Comparison of Arranged Marriages in 1984 and in Present Society

Love is something that many strive to find and try to find the perfect person for it, but some do not get that choice. Arranged marriages force two people together no matter their feelings. This type of marriage can be found all within the novel 1984 but it isn’t just a fairy tale, arranged marriages can be found all around the world. Arranged marriages can be traced back for centuries in our world even all the way back to Medieval times. By analyzing our present society’s arranged marriages and the arranged marriages found within 1984 we can compare and contrast how they choose the people, how often it is found within these societies and the restrictions.

Firstly, we can compare and contrast how each society chooses its people. In our era of time arranged marriages occur all around the world but mainly prominent in eastern-based cultures. The most known example of this is India, in an article by CBS it states “For many young couples in India, their perfectly-arranged match might start at the Mumbai headquarters of the website. ‘In India, you know, we often say you don't marry an individual, you marry their family’, said its founder, Anupam Mittal.” In our world arranged marriages are typically revolved around the other people’s status and the money they have. That is one way parents choose someone to marry their daughter or son but it also depends if the whole families share the same beliefs such as religion or anything such as important. In contrast, 1984’s government has a different way of sorting people together, in the book it states “permission was always refused if the couple concerned gave the impression of being physically attracted to one another”. This line tells the reader that the government's way of matching people together is based on sexual attraction to each other. This is completely different from our world because in our world we make sure at least they are matchable enough to live together typically but in 1984 it’s the opposite. They want to put people together that have nothing that works together between the two. Although a similarity they do share is that both choose the people that will help themselves out the most. In our world, the people behind the strings make sure the marriage helps them gain power or wealth and in 1984 the government putting people together without any sexual attraction makes sure they stay in check and don’t think of doing anything against them.

Secondly, we can compare and contrast how often arranged marriages happen in each society. In an article, it states, ”55% of the marriages that occur in the world today are arranged marriages.” Around 2 million marriages happen a year so that would mean over a million marriages each year are arranged. In 1984 it states “proles...eighty-five percent of the population of Oceania”. With that piece of knowledge, we now know only about 15% of the population of Oceania is under the control of the government. Under the control of the government arranged marriages are the only form of marriages going on but on a large scale perspective the amount of people is not nearly as much as in today’s world. Even though it seems as though arranged marriages are found everywhere in the story it is only because the government is forcing it so much on the people.

Lastly, it is possible to compare and contrast the restrictions in each arranged marriage in different societies. There are so many restrictions in 1984’s society with arranged marriages. As stated before they cannot be attracted to each other unlike in our world where they are encouraged to “fall in love”. In addition, the novel states “The Party did not permit divorce” which provides another restriction. Divorce is something that cannot happen in 1984’s society but in our world, there are multiple examples of this happening with no drawbacks. In our world arranged marriages do not restrict much just like a normal marriage would be. People have a choice if they would wish to continue to stay with the person. 1984 does this to a degree by not forcing married people to be together at all times as long as no divorce is made.

In conclusion, though analysis of our world and 1984’s society can be compared and contrasted by how they choose the people, how often it is found within these societies and the restrictions. Our world seems to have so much more freedom compared to 1984 but if you look through the margins you can find some similarities. For the sake of finding “true love” let us hope things never completely become a copy to 1984.