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Julia’s Role in the Novel

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The role of Julia is very complicated in the novel. Julia is not a true rebel as Winston thought she was at first, she is also not for the government/party either. Julia role is to fulfill her own desire and feel free but still, want the government control. Julia acts like a basic citizen of Oceania, but her impulses drive her to rebel.

Winston’s relationship with Julia begins to build more, their difference toward the party unravels. Both Winston and Julia rebel against the party (Big Brother), but their ideas and thoughts differ from each other. Winston’s thoughts on Julia ideas as, “accepting the party as something unalterable, like the sky, not rebelling against its authority but simply evading it”(134). It describes Julia as a person who thinks nothing can defeat Big Brother and just simply want to fulfill her desire, not caring about the party. On the other hand, Winston seems to want a rebellion, to experience a future when the party is not in control, wanting the life that was taken from him before the revolution. Julia and Winston show their rebellion by having the desire to be with each other whenever they have free time to do so. Julia wanted what she cannot get, she said “If you kept the small rules you could break the big ones”, she used the small rules and kept following them through so no one would suspect her of breaking any rule, which gave her a chance to break other rules(132).

Furthermore, Julia does not want to really rebel against the party and rather live her own life within the party. Winston asked Julia about rebelling against the party and Julia responded with, “I’m not interested in the next generation”, she does not care much about rebelling (159). Julia only cared about anything that is relevant to her and just break the rules of the party to fulfill her desire. Julia does not care about truth or lies as the narrator said, “the difference between truth and falsehood did not seem important to her” (157). Julia believes what she believes and don’t care about what the party spew out. Julia is conscious of the party, unlike the society which is brainwashed by fake or altered news by the party and the government of Oceania.

Throughout the beginning of the story, Winston, and Julia are very cautious when going about with their everyday lives. Winston even suspected Julia to be a spy, but when they meet they seem less cautious than before. Trying to meet whenever they can, they acted like real couples and not the one in which the party arranges the marriage. The narrator said: “They did not discuss the possibility of getting married. It was too remote to be worth thinking about” (134). Julia and Winston are in love with each other and did not care if they were married or not.

Overall, Julia does whatever she desire during her free time and follows the party’s rule whenever it is necessary. Julia is not really against the party, but she feels oppressed by the party, even saying that the party tries to steal away “pleasure”. Julia is in between, she is not a true rebel and dislikes the function of the government/party.

1984 Analysis

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Nineteen Eighty- Four by George Orwell takes place in a dystopian world, centralizing in London of the nation Oceania. The novel begins by introducing us to Winston Smith.  Through him, we see the city is run by a totalitarian party “Big Brother” who instills terror in its citizens and watches their every move. “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU“(1).  They are at war with another nation who they were once in an alliance with. They spread  propaganda and depict their current enemy as the ultimate evil that must be destroyed.

One of “big Brothers” slogan is “WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”(4). This signifies the  manipulation and  altering  through language. They have given  words we associate as negative new meaning  to promote their ideas.   Big Brother controls everything, from erasing and rewriting history to inventing a new language the people are forced to use. Also,  24/7 surveillance through the televisions.  Free-thought is prohibited and they have thought police to patrol and punish anyone who partakes in this act. Citizens of all ages, especially children, are encourage to turn in anyone who commits such an act. The eradication of history and absolute control of the citizens, is for the purpose of  keeping  the people from revolting. “By 2050–earlier , probably all real knowledge of oldspeak will have disappeared . The  whole literature of the past will have been destroyed…the whole climate of thought will be different. In fact there will be no thought ,as we understand it now”(54).

Winston works for the Ministry of truth. He is an editor, responsible for revising all historical data to the liking of  the party’s version of history. Although, he’s good at his job. Winston is not content with his job. He has vices such as gin and cigarettes to keep at bay his feelings of dissatisfaction with Big Brother. He despises everything this society stands for and begins to show signs of rebellion. During a hate session where citizens spend 2 minutes expressing hatred directed to the enemy of the people Emmanuel Goldstein , his hatred shifts towards  the Party, Big Brother, and the Thought Police. “Thus, at one moment Winston hatred was not turned against Goldstein at all, but, on the contrary, against Big Brother, the Party, and the Thought Police;and at such moments his heart went out to the lonely, derided heretic on the screen, sole guardian of truth and sanity in a world of lies” (15).  Another sign of rebellion, is when Winston goes into a junk shop and purchases a journal. He begins writing down this thoughts and feelings. This is consider a huge crime an is punishable by death.  Executions are done  publicly to send a message to the rest.

Through Winston point of view we see the Party’s tyrannical ways.

Nineteen Eighty Four, Part 1

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Why, oh why, must every dystopian society have a creepy cult in it. This cult of hate that Orwell writes in “Nineteen Eighty Four”  is really insane, which has been shown likewise in the propaganda.”War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength”(page 4).This comes from the giant pyramid in the heart of London, and what it reflects in this society is a complete lack of empathy when bloodshed is happening, as a matter of fact its almost worshiped, both the lack of empathy, and the bloodshed. when Winston starts feverishly writing the scene where he and a group of people watch what is basically an orgy of blood, and how everyone around him treats it like a comedy or see a home team win a sports game. Though Winston in this second/ third person perspective disconnects himself from the scene.”then you saw a lifeboat full of children with a helicopter hovering over it.”(page 8). While Winston tries to disconnect from the situation, we can see as the reader that his personal flourishes in his writing can be seen. From improper use of punctuation to the complete and utter stream of consciousness the last run on sentience is, puts into perspective that this is a deeply personal thing to Winston, though he himself can not recall why. Though despite this stream of consciousness, the imagery Winston gives us is vivid but also lightly handed and not to be taken out place or break the immersion of the story. credits to Orwell on being a great writer. On some what of a tangent, Winston’s perspective through out the first part of the book seems to also draw parallel  with another Orwell piece, “Shooting An Elephant”, which is about Orwell’s service in India while in the army, and the sort of mania about people and violence. Orwell seems to draw from that experience to this book.

The society that Winston inhabits is a very insecure society, basing it off of, there is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt. It first really shows off this ideology with “Big Brother Is Watching You” ( page 2). Where it seems to the point that the state assumes that everyone is a criminal( despite Winston saying that there are no more laws ) or a danger at any point in time as everyone is watch by the prophetic “Big Brother”. What is odd is the name “Big Brother” itself, as of course an elder sibling’s job is to watch over and protect the young ones, ergo, the name has two meanings behind it from our perspective. One, that the elder siblings protection has turned into a paranoid perversion of what it is meant to be, instead of giving piece of mind, it gives the same paranoia from the constant “protection”. Two, the state believes that its citizens are children that have no idea how to take care of themselves, which is why the mantra on the pyramid is the way it is, as it hints that all “Big Brother” does, is for the sake of you at the cost to his mental faculties, binding people to a sort of Stockholm syndrome of repression.

 

After The End

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I find it interesting that in There Will Come Soft Rains, the house is treated as the protagonist.  The house is the main and, besides the dog, only character.  In 9 and a half years in the future, a nuke strikes the house, destroying everybody around it including the residents inside.  However, despite all this, the house still acts out its daily routine as if ii’s its own way of coping, its own way to preserve what’s left of humanity after the end.

When the house starts up, it began its morning routine where it would announce the time and date 3 times, but “no doors slammed, no carpets took the soft tread of rubber heels”(Bradbury, page 1).  Despite the house being empty, it still tries to act as it someone is still there to keep going as if everything is normal.  The house pretends that people are still living inside to give it a reason to keep up its routine, despite it being pointless.  Even as it makes breakfast for no one to eat and “the eggs were shriveled and the toast was like stone”(Bradbury, page 1), the house kept going and simply clean up the mess it made afterwards.  This quote is one of many that shows how pointless the routines the house is performing.  The house is the only remainder of human’s existence and lifestyle, for “the house stood alone in a city of rubble and ashes”(Bradbury, page 1), making it the only ‘survivor’ in the city.  This quote also means that something has happened that caused the whole city, except for the house, to be destroyed in such a way that very little hints of humanity is left.  Even the residents that used to live in the house are gone.  The house, like a survivor of an apocalypse, is also paranoid of everything around it, even though it means no harm.  When animals like birds, cats, and foxes approach the house, it “shut up its windows and drawn shades in an old maidenly preoccupation with self-protection which bordered on a mechanical paranoia”(Bradbury, page 2).  The house is afraid that something or someone would come and destroy the house like the other building that once stood in the remains of the city.  Since the house is the only one left, it does all that it can to protect itself before it falls as well.  Also, this quote gives the house a personality like a human.  It describes the house as someone who is paranoid while at the same time, trying to cope with the end of the world as it keeps up its routine so that it doesn’t go insane.  Interestly, the house seems to be somewhat aware of its situation, or maybe just humanity’s situation, as on page 3 of the story, the house read off a poem which describes how even if humanity is at war or is snuffed out, the world would not care and move on.  This also fits the house as, even in the end when the house falls down in a fire (Bradbury, page 4), dawn will still come and go, and the world will still move on with or without it.