If there is hope, it lies in the proles.

Winston himself considers this statement fairly ridiculous. Perhaps his willingness to
put his faith in people who have shown no intention to break free of their current
lifestyle reflects empty desperation. This is, after all, the view of a person who is
almost compulsively trusting, usually to his detriment. (He even tries to trust that
OBrien is secretly on his side whilst being tortured by him.) It would be easy to
brand Winstons words as yet another misguided expression of faith; Orwell
certainly gives you enough reasons to do so.
If theres anything weve learned about Orwell, however, its that the man loves
burying meaning in everything. If you look closely enough, there are plenty of
reasons to believe that Winston may, in fact, be correct. One can point out that
virtually everyone OBrien, Syme, even Winston disregards the prole threat.
But what incentive does OBrien have to speak truthfully with Winston? Should we
take his words at face value when hes clearly capable of believing anything the
Party tells him to believe?
Your task for today is to conclusively determine whether the proles will rebel. If they
do, the future still looks bright not for Winston, obviously, but for the world at
large. If they dont, the Party has already achieved immortality for the book
makes it clear that none of the superstates really have a vested interest in defeating
one another.
You will need to support your assertions with plenty of evidence while expressing
said assertion in a coherent and compelling narrative. Your essay will be a minimum
of five paragraphs and three pages long, although detailed papers will easily exceed
these requirements. We will work on this formally in the library on Monday; any prep
work you would like to do can be done over the weekend and e-mailed to yourself
before we begin. Good luck!