Year 12 IB Extended Essays 2018

10

films are “lovely” (Huxley, 2014, p. 147). Again, this emphasizes the collective mentality that pervades Brave New World .

Contrastingly, the government in 1984 seeks to channel powerful sexual urges into other pursuits. Rather than heightening promiscuity, the government in Oceania instead sublimates the sexual urge into another emotion entirely; that of Hate. To achieve this goal, the government uses events such as the Two Minutes Hate and Hate Week, generating a mock religious fervour similar to that generated in Brave New World ’s weekly solidarity services. The citizens spend months in preparation for Hate Week. The government “throws extra work on to everybody…[for]more than a month” (Orwell, 2008, p. 132). According to Winston, Hate Week absorbs an enormous amount of time and effort, hence citizens are left with no idle time for intimate relationships with other human beings. Any sexual energy is manifested in feelings of hate. In the lead up to Hate Week, the government slowly builds the anger in its citizens towards their alleged enemies. When Hate Week arrives, people are eager to thank Big Brother for providing them with a much needed outlet to express their rage. Ironically, hate week is instrumental in the romantic attraction between Julia, a rebellious Anti-Sex League member, and Winston. In one of the hate Week sessions, “the crowd pressed them together… [and this contact] seemed to invite not desire but affection” (Orwell, 2008, p. 132). Their attraction during the Two Minutes of Hate illustrates the fundamental flaw of Oceania’s attempts to suppress human connection as the urge for human intimacy is extremely difficult to overcome.

Orwell further invites the reader to see this urge for human intimacy through the rebellious nature of Julia. When Winston first sees Julia, he notices “ a narrow scarlet sash…wound several times round the waist of her overalls, just tightly enough to bring out the