George Orwell was always discreet when describing sex scenes in his book, partly of course because writing of graphic fornication during the period in which the author wrote would never have been accepted by a respectable publisher nor sold in any major bookstore. But there was more to it than that; Orwell did not believe that gratuitous sex or violence should be used to sell a novel: he often condemns the like in his journalism. But sex in 1984 and especially in Part II, chapter 2, is not just about the fulfillment of a carnal desire; it is a repudiation of the state’s control over one’s life. Winston having sex with Julia is a liberating experience, it is freedom manifested, as Orwell indeed describes it at the end of this chapter.
