Orwell, George — Nineteen eighty-four [272]

As soon as he touched her she seemed to wince and stiffen. To embrace her was like embracing a jointed wooden image. And what was strange was that even when she was clasping him against her he had the feeling that she was simultaneously pushing him away with all her strength. The rigidity of her muscles managed to convey that impression. She would lie there with shut eyes, neither resisting nor co-operating, but submitting. — Orwell, George, Nineteen eighty-four, 272

Note

The marital embrace rendered as the body’s obedience to Party training overriding the body’s own instinct. ‘Neither resisting nor co-operating, but submitting’ — the precise tripartite description of the Party’s ideal citizen made flesh in the bedroom.