Fear Over Love Discipline, control, and authority are required for a government to thrive and in order to obtain these attributes it’s important to instill fear into the citizens. In 1984, a dystopian novel by George Orwell, the inner party has absolute control over the society and they use the fear of punishment to manipulate their people. As the novel progresses, Winston, the main character, starts to rebel, but because of the control and power that the party has obtained, they are able to transform his rebellious act, by using his biggest fear against him. Mahatma Gandhi states that, “Power based on love is a thousand times more affective and permanent than one derived from fear.” Gandhi’s quote contradicts the primary source of …show more content…
Love cannot be as effective as fear of punishment, but it can be more legitimate. From a young age, the children of the society were taught to be loyal and taught to love the party, which becomes the norm of the society. They do not teach them out of fear, but through what is orthodox. Children’s love towards the party reaches to an extent to where they are used as surveillance over their own parents. Parsons states, “’’Down with Big Brother!’ Yes, I said that! Said it over and over again, it seems…It was my little daughter…she listened at the keyhole. Heard what I was saying, and nipped off to the patrols the very next day” (233). Her love for the party is strong to an extent to where she reports her own father, not from fear of being punished but by her love towards the party. Parsons daughter knows the law has to be obeyed. In addition to that Parsons isn’t mad, rather he knows it was the right move to do in terms of the party’s obligations. Parsons love towards the party blinded him from what was humanely right, but he wants the party to prosper despite the punishment he was to receive. In addition, throughout the novel, the party experiences success due to the fear instilled within the people resulting in the progress of the party. Ultimately in 1984, fear destroys love, as evidenced by Winston’s betrayal of his lover, Julia. The betrayal occurs when Winston is being tortured with rats, he saw, “the wire door was a couple of hand spans from his
Later, Winston becomes broken and says that he knows that he was in the wrong, but preferred to be in the wrong. He showed that he still had motivation to fight for freedom. This is what causes him to go to Room 101, which is where he ends up betraying Julia because of the fear he has of rats. It seemed like everyone ends up betraying what/who they love most, since the purpose of the torture is to replace everything they know and love with Big Brother. Despite his failure, Winston still shows that he is a very heroic character based on his persistence to hate Big Brother and wanting to bring it down. The book “1984” shows that Winston is a hero because of his dedication to rebel as much as he could and his bravery to take action and to do what he believed was right. Winston was an phenomenal protagonist and was a hero defined through what he did, not by what happened to the him in the
Tired of feeling the way he is, with the monotonous struggle of everyday life Winston decides to oppose the party in more real ways; and begins to deviate from certain set behaviors to free himself from this bondage of the party. “To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free, when men are different from one another and do not live alone-to a time when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone”(25-26). He has realized what the government does to people; how everyone is made to be the same, where no one is allowed to think on their own. The party is omnipotent in all affairs and he will not go along with it anymore. Winston has made up his mind; he is going to do everything he can to bring down the party. He and Julia go to O’Brien’s apartment one afternoon, and Winston’s true hatred is revealed. “We believe that there is some kind of conspiracy, some kind of secret organization working against the Party,
Through the beginning sections of the novel, the severity of the consequences from Julia and Winston’s affair become quite prominent after the realization that they are taking part in one of the ultimate acts of defiance to Big Brother. Because Julia and Winston are risking a lot to be with one another, the secrecy of their relationship is a key factor in the suspense that builds towards the climax of the story. The suspense greatly affects the plot of the story by
The novel “1984” by George Orwell exemplifies the issues of a government with overwhelming control of the people. This government controls the reality of all of their citizens by rewriting the past, instilling fear, and through manipulation. This is an astounding story because of the realistic qualities that are present throughout the text about an extreme regulatory government and its effects. This society is overwhelming consumed with the constructed reality that was taught to them by Big Brother. George Orwell brings significant aspects to the novel like the complexity of relationships during a rebellion and The Party’s obsession with power. The main character Winston struggles throughout the story trying to stay human through literature, self-expression and his individuality. The party uses human’s tendencies, weaknesses, and strengths in order to dehumanize their citizens to gain control over them.
In the novel 1984, George Orwell sets up a dystopia that reveals basic human qualities occur even when the people are brainwashed out of the,. This story takes place in an alternate society where life is radically different than what the world is today. The government has an extreme control on its people, brain washing them and suppressing every aspect of human connection. The citizens are taught to think that all information from the government is true even when it is blatantly obvious it isn’t. This novel allows the reader to witness the genesis of a primal love through the action of rebellion. Winston and Julia fall in love with each other as the book continues.
Highlighting the authority Winston obtains from the sexual relationship with Julia, due to his mental separation from the tyranny of the party. Winston as a result, temporarily gives into his human instinctive desires and satisfies his yearning for individual power.
In 1984, the ultimate form of betrayal is introduced when The Party causes Winston to betray his own mind and accept their views, and love Big Brother. It the beginning, Winston stresses the importance of keeping your own thoughts, in a world where other opinions and alternate accounts of past events are being forced upon the population. Winston points out that “Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimetres inside your skull.” and thoughts like this become important to the reader, who, as Winston does, believes that they are safe in his head as a facet of his character (Orwell 29). However, the torture in the Ministry of Love gets to Winston, and he begins to lose his individual opinions. O’Brien systematically removes all rebellious thoughts in Winston’s mind, replacing them with the ideology of The Party. In doing so, it is as if they are killing a character. When Winston is released he behaves like a new character altogether, he loses the battle with himself and betrays his original opinions against The Party. In using self-betrayal to show
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
Love is the foundation and the weakness of a totalitarian regime. For a stable 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. Stalin’s Soviet state can be considered Orwellian because it draws close parallels to the imaginary world of Oceania in 1984. During the twentieth century, Soviet Russia lived under Stalin’s brutal and oppressive governments, which was necessary for Stalin to retain power. In both cases, brutality and oppression led to an absence of relationships and love. This love was directed towards
As Winston is captured by the government, he is told that there are three stages of his “reintegration”; learning, understanding, and acceptance. Winston refuses to betray his lover Julia until the last stage as he yells to his tormentors, “Do it to Julia! Do it to Julia! Not me! I don’t care what you do to her. Tear her face off, strip her to the bones. Not me! Julia. Not me!” (300). , Orwell) Spewing such harsh and petrifying phrases about his past lover, showcases that Winston under the torment and oppression of the Party has capitulated and accepted Big Brother while breaking the final bonds of his romantic relationship with Julia. Instilling oppression on romantic love ensures that the citizens of Oceania love Big Brother and the government with their full capacity; confirming that the individual will never favour their loved one over the government. Once a courageous individual rebelling against the government, using his relationship with Julia as a weapon, now merrily a shadow of his former past, broken down by the oppression instilled by the government. By betraying his lover, Julia, Winston demonstratesions that the government has won. Contradictory to his initial feeling towards Big Brother, Winston’s love is now dedicated towards the government. In the aftermath of his “reintegration”, “[Winston] loved Big Brother,” (311) , Orwell) leaving no additional room in his damaged heart for Julia. However, Winston is not the only character who suffers with the decision of betraying their loved
“No one is free, even the birds are chained to the sky.” Bob Dylan said this probably not knowing its profound connection with George Orwell’s novel “1984”, but the as well could be in “1984”. Orwell depicts a totalitarian dystopian world where there is no freedom and citizens are being brainwashed constantly. Without any sense of individual fairness, people work for the party just like the gear wheels in a machine. In order to achieve this, the politicians in “1984” suppress people’s thinking and eliminate their freedom by creating fear through propaganda, strict laws and incessant surveillances.
In “1984” Winston and Julia are unified through directed hate although it is hate driving them to be anti party. When Winston first sees Julia he has absolute full force hatred towards her. “ 'I hated the sight of you,' he said. 'I wanted to rape you and then murder you afterwards. Two weeks ago I thought seriously of smashing your head in with a cobblestone.” The entire progression of their feelings towards each other is manufactured by the hate and fear toward the Party. Winston and Julia closer and form a hate based “love”. The two say that they are willing to do anything even “throw sulphuric acid in the face of a child,” though they are not able to separate. Although after being captured and tortured winston breaks. Hate and fear being toxic, eat away one's soul, depleting winston and leaving him only to
George Orwell presents us with an interesting portrayal of love in his novel 1984. In the nation of Oceania, the government tries to eradicate love in order to isolate deviation to solely Big Brother. In many ways, it is successful in doing so. The absence of love caused Winston 's marriage with his wife Katharine to be indifferent, cold, and to end in separation. Even occasional affairs that seem to sneak by the Party 's watchful eyes, like Winston and Julia 's, are eventually stopped and the two are forced to stop loving each other. Perhaps, the strongest love that remains in Oceania is the love of Big Brother. This love is displayed when Winston is tortured by O 'Brien so that
In the novel 1984 by George Orwell a man named Winston lives within a dis-utopian society. People within this society keep their emotions non-noticeable because if they go against what the inner circle is teaching than that person would work manually labor for the rest of their life. In the story a party known as the inner circle uses a few slogans and sayings to control everything. The inner circle uses all that they say to brainwash people into believing what they are saying is true. The inner party 's slogans are “War is peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is strength” By using these phrases one can see that the inner circle can manipulate everyone into believing in what the inner circle tells
Who control the present controls the past.” (Orwell 2016, Ch. 3 pg. 34) The motif, is a reminder of the Party’s technique of falsify history to brainwash and cause the psychological break down of its people. Orwell constantly foreshadows the outcome in the Ministry of Love, by Winston’s immense fear of rats, this fear first presented itself in the secret room that Winston and Julia frequently occupied, “’Rats!’ murmured Winston. ‘In this room!’…’Of all horrors in the world – a rat!’” (Orwell 2016, Ch. 4 pg. 137) This foundation fear, that the Party soon discovered, would become the very thing that would unravel Winston. As foreshadowed, when Winston is tortured in Room 101 in the ironically named Ministry of Love, it was done with rats. Winston’s fear of rats terrified him enough to betray Julia. Orwell used foreshadowing, propaganda writing styles and personification in the novels to depict how the dictators have power through actions and how the actions of their subjects have