1984

It was only an 'opeless fancy,

It passed like an Ipril dye,

But a look an' a word an' the dreams they stirred

They 'ave stolen my 'eart awye!

Maybe this song from 1984 doesn't make any sense, it supposedly isn't supposed to, yet I think plays a large part in the only hope in this novel that survives the dark conclusion. In the beginning we (I certainly did) accept the hopelessness of the regime, there is no rebelling without certain and swift death. Then it appears that maybe there is an opening and perhaps the Party will meet its downfall. This is appealing, there is love between Winston and Julia and they have seemingly evaded the Thought Police. I think I believed this, but of course upon reading to the end it is revealed that they have been trapped from the start. The one thing that remains for me is the aged washer-woman who lives out her life as so many have before and in the context of the book will likely continue to do (the many plump older women, not this specific one sadly). I'm beginning on this faintly hopeful point because it just seems too much to dive straight into the dark bits. Which, come to think of it, very nearly comprise the novel in its entirety.

They sye that time 'eals all things,

They sye you can always forget;

But the smiles an' the tears across the years

They twist my 'eart-strings yet!

This concludes the first and penultimate installment in my series on songs and rhymes in 1984.