1984 Love

1994 WordsFeb 25, 20138 Pages
1984 and Love George Orwell presents us with an interesting portrayal of love in his novel, 1984. In the nation of Oceania that he writes about, the Party tries desperately to erase love for anything but Big Brother from the lives of its members. In many ways, it is successful in doing so. It causes Winston 's marriage with his wife Katharine to be frigid and cold and to end in separation. Even occasional affairs that sneak by the Party 's watchful eyes at first, like Winston and Julia 's, are eventually stopped and the participants are forced to stop loving each other. Perhaps the strongest love that remains in Oceania is the warped love of tortured towards his torturer. This love is displayed by Winston towards O 'Brien and remains…show more content…
When Katharine 's memory becomes "distasteful" it is actually an improvement over the pain that it used to cause. Winston 's marriage brings him nothing but agony because the Party has so successfully taken love out of marriage. The Party is also able to destroy love outside of marriage such as that between Winston and Julia. Their relationship begins as hatred, blooms into a fulfilling love, and then is transformed into indifference. The entire progression of their feelings towards each other is manufactured by the Party. During their first unrecorded meeting, Winston offers a "love offering" (100) by telling Julia what his feelings were before they met: "I hated the sight of you... I wanted to rape you and then murder you afterwards" (101). The mask that Julia put on to fool the authorities into thinking that she was a good citizen also fooled Winston. As a result, he hated her for conforming so whole-heartedly like his wife did. But after he realizes that was just a facade that she put on to fool others, Winston falls completely in love with her. They take enormous risks to be together first in the countryside and then in an apartment rented from a prole. When the couple is questioned by O 'Brien before their acceptance into the Brotherhood, they quickly agree to commit a whole list of atrocities including to "throw sulfuric acid in a child 's face," to "commit murder," and even to "commit suicide" (142) if doing so would help destroy the Party
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