Love has always been the force that connects the members of a society together as it is the basis for all relationships. In Anthem by Ayn Rand and 1984 by George Orwell, a society absent of love is depicted to show the reader the dangers that will happen when love is no longer an emotion felt by society. These dystopian novels both have protagonists that are rebellious intellectuals that seek to challenge governmental authority. In Anthem, Equality 7-2521 has aspirations to be a scientist, but cannot when he is assigned to work for the rest of his life as a street sweeper. In 1984, Winston Smith commits a crime by questioning the government, but he cannot express his ideas as he is constantly watched by Big Brother, the pervasive government spy. These characters live in a society where government has the…show more content… The power to control who a person loves and how they love them is only possible in a system where the government can freely control that aspect of a person’s life. The government wants to do this because the right to love is an individualistic freedom, and therefore goes against their collectivist ideology. Allowing people to freely pick their spouses would make the government irrelevant in that area of life, and that will not happen with a government that seeks to control everything. They control love for everyone because if they don’t people are free to engage in an activity that benefits themselves and does nothing for the state. In both Anthem and 1984, love is replaced with artificial insemination as pregnancy is carried out by two strangers engaging taking part in a joyless act. The novels clearly show that in a collectivist form of rule, love can easily be redefined by government because love brings joy and freedom to a person, and the government seeks to allow no individuality among their
