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How do Julia and Katharine's views on intimacy differ in the novel 1984?
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Julia and Katharine's views on intimacy in 1984 differ significantly. Katharine, Winston's wife, sees intimacy solely as a means for procreation, without any emotional connection, and is a staunch Party supporter. In contrast, Julia, Winston's girlfriend, shares genuine affection and physical passion with him, bonded by their mutual hatred for the Party. Their intimacy grows through rebellion, but ultimately, torture breaks their bond, leading them to love Big Brother instead.
In 1984, we see very differing attitudes to intimacy in the characters of Julia and Katharine, both of whom play an important role in Winston's life.
Katharine is Winston's wife and she appears in the novel through a memory, as she and Winston have long since parted. Katharine did not share any imtimacy with Winston, as he describes in Part 1, Chapter 6 : "As soon as he touched her she seemed to wince and stiffen. To embrace her was like embracing a jointed wooden image." She was also a staunch supporter of the party and subscribed to the view that procreation was the sole purpose of marriage. She made Winston attempt this once a week, though she clearly hated it. Furthermore, she and Winston did not share any characteristics in common. As Winston states, she "had not a thought in her head that was not a slogan." Over...
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time, when attempts at conceiving a baby had failed, Katharine grew bored of Winston and left.
In stark contrast to Katharine is Julia, Winston's girlfriend. From their earliest moments of their relationship, we see how different Julia is to Katharine: she sends him a note which says 'I love you' and she acts on this feeling when they first meet in the woods: "She had clasped her arms about his neck, she was calling him darling, precious one, loved one." The pair also share a genuine hatred towards the party which they discuss in their meetings. This physical passion and shared interests helped bond Winston and Julia together and create a strong sense of intimacy between them.
To sum up, then, Katharine shied away from intimacy with Winston and only had sexual intercourse with him for the purposes of creating a child. But Julia is very different: she has a genuine love for Winston which binds her to him and which grows as they rebel against the party. In fact, torture is the only means of destroying their sense of intimacy. From that point on, they learn to love Big Brother, instead of each other.