Who is this mysterious, dark-haired girl?
Her name is Julia, and she is a rebellious 26 year-old who pretends to conform to the society by participating in the Junior Anti-Sex League and performing her duties at the Fiction Department. Oh, and she is in love with Winston. Yes, that last bit is true, believe it or not. She slipped him a note one day after he helped her up from a fall that read "I love you" (113). Before this occurrence, they had only laid eyes on each other once or twice, let alone spoken a full conversation. Her confession marked a dramatic shift in the story and now she has become an integral character. She and Winston are always planning secret meetings, trying to communicate without being caught by the telescreens, and experimenting with the desires they are deprived of. Winston says how "she ha[s] become a physical necessity, something that he not only wanted but felt that he had a right to" (146). They kiss and have sex multiple times, always feeling "their embrace had been a battle, the climax a victory...a blow struck against the Party...a political act" (133). By allowing themselves to acknowledge their lust and do something that the society discourages, they feel they are sparking change in a sense. As Julia puts it:
"When you make love your're using up energy; and afterwards you feel happy and don't give a damn for anything. they can't bear to feel like that. They want you to be bursting with energy all the time. All this marching up and down and cheering and waving flags is simply sex gone sour. If you're happy inside yourself, why should you get excited about Big Brother and the Three-Year Plans and the Two Minutes Hate and all the rest of their bloody rot?" (139)Julia further draws out Winston's desire to rebel and sparks greater development. He now feels comfortable sneaking out of town on some unknown route to meet up with her and then enjoying the forbidden goods such as coffee, sugar, and chocolate that she has presumably stolen from the Inner Party. I am eager to find out what becomes of their relationship, because I predict they will get caught at some point.
Why is the book written from a third person perspective?
At first, I struggled to find meaning in this stylistic choice. It found it strange that this book does not utilize first person from Winston's perspective. Then, in the last 20 pages or so, a possible explanation hit me: reading this book feels as though we, as readers, are spying on Winston. The detached yet close standpoint creates a sense of invading the privacy of Winston's life. Doesn't this sound familiar? This is exactly what the telescreens do, they spy on Winston and get a very good sense of what is going on, yet they are not fully submerged in his life because he manages to escape them at points. Therefore, the style of the book mirrors the happenings in the society regarding surveillance.
What is up with his ulcer?
This ulcer is a varicose ulcer located on his ankle that frequently itches. I tried to look for connections between time of day, certain events, and other indicators that would give me a better sense of its meaning. However, since he has been meeting with Julia, it hasn't been mentioned, so my search for clues has come to a halt. Interestingly, I decided to use this itself as a clue. Itches are something that need to be scratched, an annoying sensation that requires immediate attention. When he's with Julia, he is practically in a state of release, not holding feelings inside and wanting desperately to rebel. Therefore, perhaps his ulcer is symbolic of his emotions while under control of the Party.
What do the rhymes mean?
The most prominent rhyme starts, "'Oranges and lemons,' say the bells of St Clement's, 'You owe my three farthing,' say the bells of St Martin's-" (102). However, no one seems to remember the middle. After searching this rhyme on the Internet, I have come to learn it is an English nursery rhyme that contains an allusion to the Great Fire of London in 1666, which destroyed a famous church. I am still unsure of the connection, but I do know that oranges and lemons are not prevalent in Airstrip One. Hopefully the coming sections give more indication of its deeper meaning.
What is the significance of the glass paperweight?
Winston bought the glass paperweight with a coral center at Mr. Charrington's shop, the same place where he bought his diary. "The inexhaustibly interesting thing was not the fragment of coral but the interior of the glass itself. There was such a depth of it, and yet it was almost transparent as air. It was as though the surface of the glass had been the arch of the sky, enclosing a tiny world with its atmosphere complete. [Winston] had the feeling that he could get inside it, and that in fact he was inside it, along with the mahogany bed and the gate-leg table, and the clock and the steel engraving and the paperweight itself. The paperweight was the room he was in, and the coral was Julia's life and his own, fixed in sort of eternity at the heart of the crystal" (154). Aside from loving the way this passage is written, I found it provided an immense amount of insight into this small, yet symbolic token. It shows the emotional growth Winston has experienced, and the budding relationship between him and Julia.
How did this society come to existence?
"The story really began in the middle 'sixties, the period of the great purges in which the original leaders of the Revolution were wiped out once and for all. By 1970 none of them was left, except Big Brother himself. All the rest had by that time been exposed as traitors or counter-revolutionaries" (78). So there is the big answer, or at least part of it. War, and presumably the turmoil that came with it, left everyone in search of leadership to assuage their fears and promise restoration and order. Big Brother seemed like a hopeful option, and so his reign began. From there, the society only went downhill. This isn't the first time we have heard of a story like this. It reminds me of Germany during the time of the NAZI's after Hitler came to power. He provided everyone a glimmer of hope at mending the economic state and lingering devastation from World War I. Little did everyone know that his sole intent was to take advantage of and manipulate them just like Big Brother. Interestingly, this book was written in 1949 and Hitler came to power in 1933. Connection? I think so.
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