Oddly
enough, the Party controls the citizens of Oceania by not having any laws, a factthinks about at
the beginning of the novel. Not having any laws can make anything a crime. For instance, though
there is no law against buying a journal and writing in it, Winston knows that if he is found
out, he will get the death penalty or, at the very least, 25 years in a hard labor camp. The
lack of any laws or boundaries on distinguishing the legal from the illegal keeps people in a
constant state of self censorship: anything they do or think is potentially a thoughtcrime or a
crime against the state.
The state also controls people through marriage. As
Winston notes, it is impossible to get permission to marry a person you might actually show any
signs of loving or being compatible with. The state tries as hard as possible to keep couples
alienated from each other and to reduce sex to a weekly pregnancy ritual done out of duty to the
Party. It doesn't want couples to enjoy sex or each...
No comments:
Post a Comment