"The End of the Novel is Totally Bleak"
             Does Orwell Mean us to Draw Any Hope from 1984?
             George Orwell wrote '1984' in 1948. It was to be his last novel as he died soon after. Orwell feared the rise to power of a totalitarian regime and wrote '1984' as a warning against precisely that, although it has been criticised as an 'adolescent fantasy – a non-fiction essay about power'. '1984' is meant to be a picture of what could happen if a totalitarian regime were allowed to rule, and certain elements of the novel, such as the idea of 'telescreens' could easily become a reality in the near future. In addition to this, Orwell warned against the danger of allowing a 'proletariat' to develop – a race of people thought to be below consideration and spurned by the rest of society. In the novel the inner party represents the upper class, the outer party the middle class and the Proles the lower class. Orwell further suggested that the bad treatment of the lower class could lead to the segregation of the human race, creating two separate races, one dominant over the other. The ideas of political domination and elective dictatorship (and the dangers thereof) also feature heavily in the novel, as both could lead to the development of a 'Big Brother' state. Orwell's incorporation of an acute historical sense communicates to the reader the fact that the world of '1984' could actually become a reality.
             The style in which Orwell wrote '1984' emphasises the idea of hope, but more importantly the loss of it. This is shown by the way the novel is split into 3 parts; the first and second parts of the novel kindle hope of the perseverance of human spirit in the form of Julia and Winston's love and their rebellious ideas, but the third part of the novel destroys any vestiges of hope the reader might harbour with its extended, often brutal, scenes of torture, and finally the ulti...