George Orwell’s 1984 became the cultural code of the generation and a living symbol for the word “anti-utopia”. The novel was conceived in 1943, when World War II was in full swing, and the USSR turned out to be one of the few powerful shields against the Nazis. Stalin’s rule, however unforgiving or totalitarian, provided a strong defense and an army rivalling the more technically advanced Germans, so the public decided to close its eyes on the costs of such benefits. Orwell expressed harsh criticism towards Stalinism, pointing at the similarities between Hitler and Stalin. His novel was a satirical view on the soviet government, although, picturing the action in London, Orwell himself proclaimed that Churchill’s regime may lead to similar consequences. Poverty and the moral vacuum that brought the Nazis to power in Germany, Stalin’s large-scale purges, the ambitions of the new US President Henry Hoover – all this made the intellectual elite perceive the novel as a horrifying fairy tale. Now, the discussion in brought into the light once more, as the situation in the world grows more and more towards Orwell’s predictions in 1984.
Before following how the relationship of Julia and Winston is depicted in the novel, one should pay attention to the Party’s, the organizer and inspirer of everything that happens in Oceania, feelings towards love. “Not love so much as eroticism was the enemy, inside marriage as well as outside it” (Orwell, 1949). In the long list of losses endured by society, love stands in the first place “as an ordinary human feeling”. However, one of its forms is not prohibited at all – moreover, it is intensively promulgated and has a directional character. The great idol of Oceania – the Big Brother – must be loved fiercely with no exceptions. It is against this background that the author unfolds the relationships of the protagonist with three women. First is his wife Catherine, love to whom is a duty, an unnamed old prostitute who symbolizes despair, and finally, Julia – her love represents escape. In Winston’s dreams, Julia represents freedom, which is an essential part of the natural relationship between the heroes. Julia sees love as a goal in life, its ultimate meaning, while Winston longs to remember the past that the society tries so hard to destroy.
Winston cherishes Julia’s promiscuity, claiming that it is what makes her so desirable for him – that she is a living protest, a rebellion against the political order. Julia is adventurous and bold not because she is naïve or optimistic but because she has went through so many such assignations that she no longer has any fear for it. The violation of the Party’s rules, the feeling of resistance are the essential parts of their joy to be together, but as it develops further into real love, it becomes dangerous. Knowing the consequences, the heroes decide between themselves that they would not betray each other to the “Big Brother”, no matter the cost. However, facing the primal fear of rats devouring his face, Winston breaks, screaming Julia’s name and pleading for her to be fed to the rats. What Winston is screaming reminds the reader of the Two-Minutes Hate, when he wished to tear yet unknown to him Julia to pieces. The heroes’ meeting after this betrayal is difficult for both – despising themselves for their weaknesses, they hate the once loved ones whom they betrayed.
Reference
Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. London; Toronto: Secker & Warburg; S. J. Reginald Saunders, 1949. Print.