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Entimacy In 1984

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George Orwell’s book 1984, which was first written in 1948, made Orwell’s ideas come from a futuristic viewpoint. The ideas that he wrote onto the pages of 1984 took place in a dystopian world divided into three states. Oceania, the primary setting, which is ruled by Big Brother and his Party. The citizens living in this controlling regime are in a continuous war with either Eurasia or Eastasia, the other two states. They are manipulated into a life where history was often erased and rewritten to fit the Party’s expectations as well as having constant surveillance, which had become the new normalcy within this society. When Orwell wrote 1984, he could not have fathomed that his book could be relevant to the way the world is living seventy years …show more content…

The views on intimacy in 1984 are unlike how it is perceived today. The platonic view of intimacy was created from the bonds between citizens in which they called one another Comrade in opposition to their name. In Oceania, one “did not have friends” but “had comrades” which some were more pleasurable than others (Orwell 43). The act of sex was seen as a crime against the Party. The Party’s goal “was to remove all pleasure” from sex, not to “prevent men and women from forming loyalties”(Orwell 57). The Party promoted celibacy to “kill the sex instinct” and those who wished for marriage and sex were taught that the act was “a slightly disgusting minor operation” used only to have children for the Party (Orwell 57). Intimacy today creates a vulnerability and openness between two people which makes the experience sensitive and personal. In society today, topics like sex have “a growing number of studies that look at people’s definition” of sex (Preston). Even though sexual intercourse is different from now and in 1984, various religions such as Catholicism emphasise the use of celibacy and look down on premarital relations. In remaining celibate, people are “thought to be the ideal form of purifications” (Kainz). Although the definitions of intimacy and sex is different, there are some aspects that are

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