Anomalies in human experiences often reveal profound truths

about the nature of individuals and society.

George Orwell’s tripartite satirical novel 1984 (1949) illuminates the

potency of love that is anomalous within a society that solely reveres the
hegemonic state, exposing profound truths that challenges our
assumptions within the ostensibly explicit division between the individual
psyche and societal discourse. Retaliating against the panoptical
surveillance prevalent in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, Orwell
underscores the susceptibility of love to be manipulated and
instrumentalised by totalitarian states to ensure conformity and
unwavering political reverence. Contrastingly, Orwell didactically posits
the protagonist’s anomalous desire for parasocial connection to glorify the
doctrines of democratic socialism, glorifying the significance of love in
withstanding oppression and necessitating the restoration of the societal
collective to retain our authentic humanity. Ultimately, Orwell adopts a
nihilistic tone as he portrays the futility of an anomaly of intrapersonal
intimacy within a panoptical milieu that has invaded the individual private
sphere, paradoxically exhorting readers for greater political vigilance to
prevent such a similar fate.

Orwell deconstructs our assumptions of love as permanent and

emancipating as he portrays a society where parasocial connections have
been instrumentalised, evincing the significance of individual intimacy to
withstand societal oppression. Orwell subverts the permanence of the
family unit in “‘You’re a traitor!’ yelled the boy. ‘You’re a thought-
criminal! You’re a Eurasian spy!'”. The explosive tricolon of
accusations elucidates how the father-son relationship has been inverted,
distorting the paternal bond that is typically associated with love and
respect into one that is defined with fear. Through this, Orwell warns us of
the political oppression that belies ostensibly progressive societies,
extolling the importance of intimacy to protect the human condition.
Winston's loveless relationship with Katharine epitomises the extent of the
Party's degradation of love, describing that "to embrace her was like
embracing a jointed wooden image". Likening Katharine to an
inanimate "image", Orwell highlights how the marital connection has
been fragmented to ensure unwavering political conformity, underscoring
the significance of protecting our interpersonal love to resist suppression.
The Party has disfigured the human experience of love so significantly that
Winston asserts “He would flog her to death with a rubber
truncheon. He would tie her naked to a stake and shoot her full of
arrows… He would ravish her and cut her throat” upon seeing Julia.
The anaphora of “He would” works in tandem with the violent visceral
imagery to accentuate how the Party have established hatred, rather than
love, as instinctual, exemplifying the extent of the Party’s corrosive
intrusion into the intimacy of individual human experiences.

Through the accumulation of bodily imagery in "the smell of her hair,

the taste of her mouth, the feeling of her skin", Orwell elucidates
the sensual liberty Winston gains through his conviction of unrestrained
love despite his existence within a milieu that has "[abolished] the
orgasm". In doing so, Orwell extols the humanising power of love that
enables isolated individuals to transcend current strictures and reconnect
to universal sentiments of intimacy. Further, the hyperbole “the animal
instinct, the simple undifferentiated desire: that was the force
that would tear the Party to pieces”, portrays love as an inherently
rebellious force that is able to undermine the regimentation of totalitarian
states. Juxtaposed with Julia's "careless gesture", Orwell stresses the
inviolability of sexual desire as a "simple" and "undifferentiated"
"animal instinct" that trumps the finitude of Oceania's ostensibly
panoptical reality-control, confirming how the collective experience of love
instils hope for rebellion against oppression. Orwell epitomises love as a
means to withstand systemic subjugation in the metaphor "Their
embrace had been a battle … a blow struck against the Party”,
exhorting readers to appreciate the complexity of love by deconstructing
our assumption that sexuality is removed from the political sphere. The
war metaphor ("battle … victory") delineates how Winston's experience
of love contradicts the Party's doctrine which proclaims political loyalty as
the sole connection between individuals, ultimately symbolising Orwell's
belief within genuine interpersonal connection to supersede political
manipulation.

Contrastingly, Orwell elucidates the fragility and futility of love in a

totalitarian society, exemplified in the chiasmic conundrum "until they
become conscious they will never rebel and until they have
rebelled they cannot become conscious". The high modality diction
("never … cannot") underscores Orwell's perturbation that hope and
rebellion are quashed by disillusioning political hegemony, nihilistically
forewarning readers of the inefficacy of hope to preserve the human spirit.
Whilst Winston attempts to challenge collective subjugations, he
eventually succumbs to the diametrically opposed character of O’Brien in
the Ministry of Love, who claims that Winston will “never again…be
capable of love…we shall fill you with ourselves.” The callous
imagery illustrates the suppression of Winston’s freedom through his
psychological torture, highlighting the Party’s intention to eliminate
human relationships to seize power over the populace. Orwell deepens our
understanding of humanity and its struggle for independence, reinforcing
the innate need for collective solidarity to reclaim our autonomy. Winston
exclaims to O’Brien in Room 101 to “Do it to Julia! Not me! Julia!” to
underline a brutal paradox; Despite their rebellious affair, he pitifully
reaches his nadir in Room 101, as his love for Julia transforms into
complete adoration for Big Brother, marking the bathetic end of their love
affair and ironically epitomising Orwell’s message of the need for
collective experiences.