The Threat of Love in Orwell’s Novel 1984

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Love is both the foundation and the weakness of a totalitarian regime. At the heart of any 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. Joseph Stalin’s Soviet regime in Russia can be described as Orwellian. The imaginary world of Oceania draws many parallels to the modern day totalitarian regime established by Stalin. 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. By drawing upon the close relationships between the two Orwellian societies, we can examine why and in which ways specifically, just how dangerous love is to the Party. Stalin united his people through a common love. Similar to George Orwell's 1984, in which conformity to the Party was rooted in love for Big Brother, conformity to the Soviets was rooted in love for Stalin. Joseph Stalin built up this love with the "Cult of Personality". Stalin was in every facet of Soviet life and appeared daily on the cover of Soviet newspapers. Giant statues of Stalin were built and towns named after him. Daily visual imagery of Stalin portrayed him as a Georgian peasant, which emphasized socialist principles of power from the people. In addition, people called him “father and teacher of th... ... middle of paper ... ...rful and immortal" (Orwell 264). In a relationship, emotions make us vulnerable to both ourselves and the other person. When enough people like Julia and Winston exist, the Party will be overthrown. Declaring love for someone separate from the Party makes the Party vulnerable, because the passion that existed between the two formed an alliance between lovers, as opposed to allegiance to the Party. In a totalitarian state the goal of the party is to brainwash humans so that the only emotion they have is towards the government and its leader. In both 1984 and Soviet Russia, we see totalitarian societies that eliminate human qualities such as thoughts and emotions. In both cases, the societies function best without love because they have full control over their people. Thus, the existence of love and relationships is the most detrimental thing to a totalitarian regime.

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