Julia understands the Party's sexual puritanism as springing from more than just a desire on the part of the government to crush any vestige of life of outside of Party control. That might be one element behind the drive towards puritanism, but Julia intuitively grasps that the Party also wants to keep people (Party members that is: the government doesn't much care what the proles do) in what she calls a state of "hysteria" that...
Julia understands the Party's sexual puritanism as springing from more than just a desire on the part of the government to crush any vestige of life of outside of Party control. That might be one element behind the drive towards puritanism, but Julia intuitively grasps that the Party also wants to keep people (Party members that is: the government doesn't much care what the proles do) in what she calls a state of "hysteria" that is produced by sexual deprivation. The government's goal is to capture the Party members' pent up sexual energy and channel it into a lust for war ("war-fever") and worship of the Party leader. Julia intuits that a sexually satisfied and happy population is less likely to be riveted the Party and its activities. Julia explains her theory as follows:
When you make love you’re using up energy; and afterwards you feel happy and don’t give a damn for anything. They can’t bear you to feel like that. They want you to be bursting with energy all the time. All this marching up and down and cheering and waving flags is simply sex gone sour. If you’re happy inside yourself, why should you get excited about Big Brother and the Three-Year Plans and the Two Minutes Hate and all the rest of their bloody rot?’
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