1984 Sexism Analysis

In the 1930s and 40s, Adolf Hitler used the Jewish people as a scapegoat on which to blame Germany’s problems. This fear of what the Jewish people had apparently created granted the German people free reign to discriminate and detest. This hatred allowed the Nazi Regime to subsist and thrive. The same is true for The Party in 1984. The Party takes away the opportunity to expand one’s mind and freely use one’s body to one’s own pleasure, essentially taking away the humanity from human beings. In George Orwell’s 1984, The Party uses racism, sexism, and anti-semitism as a way to control the masses and quell rebellion.

To harbor the bigotry that invokes the people of Oceania, the Party sponsors Hate Week, seven days filled to the brim with

For example: even though her youngest child was dying and everyone in the family was hungry, Winston’s mother “was quite ready to give him [Winston] more than his share. She took it for granted that he, ‘the boy’ should have the biggest portion; but however much she gave he invariably demanded more” (pg. 162). Winston’s mother’s mind was so entrenched in systematic sexism that she willingly risked her own child’s health and safety because of the male entitlement of her son. Not only does systematic sexism ruin lives, it is also a tool of The Party to manipulate their subjects. To illustrate, on page 131,

Thus, anti-semitism is a way to link the Oceanian people together, especially during the Two-Minutes Hate, where Emmanuel Goldstein, a Jewish man, is ridiculed and harassed through the telescreens: “The dark-haired girl behind Winston had begun crying out ‘Swine! Swine! Swine!’ and suddenly she picked up a heavy Newspeak dictionary and flung it at the screen. It struck Goldstein’s nose and bounced off; the voice continued inexorably” (pg. 14). As well as being a derogatory term used against Jewish people for years, the use of the word “swine” barbarizes Goldstein, and by extension Jewish people, further by comparing him to an uncivilized animal (ironic, considering how in Orwell’s novella Animal Farm, pigs are the most civilized creatures on Animal Farm). In fact, Goldstein is often referred to in animalistic terms, like on page 12: “It was a lean Jewish face...a clever face, and yet somehow inherently despicable...It resembled the face of a sheep, and the voice, too, had a sheep-like quality.” The connection to sheep invokes the feeling of docility and a tendency to “go with the crowd”. In sum: Goldstein’s arguments are invalidated, tired, and ultimately, hogwash. The Party uses this anti-semitic nullification of Goldstein’s arguments and dehumanization of the Jewish people to unite the masses, and allows them to feed into the