A “divide and conquer” policy means that you achieve your goal (conquer) by making people fight amongst themselves (divide). If we apply this idea to 1984, we see that the Party uses this strategy to maintain its power over the people of Oceania.

Perhaps the best example of divide and conquer in 1984 is evident in family relationships. If we look at Chapter Two, when Winston visits the Parsons family, we see that the divide and conquer strategy begins in childhood:

With those children, he thought, that wretched woman must lead a life of terror. Another year, two years, and they would be watching her night and day for symptoms of unorthodoxy.

Both of these children are members of the Junior Spies. Through this organization, the children become zealous supporters of the Party and, in doing so, act as guardians against thoughtcrime in the home. As Winston tells us, it was “normal” for people to be afraid of their own children because children routinely turned in their own parents. Notice how Mrs. Parisons is characterized in this scene: there are deep creases in her face and her eyes flit “nervously,” and her children run riot in the house. Rather unsurprisingly, we meet Mr. Parsons again in Part Three of the novel. He was denounced as a thought criminal by his own children for muttering anti-Party thoughts in his sleep.

Thus, by causing disunity in the family, the Party maintains total control over its members while also providing an effective deterrent against rebellion.