Sex Of 1984 Essay, Research Paper
Manipulation of Inter-gender Relationships in Nineteen Eighty Four
Is love a simple hobby of the past? That is the idea taken from George Orwell s Nineteen Eighty Four. In a struggle to sort the truth from altered history, Winston Smith stumbles upon an enemy so great that not even Big Brother could totally erase. This enemy is called love. To protect loyalty to the party, all non social or strictly non procreative inter gender relationships are eliminated from Inner and Outer parties. Nineteen Eighty Four shows that inter gender relationships are easily manipulated and destroyed by government regulations, social views, and fear.
The relationships between males females are easily manipulated by government regulations in the novel. One method of achieving this is done by not allowing non procreative sex between couples. This is used to preserve all loyalty to the party. By engaging in sexual activity, the couple s purpose is to procreate on behalf of the party. Sex is illegal for all other purposes. Big Brother can disallow a couple to be married if he believes that the couple has other purposes for marriage other than having children. The aim of the party was not merely to prevent men and women from forming loyalties which might not be able to control. Its real, undeclared purpose was to remove all pleasures from the sexual act. Not love so much as eroticism was the enemy, inside marriage as well as outside it. All marriages between Party members had to be approved by a committee appointed for the purpose and thought the principle was never clearly stated-permission was always refused it the couple concerned gave the impression of being physically attracted to one another. The only recognizable purpose of marriage was to beget children for the 2
service of the Party.
Big Brother also sought to create a sense of equality among the sexes to reduce physical attraction. It was Mrs. Parsons, the wife of a neighbor on the same floor. ( Mrs. was a word somewhat discountenanced by the Party-you were supposed to call everyone comrade (20-21)
Another government program used to manipulate or destroy relationships between sexes is the Junior Anti-Sex League. As Winston creates a model citizen for his findings in the newspaper, one characteristic that is positively shown is his membership to this Big Brother supported organization. At seventeen he had been a district organizer of the Junior Anti-Sex League. (42)
A great example of Big Brother s reign over sexual tendencies is the department of Pornosec. In an attempt to keep the Proles uncivilized and to make the other Party members to look down upon the Proles, Pornosec provides them with pornography to maintain their corruptness. There was a whole chain of separate departments dealing with proletarian literature, music, drama, and entertainment generally. Here were produced rubbishy newspapers, containing almost nothing except sport, crime, and astrology, sensational five-cent novelettes, films oozing with sex, and sentimental songs which were composed entirely by mechanical means on a special kind of kaleidoscope known as a versificator. There was even a whole subsection-Pornosec, it was called in Newspeak engaged in producing the lowest kind of pornography which was sent out in sealed packets and which no Party member, other than those who worked on it, was permitted to look at. (39)
Inter-gender relationships were also manipulated and destroyed by social views as by demonstrated by the optional yet popular Junior Anti-Sex League. In this group, the social views
*quote from Nineteen Eighty Four novel by George Orwell. Signet Classic 1949. All other quotes can be found in this source
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of the members allow them to stay away from sex and procreating only be artificial insemination.
There were even organizations such as the Junior Anti-Sex League which advocated complete celibacy for both sexes. All children were to be begotten by artificial insemination(artsem as it was called in Newspeak (57) Party members social views about inter gender relationships are so strong that couples break up if they can not conceive a child. In the novel, Winston and his wife Katharine separate because they could not conceive a child. They must, she said, produce a child if they could. So the performance continued….Quite soon he grew to have a feeling of positive dread when the appointed day came round. But luckily no child appeared, and in the end she agreed to give up trying, and soon afterwards they parted (58)
As a result of the Party members social distaste for unorthodox sexual conduct, many prostitutes could be found in the proletarian section since Big Brother supports the corruption of the proles in attempt to further the Party members from such conduct. The poorer quarters swarmed with women who were ready to sell themselves. (56)
Fear is also a dominant factor in that manipulation and destruction of inter-gender relationships. Party members always know that Big Brother is watching them. They live in constant fear of the thought police, spies, and telescreens. Winston knows not to misbehave in front of the telescreens as he writes in his diary There was nobody else in the street, and no telescreens. She said two dollars. I- (55) Also a great fear can be found in the Ministry of Love. The Ministry of Love treats thought criminals and other offenders. This place is so scary that Winston is afraid to go near it. The Ministry of Love was the really frightening one. There were no windows in it at all. Winston had never been inside the ministry of Love, nor within half a kilometer of it. (8)
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The end result of the government regulations, social views, and fear in attempt to manipulate intergender relationships comes out in the way Big Brother wants it. Our protagonist, Winston Smith, falls victim to the regulations, social views, and finally fear when he is finally broken. He who once was the only remaining man, has become a member of the new race, the Party.