preview

Child 44 And 1984 Analysis

Decent Essays

In Child 44 and 1984, both governments distort the selfless nature of marriage and sexuality-the most innate and intimate connection between human beings-instead replacing it with the government’s love, thus ripping another aspect of humanity away in favor of complete control. By distorting the value of marriage, the government removes any possibility of rebellious thoughts by making the individual animalistic, seeking only survival by surrendering individuality and morality to the government. Firstly, in Child 44, after Raisa reveals to Leo that she does not love him and lied about the pregnancy to save herself, Leo contemplates about whether he regrets defending his wife when he could have gotten another wife able to bear him children unlike …show more content…

The Soviet Union eradicates the meaning of marriage by setting a price on something which naturally exists without price by equating the most intimate interaction between people and the progeny that results from that love to breeding, thus devalues the unity of marriage even more, leading to a sole relationship with the government for the sake of pleasing by completing a labeled duty. Additionally, in 1984, even Winston and Julia’s relationship bases mainly on rebellion towards the government, not of their true love for each other, with Winston even saying that the more men she sleeps with, the more he loves her (Orwell 158). Through this depiction, Orwell testifies to the distortion of marriage, that even though Winston and Julia pursue a genuine relationship of love that benefits, the contamination of Big Brother still runs through that love, implying the impossibility of genuine love within a totalitarian society, free from any government-influenced …show more content…

Genuine relationships give insight into the humanity the government conceals, as the realization of humanity leads to progressive individual growth impossible to control by the government. First, in Child 44, upon forming a genuine relationship as equals, Raisa emotionally supports her husband on his hunt for the serial killer who murdered innocent children and in the climax of this retribution, she physically helps Leo to pull the trigger in order to kill the murderer, his brother Andrei (smith 423). Leo’s relationship with Raisa enables him to not only find his truth- his purpose as the hero- apart from the one of blind obeyance demanded by the government, but also to accomplish his newfound purpose of stopping the killings of the innocent, in which Leo’s success in this mission proves the fatality of genuine relationships to totalitarian control as they inspire individual growth- growth that does not seek the betterment of a suppressive government above that of the people as a whole. In her article “A Peasant Rebellion in Stalin’s Russia,” that discusses the Soviet Union’s attempts to force peasants to hand over their property and join collective farms in the Pitelinkskii district, Tracy Mcdonald writes that the “…peasants paraded

Get Access