While the majority of the people only know the history of what happened after the Revolution, the Proles are the people that know what society was like prior to the Revolution. The Proles are the people that live in Oceania but do not partake in the Party.
For Winston, the Proles symbolize hope due to the fact of what they know. The Proles are the one group of people that did not conform to society and instead chose to keep in touch with reality. They know how to live like actual humans with their own mindset rather than people that are controlled by the government and voice no opinion of their own. They are a form of hope for Winston for how they act as well. They marry out of love and have children because they want to, not because the government requires it.
For Winston, the Proles metaphorically represent the past and future for Oceania. They know what the past was like and they can dictate how the future will be. They can choose to either saty quiet and leave things like they are and let the government control everything. Or they can all gather together and start to preach about how society was like prior to the Revolution and have the others start a new revolution to get back to how things were.
For Oceania to ever return to how it was, the Proles must revolt. Despite knowing alot, they dont realize this and Winston no longer has any desire to get rid of Big Brother. This leaves the Proles as the only people who could start a revolt but they dont realize the possibilities and leave things as is.
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