Love is the Backbone A society without love is a dark and gloomy dystopian place. In George Orwell’s famous novel 1984 Orwell depicts a totalitarian society that attempts to control every aspect of the human life, including the freedom to love, and succeeds at doing so. The government, or Big Brother, controls everything from thoughts to food to human emotion. As a result of this control the residents of Oceania know only to love one thing: Big Brother. This destroys relationships and creates division among people. Orwell displays the message that without the freedom to love, marriages are meaningless, the true meaning of family does not exist, and the only way to make up for the lack of love is to overcompensate with hate. Love restrictions …show more content…
create many problems within the marriages of the citizens of Oceania. People do not marry for love and are not allowed to marry people that Big Brother thinks they have any love towards. Orwell shows an example of the problems that are created when he talks about the marriage between Winston and his wife, Katharine. Orwell states through Winston, “Simultaneously with the woman in the basement kitchen he thought of Katharine, his wife. Winston was married--had been married, at any rate; probably still was married, for so far as he knew his wife was not dead” (56). Winston shows that he has no regard for his wife. This is seen in the fact that he does not know, or care enough to know, her whereabouts, or if she is even alive. Orwell later goes on to show how little attraction or emotion Winston has ever shown towards his wife when Orwell states, “He thought again of Katharine. It must be nine, ten--nearly eleven years since they had parted. It was curious how seldom he thought of her” (57). Orwell shows how little people care about their significant other through the fact that even after being “married” for over a decade, Winston lacks any feelings toward his wife. Finally Orwell shows how Big Brother is successfully removing love from marriage. He states, “Sexual intercourse was to be looked on as slightly disgusting minor operation, like having an enema” (57). This shows that people are being brainwashed to think of an act that is sacred and meaningful to a husband and wife, as gross and revolting. By removing this act along with others, the government has successfully made the bond of marriage meaningless to the people of Oceania. Moreover, Big Brother is successfully destroying the true meaning of family and is nearly making families non-existent.
The government is switching the role of the child and the adult by flipping the power role. The mother and father should be at the top of the power chain within the family, but Big Brother has elevated the children to the top. Orwell shows the power reversal when he says, “The children on the other hand were systematically turned against their parents and taught to spy on them and report their deviations” (111). The thoughts that the government is putting into the minds of the people of Oceania are destroying the bond of family. Instead of loving and supporting one’s family members, the government is convincing the people of Oceania to turn their backs when their family members don’t meet standards set by Big Brother. Because of this betrayal, parents are put in a position to fear their children. Orwell shows this fear by the reaction of Mrs. Parsons to the devious behavior of her children. Orwell describes this by pointing out, “Mrs. Parsons’s eyes flitted nervously from Winston to the children, and back again” (23). This shows that Mrs. Parsons is nervous and afraid to act out against the behaviors of her children. The role of power has been given to her children over her. Finally, the love that families are meant to share is being completely removed by Big Brother. Compassion towards family members has been eradicated. Orwell shows carelessness towards …show more content…
family when the skull-faced man pleas, “‘I’ve got a wife and three children. The biggest of them isn't six years old. You can take the whole lot of them and cut their throats in front of my eyes, and I’ll stand by and watch it’” (195). The value of family has diminished to nearly nothing. Even the slaughtering of a wife and three children does not faze a father. Family is supposed to be the top priority. With the removal of love, family is being placed at the bottom of the ladder of importance. To make up for the loss of love, the government of Oceania creates an overload of emotion to overcompensate for what is missing.
Big Brother does this by creating an excess amount of hate to let out the build up of emotion. Without the emotion of love, accumulation of opposite emotions overtakes. Orwell shows this by stating, “In it’s second minute the Hate rose to a frenzy. People were leaping up and down in their places and shouting at the tops of their voices […]. […] The horrible thing about the Two Minute Hate was not that it was obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in” (15-16). The outburst of hate from the citizens shows the overload of emotion that comes from the lack of the ability to love. People of Oceania have an excess amount of emotion built up inside of them, and need to let this build up out. Orwell reiterates that loss of love creates a world full of hate when he writes “Winston could not definitely remember a time when his country had not been at war […]” (30). All three supercontinents are always at war with each other. This shows the large amount of hate in the world, and how it was the only emotion that could possibly counter the lack of love. Finally, to make up for the lack of physical love, torture overtakes and fills the gap left behind. Orwell shows this when he informs, “One did not know what happened inside the Ministry of Love, but it was possible to guess: tortures, drugs, delicate instruments that registered your
nervous reactions, gradual wearing-down by sleeplessness and solitude and persistent questioning” (138). Orwell shows that with the lack of physical love is taking a toll on the wants of the people. Physical love is a necessity for all human beings. Without it, the people of Oceania have to resort to the physical touch of torture. A society controlled by a dictatorship, forced to believe what they are told and feel only what they are allowed to feel will surely rip apart at the seams. Oceania is a prime example of this. Big Brother removes love as an emotion, which makes marriages meaningless and erases the true meaning of family. The result is a society filled with the opposite of love is the outcome. Furthermore, the lack of love and the overcompensation of hate are shown countless times in the novel 1984. These examples show how important the freedom to feel and the freedom to express emotion are. These expressions are the backbone to families, relationships, and working societies. Life without freedom to express positive emotions does not lead down a cheerful path.
"For every text a context" and only through referral to the non-literary world can we understand the motivation behind the literary. In a time of Nazism, Stalin and Civil War in Europe, Orwell's disillusionment towards politics and society rapidly increased and his ideas and criticisms were published in various essays regarding politics and literary traditions. When he became unwell towards the end of his life, he wrote 1984 as an expression of both his own views and as a parallel to Zamyatin's We, a novel concerned with Russian communism and portraying a very similar storyline. He "characterised the ordinary man as a victim." ; he viewed humanity as whole to be inside Jonah's whale, to "feel no impulse to alter or control the process that [they are] undergoing." This passivity of existence was the chief example from which he was able to draw the lack of individualism and the virtual extinction of it in his literary land of Oceania.
His Death Written Life The novel, 1984, by George Orwell, depicts a dystopian society where no freedom exists; not even the freedom of thought. The scene takes place in Oceania, a society in which the ruling power called “the Party” strictly controls everything people do: from the way they speak, to how they move, to their very own thoughts. Winston Smith, the main character of 1984, struggles through the day to day life of having to blend into the brainwashed citizens of Oceania, where monitors called telescreens record and analyze every little movement. Anyone not showing signs of loyalty and homogeneity becomes vaporized, or in other words, ceases to exist and becomes deleted from history.
The book begins by being introduced to the main character, Winston, surrounding characters, and the setting of Oceania where most of the people in the book live. But what the reader also begins the book with is the feeling that most of the citizens are being watched over by their peers. Children, friends, and neighbors are watching other children, friends, and neighbors. This not only instills fear on the citizens but prevents them from living a free and healthy life. Instead of living, the citizens are constantly worried about being heard, being watched, and being taken away. The children in the book are converted into spies and are trained to watch their parents’ words and actions very closely. Some say Orwell’s inspiration for these ‘Junior Spies’ come from the organization of ‘Hitler Youth’ who were children told to watch over their parents and report any deviation from Nazi practices. An example of this is represented through Mr. Parsons, Mrs. Parsons, and their children in part one. Mrs. Parsons is worried about her children turning in their father. This foreshadow...
George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 follows the psychological journey of main character Winston. Winston lives in a utopian society called Oceania. There, the citizens are constantly monitored by their government coined “Big Brother” or “The Party”. In Oceania, there is no form of individuality or privacy. Citizens are also coerced to believe everything and anything the government tells them, even if it contradicts reality and memory. The goal of Big Brother is to destroy individual loyalties and make its citizenry only loyal to the government. In Orwell's novel 1984, he uses Winston's psychological journey to stress the dangers of individuality in a totalitarian regime because it can result in death. Winston’s overwhelming desire to rebel
I strongly agree with Fromm’s viewpoints and interpretations of Orwell’s 1984 text. He warns that the future federal powers will dehumanize society and leave everyone alienated. Thus, I agree with Fromm to the extent that he acknowledges the fact that humanity can indeed cease to exist as a result of our own self-destruction as well as the effect of our actions. Many of his opinions and warnings expressed by Orwell to an extent appear in contemporary society.
Love is an emotion affecting people's everyday lives. In the book “1984,”, George Orwell introduces his readers to this idea, with a compelling portrayal of this important feeling. In Orwell’s totalitarian society of Oceania, the ruling party attempts to demolish all love for anyone except Big Brother who controls them. The affection that normally exists between individuals, in Oceania, warps to exist between individuals tortured and those torturing them. This is demonstrated by familial bonds and affection between siblings, wives, mothers, fathers and children, changing and creating an opportunity for the government to monitor its citizens. In contrast the interactions between the main character, Winston and his oppressor, O'Brien exhibit true love. Real connections between regular human beings in Oceania are virtually non existent due to actions taken by the government to destroy these bonds.
George Orwell’s ‘1984’ is an uncanny and frighteningly accurate portrayal of the modern world; where dangers are continuing to emerge surrounding a concerning lack of personal freedom. Whilst in contemporary society we consider ourselves relatively free, this is oftentimes not the case; as it is the social standards to which we as a society must adhere to that keep us confined to established commonalities. This, in a way, is a dangerous tool that, if utilised correctly, could act as a method of controlling the masses; just like that outlined in the novel. Orwell presents his work, essentially, as a vehicle used to give insight into the types of personalities that emerge in retaliation to individualism within a socially confined society. It is not only a reflection of the human condition, but a warning; that we must be aware of such characters
The fictional world of 1984 is best described as bleak. In the aftermath of the fall of capitalism and nuclear war, the world has been divided among three practically identical totalitarian nation-states. The novel takes place in London, which has become a part of Oceania, the nation state comprising the Americas and western Europe. A state of perpetual war and poverty is the rule in Oceania. However, this is merely a backdrop, far from the most terrifying aspect of life in 1984. Oceania is governed by a totalitarian bureaucracy, personified in the image of Big Brother, the all-knowing/ all-seeing godlike figure that represents the government. Big Brother is best described as a "totalitarian socialist dictator, a political demagogue and religious cult leader all rolled into one." So great is the power of Big Brother that the reader is unsure whether he actually exists or is simply a propaganda tool of the government. The party of Big Brother, Ingsoc (English Social...
Love is the foundation and the weakness of a totalitarian regime. For a stable totalitarian society, love between two individuals is eliminated because only a relationship between the person and the party and a love for its leader can exist. The totalitarian society depicted throughout the Orwell’s novel 1984 has created a concept of an Orwellian society. Stalin’s Soviet state can be considered Orwellian because it draws close parallels to the imaginary world of Oceania in 1984. During the twentieth century, Soviet Russia lived under Stalin’s brutal and oppressive governments, which was necessary for Stalin to retain power. In both cases, brutality and oppression led to an absence of relationships and love. This love was directed towards Stalin and Big Brother, and human beings became willing servants of their leader. The biggest threat to any totalitarian regime is love, or the lack of it. As Orwell said, they key danger to the system is “the growth of liberalism and skepticism in their own ranks” (Orwell 171). For example, in the novel it was the desire of the Party to eliminate love and sex, in order to channel this pent-up passion towards the love of Big Brother. Similarly, Stalin used propaganda and extreme nationalism to brainwash the peoples of Russia. He channeled their beliefs into a passion for Soviet ideals and a love of Stalin. In both cases, love for anything but the Party is the biggest threat to the regime. The stability of the Party and Stalin’s regime directly depended upon loyalty to the government above all else. By drawing upon the close relationships between the two Orwellian societies, we can examine just how dangerous love is to the Party.
In 1984, George Orwell presents an overly controlled society that is run by Big Brother. The protagonist, Winston, attempts to “stay human” in the face of a dehumanizing, totalitarian regime. Big Brother possesses so much control over these people that even the most natural thoughts such as love and sex are considered taboo and are punishable. Big Brother has taken this society and turned each individual against one another. Parents distrust their own offspring, husband and wife turn on one another, and some people turn on their own selves entirely. The people of Oceania become brainwashed by Big Brother. Punishment for any uprising rebellions is punishable harshly.
Dystopian novels are written to reflect the fears a population has about its government and they are successful because they capture that fright and display what can happen if it is ignored. George Orwell wrote 1984 with this fear of government in mind and used it to portray his opinion of the current government discretely. Along with fear, dystopian novels have many other elements that make them characteristic of their genre. The dystopian society in Orwell’s novel became an achievement because he utilized a large devastated city, a shattered family system, life in fear, a theme of oppression, and a lone hero.
The government-controlled families create a cycle of breaking down of family and a stronger Party. The future families that will produce more probes disguised as children. With more children taught to continue the legacy of the Party, there is increased authority of the government. As government gains more power, the people lose will over their own lives. This should not be the way of life for people, where you can be erased from history at any given time. There is no doubt that there are many families that are just as and maybe more inexpressive and false than the families in Oceania. However, the greater masses of the people don’t believe in a strict society of absolute control. If enough families were to border upon the Parsons family, then the domino line would be in effect. Through his book, Orwell attempts to warn us that the destruction of families is dangerous. If allowed to continue, the government will have too much control over a mindless society that could be turned any which way the ruling class chooses.
Identity, in today’s society, is often taken for granted. We have the ability to be anything we wish to be and act in any way we wish to act, but in the novel 1984 by George Orwell, identity is not taken for granted because it does not exist at all. Winston Smith, the narrator, lives in a dystopian society based on the idea of totalitarian government rule. This government is known as Big Brother. In order for Big Brother to stay in power, a few things are necessary: identity cannot exist; everything and everyone must be uniform; the past must be controlled in order to regulate the present; and the people must constantly be practicing the ideas of Newspeak and Doublethink, a form of control the government holds over the people. By enforcing these simple laws and regulations, the government is able to keep a tight grip on its people, with few ever releasing themselves from its grasp. Winston Smith on the other hand, seeks to know the truth behind the government, he is constantly questioning everything and repressing all the ideas forced upon him. Winston “seeks truth and sanity, his only resources being the long denied and repressed processes of selfhood” (Feder 398). All identity is gone in this place called Oceania, and for the sake of Big Brother and its continuous control of the people, it will never exist again. In 1984, the absence of identity strips the people of all creativity and diversity, as well as takes away any chance the society has to advance as a people or in the area of technology.
The totalitarian state in the novel, Oceania, displays state control through their leader; Big Brother. Big Brother is known to the citizens as their leader who has complete control over them, and is constantly reminded of this through the phrase “Big Brother is watching you. No citizen has ever seen Big Brother with their own eyes, only on the posters seen of his face scattered all around the state. This, is an example of state control through fear. Citizens are made to be afraid of a person, who they believe has complete control over them, but they have never seen. This tactic is used today in modern society. The government this formation of fear to stop citizens from doing actions which are against the law, or are seen as acts of rebellion against the government. This fear is created through the use of media (movies, TV shows, etc.) and fear of police (can be seen in the novel; fear of Thought Police). Furthermore Oceania, displays state control over citizens by monitoring the opinions/ thoughts and interactions of its citizens. Through the use of Thought Police (setting restrictions on the thoughts of citizens) and Cameras throughout the state, the government increases the fear in citizens of being caught. This, as a result prevent the citizens to act against the government and also alters the way the citizens think, resulting in a state of citizens who think only in ways which the government would approve of. In today’s society, citizens privacy and thoughts are not encroached on to that extent, but there are still restrictions. Citizens are aware that thoughts and actions against laws, terrorism and governments will only lead them to trouble and thus stay away from those due to
“On average, 83% of men and 59% of women enjoy their sex life” (Langer). Under the rule of the Party in the novel 1984, sex was considered dirty and that it should not be enjoyed. They went to great lengths to soil the idea of sexual acts. One, for example, is the Junior Anti-Sex League. The author, George Orwell, portrays sex as being just like anything else they do in life: a service to the Party.