Betrayal Like Its 1984

937 Words2 Pages

Not only does the novel use the Party’s intolerance of betrayal to its ideologies as a method to facilitate the feeling of alienation and loneliness, but also that of the individual characters’ betrayal of one another. There are several examples of this throughout the novel. Some of these examples are when Charrington betrays Winston and Julia, when Parsons is betrayed by his children, when Winston and Julia betray one another, and when Winston finally betrays himself. George Orwell used these examples to demonstrate how the party was able to sever any type of loyalties between people and even one’s self. This betrayal only perpetuates the fear of relationships causing people to welcome isolation. One of the first examples of the characters in the book being disloyal to each other is found when Mr. Charrington betrays Winston and Julia. Mr. Charrington is an older secondhand shopkeeper in the district that is just outside of the Party’s walls. He sells a journal to Winston which would be considered as contraband and he rents out a room that is above his shop to Winston as well. Winston and Julia use this room above Mr. Charrington’s shop as a secret meeting place for their love affair. Winston feels that Mr. Charrington shares his interests in the past. Malcolm Pittock, an author for Cambridge Quarterly, wrote in an article that, “One of the touches of genius in Nineteen Eighty-Four is that this kind of rural nostalgia becomes a trap to be manipulated by the all-seeing regime …Mr Charrington [sic] is not a bumbling relic of a kinder past, but a secret policeman who has set the shop up to entrap Winston” (174). However, Winston and Julia are later arrested together in the rented room. The very last sentence in the second... ... middle of paper ... ...2 (2010): 172-176. Web. 10 May 2014. Sharpe, Matthew. "When The Logics Of The World Collapse – Žižek With And Against Arendt On ‘Totalitarianism’." Subjectivity: International Journal Of Critical Psychology 3.1 (2010): 53-75. Academic Search Complete. Web. 30 Apr 2014. Tyner, James. "Self And Space, Resistance And Discipline: A Foucauldian Reading of Goerge Orwell's 1984." Social & Cultural Geography 5.1 (2004): 129-149 SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 29 Apr 2014. Wilson, John Howard. ""Brideshead" Revisited In "Nineteen Eighty-Four": Evelyn Waugh's Influence On George Orwell." Papers On Language & Literature 47.1 (2011): 3-25. Web. 10 May 2014. Yeo, Michael. "Propaganda And Surveillance In George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four: Two Sides Of The Same Coin." Global Media Journal: Canadian Edition 3.2 (2010): 49-66. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 29 Apr 2014.

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