The Unwritten Rules In The Novel 1984 By George Orwell

The text 1984 by George Orwell is a dystopian novel written in 1948. The main character, Winston, lives in a society that is controlled by an oppressive socialist government that limits freedom of expression. There aren’t any specific laws in the society, however there are unwritten rules that severely limit personal freedoms. For instance if someone is found to have disagreed with how the government (the Party) is running the society, then they are taken to the “Ministry of Love” and either re-educated or killed. There is also a lack of art in this society. Non-governmental documents are viewed as evil by the Party and therefore they try to prohibit Party members from owning books and documents that aren’t “Party approved”. 1984 conforms to …show more content…
By following these conventions Orwell has created a piece of literature that offers a warning to future generations, to not let a scenario like this become a reality. Due to all of the unwritten Party regulations, Party members live in a state of constant fear and distrust of their fellow Party members. One of such unwritten rules is that Party members aren’t allowed to have sex unless it is in a reproductive sense. The Party doesn’t want people to become attached to each other so they really try to push abstinence at a young age. We can see this from when Winston describes his relationship with his wife, Catherine. Their sex life was extremely awkward, she had been so controlled by the Party that during intercourse she’d become extremely rigid (which made Winston feel uncomfortable). Also there was no sense of enjoyment in the act, it was solely for creating another Party member. This …show more content…
In 1984 the Party controls everything; from what gets produced and in what quantities, to who gets to live and die. Party members are expected to devote their lives to the Party and its ideals. It succeeds in achieving its goals by using the Thought Police to instill fear in the population and to torture those who continue to defy their wishes. The Party is so powerful in the book because they have constant surveillance on the population and therefore have intelligence on everybody. One thing extremely powerful thing that they are able to learn is what people’s fears are. They use this if they ever have a need to torture people. Winston’s biggest fear was rats. So when the Thought Police finally arrested him for being a thought criminal, they used rats to finally break him. Winston said that the Thought Police would never be able to make him give up on Julia. However once the rats were brought out, Winston broke extremely fast. “Do it to Julia! Do it to Julia! Not me! Julia! I don’t care what you do to her. Tear her face off, strip her to the bones. Not me! Julia! Not me!” (286). This shows how if an oppressive government is in charge, that people regular people lose their