Julia

This entire section seems to focus on the brunette. Winston has another quick run in with her at work, in which she quickly trips and runs off, secretly leaving him a note. Later we find that it says three words that most people yearn for: I love you. This is definitely an interesting approach because the two of them have never spoken before. It makes me wonder why she chose those words. Winston seems so flustered and caught off guard by all of this that he can barely sleep. Why is this that a few days ago he wanted to bash her head and how suddenly feels love? Or it is just lust?

You can tell that Winston has a negative self-image of himself in the way that he is constantly trying to tell himself that she has changed her mind about him, even after a couple of days. And again, later on when they finally meet in the grove, the first thing that he tells he is that he has five false teeth, varicose veins, and a burdensome wife. I think this also explains his extreme hatred for women, especially young and attractive women. They represent something that he cannot have.

Speaking about them meeting in the garden – oh ya, we finally find out that her name is Julia – I find it quite awesome that Winston blurts out every single thought that he has had about her when she asks (including rape and murder). She awesomely takes it with a grain of salt, maybe even as a compliment. Julia has quickly become one of my favorite characters. As I assumed before this, she is an amazing actor. She loathes everything having to do with the Party, yet volunteers for the Junior Anti-Sex League, actively participates in Two Minutes Hate, and any other roles the Party expects their most upright citizens to have.

Yet, it is clearly indicated that she is not an amateur when she tells Winston that she’s had sex with hundreds of other people. An interesting thing about this is how much that turns Winston on. He was hoping she’d say something more like thousands. (Yikes!) In a world that I am only a visitor to, it makes sense to think of this in his mentality. Sleeping with multiple partners for the act of sex in itself represents a true rebellion. You easily put it into perspective in that sex in an animalistic act, something that Big Brother has been trying to destroy. In coming back to one’s animalistic traits, one transforms into a new way of thinking. Independent thinking can lead to an open rebellion.

Whoever thought that sex might be the key for a rebellion to break out?