Ministry of Love
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. (January 2008) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
The Ministry of Love (or Miniluv in Newspeak) is one of the four ministries that govern Oceania in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
The purpose of the Ministry of Love is to enforce loyalty and love of Big Brother through fear, torture, and brainwashing. The Ministry of Love building has no windows and is surrounded by barbed wire entanglements, steel doors, hidden machine gun nests and guards, whom Orwell describes as being armed with "jointed truncheons" but not guns, possibly reflecting the unavailability of firearms to the citizens of Oceania. Inside, the bright lights are never turned off (it is enigmatically referred to as "the place where there is no darkness"). Its importance is played down by the Party,[citation needed] but its function is well known and it is arguably the most important ministry, controlling the will of the population.
It contains Room 101, within which is "the worst thing in the world".
The Ministry of Love, as with the other ministries, has a very misleading name, since it is largely responsible for instilling misery, fear, suffering and hate. Technically though, this Ministry is arguably closest to having a true name, since its purpose can be seen as making people love Big Brother. The name, as well as the names of the other three ministries, can be seen as a form of Doublethink; a central concept to Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
