#6- 1984

"The birds sang, the proles sang, the Party did not sing. All round the world... everywhere stood the same solid unconquerable figure, made monstrous by work and childbearing, toiling from birth to death and still singing. Out of those mighty loins a race of conscious beings must one day come. You were the dead; theirs was the future" (182).

Birds and song are both often used to represent happiness and freedom. Even though the proles work strenuously every day they are still free because no constraints have been placed around their humanity. Orwell's use of the words "solid" and "unconquerable" suggest that the Party will never be able to overcome the proles. Orwell uses this passage to show a change in Winston - he has always been suspicious of the Party, but here he is finally seeing the beauty in being human. He realizes that people are the same everywhere, or "all round the world," which contradicts the statement exerted by the Party that foreigners are different and dangerous. Furthermore, Winston begins to see that the citizens of Oceania are "dead" because they are not human due to their heavily controlled lives. Not surprisingly, Winston is arrested immediately after having this realization.


Work Cited:
Photo Credit:
"Grace." Franklin Community Free Methodist Church. 2010. WordPress. 26 Aug. 2010 <http://www.fcfmc.com/2010/04/grace/>.