sex, love and loyalty theme Flashcards
sexual frustration
can be harnessed into war fever and leader-worship
Julia and Winston believe that their love is a political act, “a blow struck against the Party”
winston’s fantasy
Winston’s sadistic fantasies indicates the link between sexual repression and violence
Anti-Sex league
the red sash she wears and her voluptuous appearance arouses feelings of hatred and resentment that only dissipate when he learns that he can possess her physically
loyalty to the state
sexual desire competes with loyalty to the state: Winston realises that love is “the force that would tear the party to pieces”
heterosexual love replaced
by leader-worship and patriotic feeling, seen when Winston betrays Julia under torture, he learns to revere O’Brien and worship BB
pure love
“you could not have pure love or pure lust nowadays”
political act of love
“their embrace had been a battle, the climax a victory. It was a blow struck against the Party. It was a political act”
sex impulse
“the sex impulse was dangerous to the Party”
“feelings, were of no account”
their relationship
readers often want to believe that he loves Julia, however, his apparent lack of interest for her personal thoughts makes us question this
julia
at first seems a strong-willed and independent rebel, but slowly morphs into a thoughtless, sex-object
Orwell shows little interest in her inner life
Winston rejoices in her moral corruption
individual as corrupted as the state, but through no involvement of the state
“his heart leapt” when she told him she had slept with “hundreds” of Party members
pure emotions
“no emotion was pure, because everything was mixed up with fear and hatred”
family
oceania destroys familial bonds and encourages children to spy on their parents
Oceania
destroys natural love and by the end of the novel Winston “loved Big Brother”
Winston and Julia’s love
said they wouldn’t separate, even for the Brotherhood, but would throw “acid in a child’s face”
defeats love
Oceania eventually defeats their love, shown by Winston saying “do it to Julia” during torture
Atwood - after he says this he turns into a handful of “malleable goo”
love for O’Brien
shown through his “peculiar reverence” towards his, despite being tortured near to death by him
at the end of the novel
nothing is left within Winston except his love for BB
discrepancies between
theory and practise - Inner party members have secret sexual affairs and proles are provided with cheap pornography
The Commanders visit Jezebel’s - sexual hypocrisy
his original impulse to Julia
was to “smash her skull”, which shows his corruption and shows how he values self-preservation more than the boundaries of morality
message of the road and 1984
love and hope defines the lives we choose to lead
link to BNW
both novels abolished family life as we know it - BNW childbearing has become grotesque and the concept of motherhood is obscene.
In Orwell’s novel family life has become subverted, as children are expected to spy on their parents, with loyalty first and foremost to the party. Thus, the family ahs become another means of surveillance
the horrible behaviour of children in 1984
has a counterpart in BNW, where children are expected to indulge in ‘erotic play’
Sigmund Freud’s impact on the world
is shown, as both BNW and 1984 put considerable emphasis on the importance of sexual behaviour to human beings
comparison to BNW
sexual intercourse completely separate from reproduction - exclusive partnerships have been demolished “everybody belongs to everybody”
in Oceania, sexual activity is only for the purpose of reproduction - creates feelings the party can’t control
Grossman
asserts that obsession with the present is a trait associated with much utopian satire - that’s why romantic love is dangerous because it makes people look towards a future
