Party eliminated all forms of religion for it may also be a hindrance in obtaining

absolute power. It was discussed in the novel how there were no traces of churches to be found

for they were turned into museums in Oceania for propaganda displays of various kinds. They

may be perceived as a threat to the loyalty of the citizens to Big Brother, instead, Big Brother

was portrayed as an image of a divine being. This allowed people to worship Big Brother as a

God-like figure, and focus on following his commands and be blinded from the government’s

tyranny.

Four ministries were established by the Party - Ministry of Truth, Ministry of Love,

Ministry of Plenty, and Ministry of Peace - which were responsible in spreading the propaganda

of the government. The records department in the Ministry of Truth, where Winston worked, was

responsible in altering news that presented a flaw of the government and replacing it instead with

news that favors the government for people to be strongly convinced on the Party’s good

governance.

‘​For example, the Ministry of Plenty’s forecast had

estimated the output of boots for the quarter at a hundred and
forty-five million pairs. The actual output was given as sixty-two
 millions. Winston, however, in re-writing the forecast, marked the
figure down to fifty-seven millions, so as to allow for the usual
claim that the quota had been over-fulfilled.’​

Fabrication was not only limited to news, but also to other forms of literature including

history books for people to think how life improved after the revolution. It discussed how

marginalized commoners were and how they were exploited by capitalists, and how life became

better during the regime of the Party.

‘​The Party claimed, of course, to have liberated the proles

from bondage. Before the Revolution they had been hideously
oppressed by the capitalists, they had been starved and flogged,
women had been forced to work in the coal mines (women still did
work in the coal mines, as a matter of fact), children had been sold
into the factories at the age of six.’​

The main protagonist, Winston, was not able to verify this for all the original copies and

other traces of the past were destroyed. It was shown how the inhabitants of Oceania had trouble

in remembering the past and chose to believe in whatever propaganda the Party feeds them.

It was also mentioned in the novel how the Party created a new form of language called

Newspeak that was established as their official language. It was shown how the Research

Department of the Ministry of Truth continued to reduce the number of words annually for it to

eliminate negative equivalent of concepts i.e. bad, the antonym of good, is replaced instead with

ungood which lessens its degree and shifts the concept to a more positive direction.

‘After all, what justification is there for a word which is

simply the opposite of some other word? A word contains its
opposite in itself. Take “good”, for instance. If you have a word
like “good”, what need is there for a word like “bad”? “Ungood”
will do just as well – better, because it’s an exact opposite, which
the other is not. Or again, if you want a stronger version of
“good”, what sense is there in having a whole string of vague
useless words like “excellent” and “splendid” and all the rest of
them? “Plusgood” covers the meaning.’
 This suppresses free thought, individuality, and happiness for it limits people in

conceiving any other point of view other than the Party’s. The Party chooses which words should

stay based on its needs.

‘Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow

the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime
literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to
express it. Every concept that can ever be needed will be expressed
by exactly one word, with its meaning rigidly defined and all its
subsidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten…’

The educational system was also utilized by the Party in order to corrupt the minds of the

children. The Party established organizations including Junior Anti-Sex League and the Spies

which are responsible in disseminating the propaganda of the Party among the children and

influencing them into conforming to the system through lectures, slogans, songs, and martial

music.

‘​Nearly all children nowadays were horrible. What was

worst of all was that by means of such organisations as the Spies
they were systematically turned into ungovernable little savages,
and yet this produced in them no tendency whatever to rebel
against the discipline of the Party. On the contrary, they adored
the Party and everything connected with it.’​

This also disrupted the concept of family for children are turned against their parents and

remained loyal only to the system for they are taught to spy on them and report their deviations.
 CHAPTER 4

CONCLUSION

In criticizing a literary piece in a Marxist approach, it determines how the work reflects

the existing society. It sees literature as a product of the historical situation including the

political, economic, social, and ideological atmosphere. The novel has illustrated an oppressive

society that eliminated the notion of freedom and individuality. It reflected the existing social

structure wherein the division of social classes based on wealth and power is present. It

represented the prevalence of social discrimination among the proletarian class for it is denied

the access to necessities and is forced to submit to the ruling system that promotes social

inequality. Social inequality was also seen in the distribution of resources and wealth wherein it

is only concentrated in the upper class who dominates the system and suppresses the middle and

lower classes. The upper class continues to govern the society for it spreads false ideology in

order for the lower class to not recognize its ability to rebel and overthrow the ruling class. The

novel highlighted how the proletarian class shall remain unconscious of its power until it decides

to question the ruling ideology.

The Party was able to maintain and strengthen its control over Oceania for numerous

social institutions including political, economic, and educational institutions, and the media

spread the false ideologies of the system and manipulated the people into seeing an effective

governance free from oppression. They helped the Party gain absolute control through the

distortion of history in order for it to be perceived as triumphant. It was stated in the novel how

"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past." The Party

was able to rewrite the past wherein it coordinated with the Party's goals. Furthermore,
technology was also a major contributor in gaining power for telescreens were utilized in order

to engrave fear in opposing to the Party, thus, eliminating rebellious acts of citizens. It may be

deduced that the Party's success in poisoning the minds of the citizen was greatly influenced by

literature.

For the novel was narrated in the perspective of an Outer Party or a middle class member,

it was able to present the oppressive acts on the lower classes. The character of Winston Smith

was also able to showcase this as he was able to recognize the Party's tyranny. It may also be

seen in how Winston had the tendency to deprive himself of individual because of his grave fear

of the Party. In addition to this, the novel revolved on the Winston's continuous questioning of

the system. This implies how the novel challenges the current socioeconomic structure of the

time and reveals its true objective - maintaining inequality in the society for the ruling class to

remain on top.

In line with the presence of social inequality, a caste system was evident in the novel

where it comprises of the Inner Party (<2%), the Outer Party (~13%), and the Proles (~85%). It

was apparent in the novel how the Inner Party dominated the society even though it makes up a

small number of the population, and how the Outer Party and the Proles were greatly

marginalized for they were denied the access of numerous resources including goods. It may also

be seen in the novel that the Inner Party takes full control in running the society which makes

society favor them. The Party and the proles exactly resemble the bourgeoisie and the proletarian

class, thus promoting the Marxist agenda.

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