1984- Final

Big Brother has failed. Although Winston’s acts of rebellion and dissidence throughout 1984 may not have had any actual effect, the Party was still unable to prevent the act of dissident thought. Orwell writes, “Will you understand, Winston, that no one whom we bring to this place ever leaves our hands uncured? We are not interested in those stupid crimes that you have committed,” meaning that the Party is concerned with thought more than action- and though is what they were unable to prevent (146). In essence, the Party focus on thoughtcrime more than other crime means that its failure to prevent anti-Party thoughts is the greatest failing it could have.

The only certain end of the Party is the continued deterioration of quality of life until it has reached unsustainable levels.  Orwell explains:

In principle the war effort is always so planned as to eat up any surplus

that might exist after meeting the bare needs of the population. In practice the

needs of the population are always underestimated, with the result that there

is a chronic shortage of half the necessities of life… (112).

Although the destruction of resources may be advantageous for the party in the short run, as resources and productivity dwindle and as estimates continue to be made poorly, the populace will not be able to secure the bare minimum required to live. Eventually, regardless of knowledge of past conditions, this will result in a revolt. Historically, food shortages are one of the best indicators of societal unrest: in Egypt, for example, a rise in grain prices shortly preceded Mubarak’s overthrow.

That said, it is possible- and perhaps even likely- that the party can be overthrown more rapidly than the aforementioned method. Should this happen, it will most likely be a result of proletarian revolt, as Winston writes: “If there was hope, it must lie in the proles, because only there in those swarming disregarded masses, 85 per cent of the population of Oceania, could the force to destroy the Party ever be generated” (40). Granted, agitation must precede revolt- the proles seem fairly content- but because the Party does not view the proles as human, and as such fails to regiment their daily lives, a proletarian revolt is possible.

At the end of the novel, Winston Smith has effectively been brainwashed, or broken, by the Party. The use of pain as a psychological tool has allowed O’Brien to destroy Smith’s powers of logic and reasoning- the very forces which compelled him to oppose the party in the first place.