The novel 1984, well-known for its prediction of the government of the future, is a complex and exceedingly dark story that only gets more prophetic as one reads further into it. It was written by George Orwell, the author of Animal Farm (I have a post on this as well) and published in 1949, when the threat of communist expansion hung over the Western world through the Soviet Union. As such, much of the book centers around collectivism and a government of absolute control, reflecting the politics of the time. However, there are many other aspects of 1984 that are less discussed, namely the human desires of the book’s protagonists, Winston Smith and Julia.

Winston Smith, a perfect example of an antihero, works in the Ministry of Truth’s Records Department along with his girlfriend or sexual partner, Julia. Throughout the story, the two attempt to navigate the treachery of Big Brother, the omnipotent and omnipresent force that controls their country, Oceania, to stay together in their decidedly sinful acts, hiding among the Proles. Many in Oceania knew that the proles, being the “lower class” plebs that were largely ignored, were the only hope to overthrow Big Brother. It was in their community that Winston and Julia met to have intercourse, something largely frowned upon and punishable. It was so taboo among the unmarried that there was even a Junior Anti-Sex league, determined to suppress man’s natural urges to have intercourse, further controlling the population through instinctual suppression. It is because of that sexual repression that Winston and Julia become virtually addicted to each other, enjoying the thrill of rebellion in their strict society rather than expressing true love of the other person.

Looking at the culture of today, however, one may see something drastically different, yet oddly the same. Unlike Big Brother, focused on repressing sexual human instinct to create a neutered population, our American government, and more specifically, our culture, is obsessed with the LGBTQ movement, which encourages all people, especially youth, to succumb to their sexual instincts to create an undiscerning population. 

The modern-day LGBTQ movement is popular for a few reasons. It preaches acceptance of all desires and identities, having relationships of any form with anyone, and most importantly, it promotes the idea that identity is more important than anything. However, this community is not focused just on sexuality. It is also now branching out into gender identity, again allowing flawed humans to make themselves whatever they want to be, regardless of whether or not it is healthy for themselves or those around them. However, all aspects of the movement, save for aromanticism or asexuality, involve succumbing to our primal, lustful instincts and living as freely as animals do. 

By normalizing and accepting everything previously considered sinful to be normal or even superior, this community is even more enticing than it seems to be on the surface. Impressionable youth, struggling with the awkwardness and isolation of puberty, are drawn to the movement because they feel a sense of belonging where they didn’t before. I have many friends that have fallen into this trap, and though they believe they are more accepted than ever, still struggle with issues involving mental health and identity. More than that, by giving people what they fundamentally desire and repressing their self-control, the culture has created a population that acts as livestock and commanding them is as easy as herding cattle.

This “queer” phenomenon conversely mirrors the situation in 1984, which forbids healthy sex and desires to create a population that will do anything because they are weak. Because the LGBTQ community believes they are better, more accepted, and “special”, as anyone wants to be, they have become a very vocal and militant minority that has more control than is natural.

In this horrific book about men chasing after absolute power, our modern society has also become just as infatuated with control. And, as George Orwell himself stated, “The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it. The LGBTQ community attacks anyone who dares speak out against it, and cancels them over the internet, all because they were not “accepting” enough of their delusions. In Oceania’s prison that is the Ministry of Love, those who tell the lies banish those who combat them with truth, and torture them into complying. The LGBTQ movement, just like the Ministry of Love, exudes an air of tolerance and desire to help the needy, and yet, ends up creating more suffering through their methods and hypocrisy. While the Ministry of Love erodes people’s psychological state through torture, the LGBTQ community breaks them down via social circles and social media platforms. And, just like the Ministry broke down Winston and Julia, our culture is being broken down to a tangled web of sexuality and identity, which we may lose ourselves in if not careful.

           Though 1984 does not give us answers, in fact it leaves us with more questions, there is something to be said about the themes that are in both the culture of the book, the government, and our society of today. Both driven by instinct, both, as others have studied, collective, the mere being in something is more important than the wellbeing of anything, is incredibly dangerous and the wrong path to be on. If we, as a country, keep going down this path, we too, may have to succumb to Big Brother. This road may be a dark one, but we as a country are still at a crossroads, we just have to decide to go on the better path.