In this article, Blu Tirohl is concerned with the description of sexuality as a weapon of revolt in 1984. She aimed to show Orwell’s vision of sexual relationships under totalitarian regimes and related it to both his principles about women and his personal life experiences. The author started his analysis by a study of the psychological and literary domination that the party uses to control sexuality in 1984. She defined the process of ‘doublethink’ and stated the party’s measures to eliminate all types of personal privacy in people’s lives as well as all types of sentimental pleasures including parental one. Next, the author examined Julia’s and Winston’s motives to develop their relationship. The last part of the article was devoted to Orwell’s life since childhood in an attempt to relate this to his attitudes towards women. The author considers the relationship between Julia and Winston as an act of rebellion and to support his argument he treated both character’s motives separately. She introduced Julia’s seductive character as an example of personal rebellion for personal pleasure and considered her as a threat for the party, because she is able to seduce other …show more content…
members to revolt as well. Winston’s rebellion is presented as the outcome of Julia’s one. The author explained that Julia liberated Winston’s urges and enabled him to enjoy their sexual relationship and to break the party’s aim to reserve enjoyment just for the party. Blu succeeded to demonstrate their relationship’s power by comparing it to Winston’s memory of his sexual relationship with his wife. Despite these convincing interpretations, the author raises a number of contradictions in her article about Orwell’s attitudes towards women and sexuality.
She claimed that Orwell did not attribute much importance to the sexual issue in 1984, which is not true in my opinion. Sexual relationships were at the heart of Orwell’s critique to totalitarian regimes. Moreover, Blu criticized Julia’s refusal to have sex with Winston because of her menstruation as an incoherent argument. She considers the act of enjoying sex during the menstruation as ‘the ultimate weapon in this type of silent rebellion.’ Then, the author wondered if Orwell mentioned menstruation as a taboo. I don’t agree with Blu about this interpretation because there is no elements in her interpretation which evoke menstruation as a
taboo. Considering these interpretations, it can be concluded that Blu’s article is a well structured critical article. She managed to examine Winston and Julia’s sexual relationship effectively using concrete examples from 1984 and from Orwell’s essays. She connected Orwell’s anti-feminist attitudes to his lack of experiences with women since his childhood which is a convincing point of view. However her article does not examine women’s role as a hope for future generations. She focused on the explicit image of inferiority suggested by the lack of intellectual capacities and political awareness. Another confusing interpretation is her suggestion that women are equal to men because both of them are deprived of sexual pleasure. This argument was not much developed and require more analysis.
Julia instructs Winston how to return to London. The two arranged meetings where and when they would meet again. Julia reveals that she is not interested in the revolt. Although, she is a personal rebel. Winston reveals information to Julia about his wife Katherine which he decided weather to not killer her or not. Winston returned to Mr. Charrington’s offer: he had rented the room above his shop in order to spend some private time with Julia. Winston reveals his fear of rats.
Winston’s and Julia’s meeting in the woods signifies breaking the totalitarian ways of the party. Here Winston feels free from observation, and gets a glimpse of the freedom that the party opposes. It is a place for lovemaking, a utter horrendous crime in their state. Here there are only Winston’s and Julia’s eyes,
Winston expresses his feelings towards Julia in such an extraordinary way, “He would flog her to death with a rubber truncheon. He would tie her naked to a stake and shoot her full of arrows.”(Orwell 15). When he is expressing these thoughts, he is actually talking about someone he was actrate to, Winston just had no way of expressing it besides anger. He sees this beautiful young girl, who has made this vow its remain pure and chaste and he just wants to kill her because of how frustrated about it. Although late in the book, who these same two people are alone in a place without worry, everything is different, for example “You are prepared, the two of you to separate and never see one another again. ‘No!’ broke in Julia….’No,’ he said finally.” (Orwell 173) This second moment gives us a definite second opinion about how he may actually feel towards Julia. When they are both in a safe place, and can freely state and do they things they wish to do, Winston does show that he cares for Julia, enough that he does not want to leave her. I believe that these two different feelings show us that even with the body trying to control how people feel, what they do, along with what they think they never get to have complete control of
"For every text a context" and only through referral to the non-literary world can we understand the motivation behind the literary. In a time of Nazism, Stalin and Civil War in Europe, Orwell's disillusionment towards politics and society rapidly increased and his ideas and criticisms were published in various essays regarding politics and literary traditions. When he became unwell towards the end of his life, he wrote 1984 as an expression of both his own views and as a parallel to Zamyatin's We, a novel concerned with Russian communism and portraying a very similar storyline. He "characterised the ordinary man as a victim." ; he viewed humanity as whole to be inside Jonah's whale, to "feel no impulse to alter or control the process that [they are] undergoing." This passivity of existence was the chief example from which he was able to draw the lack of individualism and the virtual extinction of it in his literary land of Oceania.
She shows much more interest in Winston that she is supposed to. Both Julia and Winston are together but it is not equivalent to what the party expects. The Party expects the citizens to have relationships without any emotions toward one another, they are only prohibited to produce children. They are supposed to check in with the party so that it can be approved that there was no feeling toward each other. “All marriage between Party members had to be approved by a committee appointed for the purpose and though the principle was never clearly stated...the impression of being physically attracted to each other.” (Orwell 57) Which is one of the acts that shows that Julia is rebelling from what mostly affects
Given that George Orwell’s occupation was a English novelist, journalist, and critic his opinion that totalitarianism is wrong is not surprising because as a kid growing up in India and England he was brought up as a socialist. In 1984, Winston starts to look at his own life and the job that he has to help realize that what he is doing is wrong. He also tries to remember what is was like before Big Brother and he remembers his parents and he doesn’t know how they disappeared. Winston also starts a journal to keep track of all the dreams and thoughts he has. Furthermore in 1984, Julia knows that Big Brother is controlling the public so in her way of rebelling she has sex. One of the rules by Big Brother is that people are not allowed to have kids or any type of relationship unless permitted by the government. Julia knows that there is not much she can do to change the future but as she examines her own life she comes closer and closer to the truth. Winston and Julia looked at their own lives to help figure out that Big Brother was controlling the public. They did this by looking at their everyday lives, like the constant playing propaganda for Big Brother, the forced hate meetings, morning exercises by the telescreen. These all contributed to them checking their chains and finding
”The values, beliefs and attitudes of George Orwell’s can easily be seen in the novel 1984, as no text is neutral. These values attitudes and beliefs have shaped the novel to reflect socio-cultural context and by the use of certain discourses, ideologies, and historical influences support the idea that) “The explanation of a work is always sought in the man or women who produced it “Bathes Roland (1977).
In 1984, women were very much stereotyped and were seen as very incapacitated of doing what men were capable of doing. Winston himself said that women are, “devices for a man's inclination” (“Role of Women). When comparing women and men from the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, women in the eyes of men are supposed to stay home, cook, clean and watch the children. Furthermore, Winston looks at women as if they’re babies, because babies are dependent and they depend on their parents. When Winston mentioned his wife Katherine he said,”he would be able to live with her if it wasn’t just for one thing” (Role of Women). What Winston is referring to is sex, saying that if she provided or did more than just offer sex he would be able to live with her
I strongly agree with Fromm’s viewpoints and interpretations of Orwell’s 1984 text. He warns that the future federal powers will dehumanize society and leave everyone alienated. Thus, I agree with Fromm to the extent that he acknowledges the fact that humanity can indeed cease to exist as a result of our own self-destruction as well as the effect of our actions. Many of his opinions and warnings expressed by Orwell to an extent appear in contemporary society.
From the beginning of this story, it is shown how important Julia, or the girl with dark hair, is going to be in the life of Winston Smith. Although his feelings towards her are less than friendly, he explains only one reason for really disliking her. It is stated, “He hated her because she was young and pretty and sexless, because he wanted to go to bed with her and
These presentation of women as inferior to men is obvious at all times; accordingly, the female characters in Nineteen Eighty-Four reveal an anti feminist bias on the part of the author. To start off, Orwell's sole inclusion of women who base their relationships with men exclusively on sex demonstrates Orwell's negative beliefs about women. Despite Julia's claims to love Winston, their relationship is not about “the love of one person, but the animal instinct”(132). Julia has been in similar relationships to her and Winston “hundreds of times”(131), relationships that look only at the sexual side and never at the emotional. She refuses all of Winston's attempts to expand their relationship, having “a disconcerting habit of falling asleep”(163) whenever he persists in talking.
It is of mixed opinions as to the popularity of modern society and that of the current government. Some believe the United States is, frankly, the best and most free country. They are those who enjoy the freedoms granted by the government and indulge themselves into the American culture. Others are not as fond; always searching for an excuse to criticize the current happenings, whether they be in the government or on the streets. In previous decades, such as the 1940s, the majority of citizens shared the more patriotic view. When comparing the current United States as a whole to that of a dystopian society, it becomes clear that the former faction may be looking through rose colored glasses. The dystopian motifs in George Orwell 's 1984 stemmed
The dystopia Orwell presents in the story 1984 creates fearful trauma within its’ readers. In Orwell's narrative the future dystopia has reached a point of no
1984 is a novel written by George Orwell, the main theme of the novel is about how totalitarian society can control every aspect of a person thought, sexuality and action. Totalitarianism can be define as a repressive one-party that has total control over people thoughts and actions. In 1984, people are being control totally by the Party through device such as the telescreen. People are stripped away from their freedom to do things that they want. The Party wants people to only focus on improving the Party and set everything else aside. Love is nonexistent in this government and the Party’s policy strictly forbids sex. The Party restrains people from falling in love with one another. Consequently, people cannot display their love for each other out in public. Furthermore, sex for pleasure can be considered a crime in 1984’s totalitarian government unless it is “celibacy”. Goodsex is any kind of sex that is allowable by the Party with the intention to reproduce. Goodsex will increase the total population. The more people the Party has the stronger the Party will be. Repression helps the party and hurts the people who have to tolerate the Party’s policy. The Party’s repression of sexuality helps them eliminate people who are trying to corrupt the Party, ensuring the Party that they have control over what people can and cannot do. By repressing people thoughts and actions the Party is psychologically manipulating people and physically restraining them.
Winston felt like sex was a rebellion. He is drawn to his lover Julia because