The novel 1984, written by George Orwell, portrays views on sex and gender in an authoritative government. Oceanic government aims to maintain their power by asserting their dominance over society. This is done through outlawing sex, with the exception of reproduction of more Party members. Two characters, Winston and Julia, have sex for pleasure and also as a form of rebellion against Big Brother. The government takes them both as punishment for their sex crimes. During imprisonment, the relationship between Winston and O’Brien develops. Along with sex, gender is relevant throughout the novel. The party’s attempt at making gender a non-issue is valiant but it makes gender roles more evident in other aspects of the book. While depicting the future in 1984, George Orwell carefully analyzes sex and gender in Oceanic society through government manipulation, character rebellion, and natural human instinct. The Party redirects society’s desire for sex to obsessive dedication to Big Brother. Two Minutes Hate, marches, constant propaganda and public executions pave a manipulative path for the government. In 1984, sex is not a pleasurable act but merely a means to reproduce more party members. Chastity and pent up desire also serve a purpose in that, “the Party attempts to sustain in its members a state that permanently anticipates pleasure and then channels that energy for its own purposes"(Trihol). In this society, passion is converted into love for Big Brother. Constant supervision and sex crimes help to maintain sexual activity as a political act. The natural human instinct is influenced by the government, for the government. Because sex produces private allegiances, the Party must regulate these public norms and use them as fuel for... ... middle of paper ... ...inston. Women as supposed to be equal in the Party but it is frequently seen that they are subservient to men. George Orwell shows that sex is a means to an end in one way or another. Works Cited Horan, Thomas. "Revolutions from the Waist Downwards: Desire as Rebellion in Yevgeny Zamyatin's We, George Orwell's 1984, and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World." Gale Cengage Learning. Literature Resource Center, 2007. Web. 11 Apr. 2014. Orwell, George. 1984. Ed. Erich Fromm. New York: Harcourt, 1949. Patai, Daphne. "Gamesmanship and Androcentrism in Nineteen-Eighty Four." Modern Critical Interpretations: George Orwell's 1984. New York: Chelsea House, 1987. 47-86. JSTOR. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. Tirohl, Blu. "We Are The Dead ... You Are The Dead: An Examination of Sexuality as a Weapon of Revolt in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four." Journal of Gender Studies. 9.1 (2000): 55-61.
Authoritarian rule forms the underlying theme of the novel. It should also be noted that human conflict as a major theme that helps to upstage the former authoritarian rule theme. One experiences the satirical self-glorified human thirst for control, often driven by greed and corrupt ideologies, to build and gain total control over the populace under them. This thought is held to the effect that the Big Brother party is an epitome of authoritarian and dictatorial governance in the modern world founded on deception and lies. Deception and a blatant contradiction of facts in the spirit of impunity form the foundation of the construct of modern dictatorship and draconian governance.
The novel 1984 is one that has sparked much controversy over the last several decades. It harbors many key ideas that lie at the root of all skepticism towards the book. With the ideas of metaphysics, change, and control in mind, George Orwell wrote 1984 to provide an interesting story but also to express his ideas of where he believed the world was heading. His ideas were considered widely ahead of their time, and he was really able to drive home how bleak and colorless our society really is. Orwell wrote this piece as a futuristic, dystopian book which contained underlying tones of despair and deceit.
Having studied George Orwell's 'Nineteen Eighty-Four', I intend to discuss the type of Government envisaged by Orwell and to what extent his totalitarian Party, 'Ingsoc', satirises past regimes. I will also discuss Orwell's motive in writing such a piece and how his writing style helps it become clear.The main theme of Nineteen Eighty-Four concerns the restrictions imposed on individual freedom by a totalitarian regime. Orwell shows how such a system can impose its will on the people through manipulation of the press, the elimination of democracy, constant supervision (courtesy of the Telescreens) and more. Orwell also shows how the state has more subtle methods for imposing its authority, such as the manipulation of language and control of the media.
Throughout our history, the government has used spying to control humans, therefore dehumanizing them in order to get and keep power. In 1984 by George Orwell, The Party controls the past, the present, and the future through the records in the Ministry of Love. The Ministry of Love burns all accounts of the past, therefore the citizens of Oceania don’t know anything different about the present than what the Party tells them. The Party keeps the people in Oceania clueless about everything in their society. If the Party says something is the way it is, then that is what it is. The Party is ultimate truth. The government just wants their citizens to love Big Brother, so they can have power over them. The Party does this by making sex only about
Horan, Thomas. A. "Revolutions from the Waist Downwards: Desire as Rebellion In Yevgeny Zamyatin's We, George Orwell's 1984, and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World." Extrapolation 48.2 (2007): 314-39. Literature Resources from Gale, Inc. Web. The Web.
The totalitarian government in 1984, The Party, regards love and sex as, “a blow struck against the Party. It was a political act,” it is an act that aims to change the social order of the Party, which may eliminate Big Brother‘s influence. Therefore, during the torture of the rebel protagonist Winston, The Party forces him to betray his lover, Julia to eradicate feelings of love for anyone that is not Big Brother. Winston is threatened with his biggest fear - rats - and during the torture he pleads, “do it to Julia… I don’t care what you do to her.” Rats are significant because they could be a metaphor for The Party’s influence. O’Brien - Winston’s torturer, explains that rats will “strip [children] to the bone… They show astonishing
In the novel 1984, George Orwell elaborates on the idea of an autocratic government. This novel describes Orwell’s views on the dark, twisted form of government that he believes will develop in future years. The culture he created for this story was the most horrifying, troubling place a person could reside. The goals of the Party consisted of keeping the citizens squared away and oblivious to the unethical actions taking place around them. This unrealistic society gave Orwell the opportunity to create a vision of what a future communist nation might resemble. The purpose of this work is believed to be informative to citizens of how the government impacts our way of thinking, living, and believing. Fear from the citizens is used as manipulation by the government; this means the government shapes the citizens that will not conform to their society. Throughout this writing, the author remains in a dark, cold mood; thus, creating the feeling of negativity and opposition to the government. Ethical appeal is revealed in this
1984 is a novel written by George Orwell, the main theme of the novel is about how totalitarian society can control every aspect of a person thought, sexuality and action. Totalitarianism can be define as a repressive one-party that has total control over people thoughts and actions. In 1984, people are being control totally by the Party through device such as the telescreen. People are stripped away from their freedom to do things that they want. The Party wants people to only focus on improving the Party and set everything else aside. Love is nonexistent in this government and the Party’s policy strictly forbids sex. The Party restrains people from falling in love with one another. Consequently, people cannot display their love for each other out in public. Furthermore, sex for pleasure can be considered a crime in 1984’s totalitarian government unless it is “celibacy”. Goodsex is any kind of sex that is allowable by the Party with the intention to reproduce. Goodsex will increase the total population. The more people the Party has the stronger the Party will be. Repression helps the party and hurts the people who have to tolerate the Party’s policy. The Party’s repression of sexuality helps them eliminate people who are trying to corrupt the Party, ensuring the Party that they have control over what people can and cannot do. By repressing people thoughts and actions the Party is psychologically manipulating people and physically restraining them.
This twentieth-century tradition of dystopian novels is a possible influence, with classics like Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and George Orwell’s 1984 standing prominent. The pessimism associated with novels of this genre—where society is presented as frightening and restrictive—exposes the gender inequality between men and women to be deleterious. An aspect of the way male/female relationships are presented in both texts is the repression of female sexuality by men, possibly stemming from a subliminal fear of women attaining power in a male-dominated society. Brocklehurst—a possible reflection of Bront’s Evangelical minister at Cowan Bridge, her own poorly run school—is a male authoritative figure whose relationship with the girls at Lowood is one of imposed tyranny. He means to “tame and humble” them through deprivations and restrictions, but such removal of liberties like cutting off the girls’ hair, consequentially robbing them of female attributes, can be interpreted as the male repression of feminine sexuality.... ...
Nineteen Eighty-Four is a novel which was released in 1949, and has had massive success, reaching best-sellers list on popular websites like Amazon, among others. Nineteen Eighty-Four is considered a classic among many of those same websites (Amazon, 2013), and although George Orwell may not have received many awards for it, Nineteen...
Much can happen in a matter of minutes; a man can go from thinking he is happy to thinking his life is falling apart, or can change from hating someone to loving them. These experiences sound outlandish, but they happened to Guy Montag, the main character in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, and Winston Smith, the main character in George Orwell’s 1984. These two dystopian novels are about the characters discovering major problems in their societies, and then trying to fix them. Montag lives in a society where television controls people’s lives and books have become illegal. On the other hand Smith lives in Oceania, a territory led by a totalitarian regime. This regime is headed by Big Brother and is referred to as the Party. By examining Fahrenheit 451 and 1984, it is seen, not only through the dehumanized nature of society, but also through the theme of lies and manipulation that both Orwell and Bradbury wish to warn of a horrifying future society.
Works Cited for: Orwell, George. 1984. The 'Standard' of the ' London: Penguin Books, 2008. Print. The.
Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2004. Orwell, George. A. A. 1984. The. New York, NY: Signet Classics, 1977. Print.
Magill, Frank N. Ed. “Nineteen Eighty-Four” Masterpieces of World Literature. New York NY: Harper Collins Publishers, 1989. 582-585. Orwell, George.
George Orwell’s novel 1984, is the most powerful warnings ever released about the dangers and the controls of living under a totalitarian government. The main character, Winston Smith is at war, trying to control the Inner Party and rebelling against Big Brother, the dictator of Oceania. The author gives us readers an image of inhumanity and the impacts it has in the citizens, physically and mentally. Orwell uses literary elements such as imagery, foreshadowing, symbolism, and irony to demonstrate the theme of indestructible of a totalitarism.