With her singing, which is …show more content…
Tragically, the woman is used by Orwell to truly demonstrate the power and evil of the Party. Eventually, when Winston and Julia have been caught by the thought police, and the Party agents have surrounded them, Winston notes that “The woman 's singing had stopped abruptly. There was a long, rolling clang, as though the washtub had been flung across the yard, and then a confusion of angry shouts which ended in a yell of pain”(Orwell 183). The woman, symbolizing hope and freedom, has finally been caught and presumably murdered by the Party. This crushing blow demonstrates the final symbolic use of this character, the symbolism of despair. Everything the prole woman stood for, freedom and hope, has been utterly, completely destroyed, for both the reader and Winston. Winston, with his defeat, realizes the true power of the Party, coming to understand that his freedom, and his hope, were false. The reader also is impacted by this symbolism, they saw Winston and Julia as rebels, able to outsmart and go against the will of the Party. They believed that the world of 1984 had hope, a chance of a better life and freedom for the people. Now, however, they see the truth, that any pretense of hope or a life free from big brother, was false. With this realization, Orwell has achieved the final act of symbolism with the prole woman, for her disappearance symbolizes absolute despair and