1984 blog #3 - suppressing feelings

Ross Schonberg

Ms. Gubanich

English

September 30, 2015

The Suppression of Feelings

            In the book 1984 there are a lot of themes and ideas involved in the dystopian society. For 1984 the government has banned anyone from expressing feeling or emotion, and they must work for “the betterment of the party” in a way that is almost like they are mindless robots. The people are also not allowed to have sex, unless it is for the sole purpose of making new party members (procreation). Winston Smith, the main character in the book, is unsure about be apart of the party and sometimes really wants to express himself, and he also would really like for a revolution to happen against the party. At one point Winston speaks about sex and says “Not merely the love of one person, but the simple undifferentiated desire: that was the force that would tear the party to pieces.” What I think that line is supposed to mean is that if more people were to have sex than they too would feel a pleasurable experience. So in a way, he is saying that sex is going to tear the party apart and they will realize that they have been suppressing these inner emotions.It's his basic instinct to want to feel pleasure and have experiences.  A couple of other feelings could be harmful to the government, one of which is love. In Oceania, the people are not allowed to love one another, people can get married, but like before it is only for procreation. So like in Winston’s case, since he is in love with a girl, named Julia, who feels for him as well, if the government were to make her vanish, then Winston would become really angry and feel hatred towards the government. What the government does well though is “mind-control”, so whenever someone does feel hate, they will be told to use that hatred and fight against the enemies of the state, they also use propaganda for that as well, by making a common enemy for the people to rally against.  So in conclusion, what the party should really fear is not the common enemy, but the common emotions that people will eventually have and how they will maybe try and revolt against the government so that they can show their feelings and not be arrested for it.