Love is a vague term that is used to describe one of the most basic human emotions. In George Orwell's futuristic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, love symbolizes democracy, the opposite of the Party's despotic doctrine. Through the conflict of love and hate, Orwell emphasizes the enormous power that the Party holds in control of people's personal lives. The love or even simple affection between family members and friends is destroyed; the blinding love between Winston and Julia is also demolished. At the end, the only love remaining is the love for Big Brother.

The Party frowns on art, on science, and on love between individuals. Oceania in 1984 is a world where family members and friends dare not trust one another, much less love them. The children are trained as spies to turn against their parents as the earliest sign of a thoughtcrime being committed. Winston remarks that "hardly a...