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Winston and Julia's Relationship in 1984

Summary:

Winston and Julia's relationship in 1984 evolves from initial suspicion to a complex bond of love and rebellion. Initially, Winston mistrusts Julia, fearing she is a government spy. However, in Part Two, after Julia secretly confesses her love, they begin a clandestine affair, symbolizing hope and resistance against the oppressive Party. Their relationship transforms from physical attraction to deep emotional connection, challenging the Party's control. Despite their eventual betrayal and capture, their bond represents a brief sanctuary from the pervasive surveillance and oppression of Big Brother.

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Discuss the relationship between Winston and Julia in parts 1 and 2 of 1984.

In part one, Winston refers to Julia as the "girl with dark hair" and initially believes that she is a government spy. Winston fears Julia and completely misinterprets why she stares at him and sits directly behind him during the Two Minutes Hate. Winston is paranoid in the first part of the novel and believes that Julia is watching his every move in order to determine whether or not he is an enemy of the state. Winston continually fantasizes about brutally murdering the girl with dark hair but cannot help himself from being sexually attracted to her.

In Part Two, Julia slips Winston a note that says "I LOVE YOU," and the two characters meet in the Golden Country, which is outside of the city. Winston initially does not have feelings for Julia and simply views their intercourse as a political act against the Party. As the story progresses, Winston's...

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feelings for Julia continue to develop and they become closer.

Winston ends up renting an apartment above Mr. Charrington's antique shop and the two characters continue to carry on their secret affair. Winston and Julia end up falling in love and vow to never betray each other in their hearts after they are arrested by the Party. When they visit O'Brien's apartment, Julia demonstrates her love for Winston by refusing to part from him. By the end of part one, the Thought Police arrest Julia and Winston and they are taken to the Ministry of Love.

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I think that the relationship between both Winston and Julia represents the dichotomy between hopes and reality.  On one hand, the relationship is depicted as one that represents a source of potential hope and redemption for both.  It is a refuge from the numbing reality under Big Brother.  It is a realm that is distinct from the control of The Party, and I think that both Winston and Julia recognize a realm that is distinct from the public domain.  Yet, with the arrest of each and the betrayal that follows, there is a brutal undercutting of dreams.  In the moment of betrayal through the use of the other's deepest fears, the renouncing brings to light that all are controlled by Big Brother.  When both see one another in the park with the numbing admittance that both betrayed the other, the reality that confronts them and all of the citizens of Oceania is that there is no relief, no absolution from Big Brother.  This is where hopes and promises are undercut by reality and control.  In this vision, personal redemption comes second to public domination.

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How do Winston's feelings for Julia change in Book 2 of 1984?

At first Julia is the mysterious dark-haired girl who closely resembles his mother.  He dreams of her.  She is a symbol of something he can't quite put his finger on...(can you say Oedipus complex?  Why do men want to marry women who look just like their mothers?)

At the beginning of the novel, Winston is torn as to whom to trust: O'Brien or Julia.  Orwell leads us to believe that it is Julia and not O'Brien who is a member of the Thought Police.  Both may have been members, so the point may be moot, but Winston at first allies with Julia.

Later, Winston and Julia begin their physical relationship outside the city, in the woods (can you say Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden?).  Julia tells him that she sleeps with other members of the party.  Winston is not jealous of this; in fact, he finds her even more seductive knowing that she enjoys sex.  The Party has drained its citizens of their sex drives, and so Winston finds it amazing that anyone has a sexual impulse left.

Winston is mainly attracted to how Julia is so outspoken against the Party, how she is a double-agent, how she can yell and scream during the Two Minutes Hate and then denounce the Party with equal enthusiasm.

They soon form a psuedo-family above the Antique Shop, a pseudo-home.  Their once physical relationship is becoming more intellectual.  They are not just talking of rebellion; they are doing it.  If only those pesky Proles would unite....

Then, they are caught.  Or, at least, Winston is caught.  We never know if Winston was set up by Julia or not.  Orwell leaves it open to make a case either way.  I tend to think she hated Big Brother and loved Winston.  But that may be the reader falling for the same propaganda and doublethink that Winston fell for.

Winston abandons all that Julia helped him believe about Big Brother in pursuit of O'Brien.  Winston ultimately trusts the father-figure (O'Brien) over the mother-figure (Julia), such is the conditioning of the Big Brother.

In the end, Winston sells Julia out, and she sells Winston out.  Their love for each other is easily broken by O'Brien.  Winston loves O'Brien much more by the end of the novel than he ever loved Julia.  Winston and Julia become unpersons.  Or maybe Julia moved on to her next lover in the woods....

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What makes Winston feel tenderness towards Julia in chapter 4 of 1984 book 2?

In this chapter, Winston feels some tenderness towards Julia because she is menstruating. Although this is not specifically stated in the text—Julia simple says "it's started early"—we know that she is talking about her period because of a comment that Winston makes later on:

It struck him that when one lived with a woman this particular disappointment must be a normal, recurring event.

This "normal" and "recurring" event is clearly an allusion to Julia's menstruation.

This event evokes a feeling of tenderness in Winston for two reasons. Firstly, his relationship with Julia has evolved from being purely physical into being something more meaningful. During the month that they have been seeing one another, Winston has got to know Julia better. He now appreciates her for more than just her physical appearance.

More importantly, the arrival of Julia's period makes Winston thinks about what it must be like to live with a woman, to be married to one another. He suddenly wished that he and Julia were married and could experience that kind of life:

He wished that he were walking through the streets with her just as they were doing now but openly and without fear, talking of trivialities and buying odds and ends for the household.

In other words, Winston's tenderness is not just based on his increasing affection for Julia, but also on his deep desire to live a life in which Party oppression and surveillance no longer exists.

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Julia tells Winston that their next meeting is going to have to wait. She happened to be experiencing her time of the month. At first Winston gets entirely upset at her, but then,

...just at this moment the crowd pressed them together and their hands accidentally met. She gave the tips of his fingers a quick squeeze that seemed to invite not desire but affection.

Prior to this moment, their joining together had been about pure sex. Now, Winston is realizing that he actually longed for something more than just a physical experience. He wanted the long-term relationship, the companionship, and the developing of a household together with a woman. These aspects of human nature were so foreign to him that he did not realize he had the capacity to feel this way. That simple touch of affection among all of the other people made Winston feel this intense tenderness to Julia.

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Where and how do Julia and Winston meet in 1984?

Winston and Julia meet at the Ministry of Truth or Minitrue, where they both work. They keep eyeing each other obliquely. Winston doesn't know her name, but calls her the "dark-haired girl." He thinks she is spying on him, because he has noticed her glancing at him. He especially believes this after he sees her on the street near Mr. Charrington's shop. 

They make contact when, outside a lavatory at work, Julia pretends to fall down. Winston helps her up and she slips a note saying "I love you" into his hand, all right in front of a viewscreen.

They meet in a wooded area outside the city. It is not until this point that Winston learns her name is Julia. He tells her his prior feelings:

'I hated the sight of you,' he said. 'I wanted to rape you and then murder you afterwards. Two weeks ago I thought seriously of smashing your head in with a cobblestone. If you really want to know, I imagined that you had something to do with the Thought Police.'

Julia is delighted that her "front" of a good Party member is working so well (she thinks), but the passage is important. At this point, Winston is still more or less dehumanized and sexually frustrated, filled with fearful and aggressive feelings--in other words, just the way the Party wants him to be. Now that he has met up with Julia, that will change. 

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In Part Two of this book, Julia and Winston meet a number of times in the course of their affair.  I am going to assume that you are asking about the first time they meet and have sex with each other.

This rendevous is set up for a secluded area out in the country.  We are not told where it is -- like what town it is near or anything.  Julia has been there before, but Winston has not, except in his dreams.  She tells him exactly how to get there, what train to take, which way to turn going out of the station, how far to go, etc.

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What are some quotes from 1984 about Winston and Julia's meeting in the woods?

Winston and Julia's secret meeting in the woods takes place in part 2, chapter 2. In terms of useful quotations, it is important to include a quotation that highlights the dangers of meeting secretly. Winston and Julia must be mindful of the possibility of hidden microphones which would alert the Party to their meeting and, more importantly, to their forbidden relationship:

"I didn’t want to say anything in the lane," she went on, "in case there’s a mike hidden there. I don’t suppose there is, but there could be."

Secondly, when Winston asks Julia about her sexual history, she tells him that she is not a novice:

Of course. Hundreds of times—well, scores of times, anyway.

This is important because it shows Julia is not as innocent as people might think. Julia is a very sexual person who expresses her hatred of the Party through her body. In fact, Julia detests the Party's ideology of purity, as she explains to Winston:

I hate purity, I hate goodness! I don’t want any virtue to exist anywhere. I want everyone to be corrupt to the bones.

For Winston, this is the best thing he could have hoped to hear. He now knows that Julia is just as rebellious as he is, and this makes him love her:

Listen. The more men you’ve had, the more I love you. Do you understand that?

Finally, in the closing lines of the chapter, Winston realizes that the act of having sex with Julia has a deeper, political meaning. Together, they have forged a personal loyalty, a union in which they have openly declared their love for each other and, more importantly, their hatred of the Party:

Their embrace had been a battle, the climax a victory. It was a blow struck against the Party. It was a political act.
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This is an exciting although very dangerous time for Winston. Amidst the enormous frustration and angst in his life he appears to have made contact with an attractive younger lady who may share his hatred of the regime that they live under. In fact this turns out to be true. Julia later says to him,

"It was something in your face...As soon as I saw you I knew you were against them" (p. 128).

 Winston is willing to take the risk that Julia is not leading him into a trap as a member of the Thought Police. He is also willing to take the risk that he won't be caught by the Party's all pervasive surveillance. He muses that even in the countryside it wasn't much safer than London,

"There were no telescreens, of course, but there was always the danger of concealed microphones...." (p. 123).

It is to Winston's relief that he later learns that Julia has chosen the meeting place well; it is in a clearing with trees too small to conceal microphones.

Winston's secret meeting with Julia reveals several important aspects of their characters. One is that Winston is willing to take risks in trusting others which could rapidly bring about his downfall. In Julia's case we are introduced to a character who delights in her ability to deceive the Party and create her own space for personal enjoyment. The lengths to which the Party goes to monitor its citizens also yet again reminds the reader of the terribly repressive nature of this society.

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What quotes from 1984 comment on Winston and Julia's relationship?

After Julia sends Winston a dangerous note stating "I love you," he desperately wants to see her but does not know how to arrange it (he does not know her at this point). After she does not appear in the canteen for three days, Winston is at his wit's end with longing to see her. His torment is described in the following way:

"Then for three dreadful days she did not appear at all. His whole mind and body seemed to be afflicted with an unbearable sensitivity, a kind of transparency, which made every movement, every sound, every contact, every word he had to speak or listen to, an agony. Even in his sleep he could not altogether escape from her image" (page 111).

Winston has never experienced love before, and he finds the experience strangely painful. In this passage, his love is compared to a feeling of great sensitivity. It's almost as if his heart is so numb that its reawakening causes painful feelings of immense tenderness and sensitivity. Once he knows that he loves Julia (whom he hasn't even really met yet), he finds contact with his dystopian world painful. He wants to recoil into himself and find time to think, but the constant activity and telescreens around him make that difficult. At night, he sees Julia in his dreams, as she is constantly on his mind. 

After Winston gets to know Julia, her influence on him is profound. Her influence is described in the following passage:

"A thing that astonished him about her was the coarseness of her language. Party members were not supposed to swear, and Winston himself seldom did swear, aloud, at any rate. Julia, however, seemed unable to mention the Party, and especially the Inner Party, without using the kinds of words you saw chalked up in dripping alleyways. He did not dislike it. It was merely one symptom of her revolt against the Party and all its ways, and somehow it seemed natural and healthy, like the sneeze of a horse that smells bad hay" (page 122).

Behaviors that would have shocked Winston before, such as cursing the Party, suddenly seem natural to Winston after he falls in love with Julia. Falling in love is a rebellious act, as it is disallowed in the Party, so the process of loving Julia brings Winston closer and closer to rebellion against the Party. He comes to see infractions, such as cursing the Party, as healthy, and he thinks of these acts like the sneeze of a horse. This is a powerful simile, as it expresses the idea that Julia's revolt against the Party is not wrong but is instead a healthy reaction to a kind of disease or something that is wrong and poisonous.  

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What are Winston and Julia's feelings for each other in 1984, and why?

One of the most pervasive themes in 1984 is the way in which there are no purely personal relationships or emotions in a totalitarian state. Every feeling that anyone has is an impulse for or against the Party: if not enthusiastically for it then implicitly against it. Winston and Julia love each other, but they feel this way largely because they hate Big Brother and the Party so intensely.

The first time Winston and Julia make love, she tells him that she has done this before hundreds or, at any rate, scores of times. Winston’s heart leaps, and he tells her that the more sex she has had, the more he loves her. This complete inversion of the traditional prejudice in favor of female purity and even virginity is a reaction against the Party. The Party wants Julia to be pure and chaste. Winston, therefore, wants the opposite. Sex with Katharine, his wife, for the purposes of reproduction, was “our duty to the Party.” Sex with Julia is an act of rebellion. As Julia herself points out, it dissipates energy which the Party would like to be treasured up for the Two Minutes Hate.

Winston and Julia clearly love each other until they are forced to betray that love. When O’Brien asks if they are willing to be separated forever for the purposes of Goldstein’s Brotherhood, they refuse, despite having said that they would die or commit hideous crimes in its service. However, the intensity of their love is complicated somewhat by being bound up with their hatred of the Party. When they meet at the end of the book, Winston has been broken to the point where he loves Big Brother. Since his former love of Julia was part of his hatred of Big Brother, he looks upon her now, if not quite with hatred, at least with a gelid dislike which may be even further from love. Love of Big Brother and the Party will permit no other loyalties.

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The relationship between Winston and Julia changes considerably during the course of the novel. Winston is initially suspicious of Julia, in part because he has started to admit his dissatisfaction with the Party and Big Brother. She seems like a devout believer. After he converses with her, however, he becomes intrigued. Both are similar in some ways in that each has a rebellious streak. It is their opposition to the stultifying norms of their society that initially draws them to each other.

Winston is older and has memories of a very different way of life. He seems driven by nostalgia as well as romance. Although Winston is a pessimist, part of him wishes that society could change to allow more personal feelings and expressions.

Julia initially makes little distinction among various men with whom she could have sexual relations. Eventually, she develops a strong affection for Winston, in part because he is different. Julia tends to live in the moment, however, while Winston thinks about both past and future. Once he is deeply in love with her, he understands what a dangerous position he is in and the potential risk of exposure he poses to her. Under torture, he confesses all and betrays her.

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In 1984, how does Winston's sexual relationship with Julia influence his life?

It is ironic that Winston Smith's first urges toward Julia are negative:

Winston had disliked her from the first moment of seeing her...he continued to feel a peculiar uneasiness, which had fear mixed up in it as well as hostility whenever she was anywhere near him.

Having demonstrated his rebelliousness to himself in purchasing the diary and writing in it "Down with Big Brother," Winston sees no reason to comply in other ways since in his fatalism he feels that he will be caught no matter what he does, so he may as well experience what enjoyment he can. Further, he hates the Party so much that he desires rebellion in other forms besides writing in his diary.

Here are three aspects of Winston's life influenced by his relationship with Julia:

  • With Julia, Winston is able to rebel against the Party. His affair is, of itself, against the rules and provides Winston some satisfaction. But it also gives his life some direction as he has someone with whom to rebel.
  • With Julia, Winston wishes to join the Brotherhood in the hope of a free life since there is someone else he loves and with whom he can share his life. 
  • Because of his affair with Julia and his expressions of his thoughts, Winston falls victim to the Party when he talks with Mr. Charrington in his shop, who is really one of the Thought Police.
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How do Julia and Winston differ in three ways in 1984?

Certainly, neither Winston, the "common man" of Orwell's futuristic society, or Julia, Winston's Juliet,--"Winston woke with the word "Shakespeare" on his lips"--are content in the controlling, bellicose society in which they live. However, they are very different from one another, if not contrary.

1. While Winston is aging, Julia is vibrant and young and not as grave as Winston.

Winston is thirity-nine years old, suffering a malaise of the spirit:

It was as though some huge force were pressing down upon you – something that penetrated inside your skull, battering against your brain, frightening you out of your beliefs, persuading you, almost, to deny the evidence of your senses. I

He suffers from a varicos ulcer on his right ankle, the symptoms of which lessen when he is in love; on the other hand Julia is pretty, dark-haired, very physical, and energetic, enjoying the moment. She tells Winston,

"I've been at school too, dear. Sex talks once a month for the over-sixteens. And in the Youth Movement. They rub it into you for years. I dare say it works in a lot of cases. But of course you can never tell; people are such hypocrites.

Unlike Winston she is not intellectual, but she is vibrant while Winston seems weary. She throws off the usual caution that she exerted in previous lovemakings for Winston; however, he is not able to be as spontaneous as she, often lying with her and thinking of political issues.

2. Winston is more cerebral and reflective as well as cautious whereas Julia is spontaneous and delights in the physical. 

In order to record his musings, Winston purchases a diary, a forbidden object, and records his thoughts and feelings as he secretly vents his hatred for Big Brother and the oppressive society in which he lives. In his diary he writes such things as "Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death." When he puts away the diary, Winston reminisces about his mother and a time when there was still "privacy, love, and friendship."

At the Two-Minute Hate Session he is immediately distrustful of Julia,

But yesterday, ...she had sat immediately behind him when there was no apparent need to do so. Quite likely her real object had been to listen to him and make sure whether he was shouting loudly enough.

But, Julia simply wanted to be near him as she passes Winston a note that reads,"I love you."

When Winston and Julia engage in lovemaking, for him it is political in nature, a rebellion against the government by establishing a loyalty for another person; for Julia it is simply physical and emotional pleasure.

3. Winston is fatalistic; Julia is content to live in the moment.

Winston has recurring recollections of what his childhood was like and he muses on the love his mother had for him--perhaps, a Freudian wish to return to the the security and affection in his past. Constantly, he seeks something to give his life meaning, and this is why he turns to rebellion even though he knows he will be caught, but it is the only way to find truth, that which makes life viable and real.

He does not hide his diary, figuring it will be found anyway; he knows that he and Julia will be caught, but he continues his actions, longing to join the Brotherhood and reading Goldstein's Manifesto. Because he believes he will be caught, Winston takes risk that endanger Julia as well. On the other hand, Julia just enjoys the warmth of being with Winston and their making love for itself; she is apathetic to the political thought of the Party. Nevertheless her short sexual escapades wear away at the Party's control over her. 

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In 1984, what circumstances enabled Winston and Julia's first conversation?

Winston and Julia speak for the first time in Part Two, Chapter One. Winston is at work in the Ministry of Truth and is returning from the lavatory cubicle when he sees a "solitary figure" walking towards him. He quickly realises that the figure is the "dark-haired girl" (Julia) and he notices that her arm is in a sling. Suddenly, as she gets closer to him, she stumbles and falls down, landing on her injured arm and calling out in pain. It is when Winston goes over to help her that the pair have their first conversation:

"You’re hurt?" he said.
"It’s nothing. My arm. It’ll be all right in a second."

Moreover, after Winston has helped her up, he realises that she has slipped a secret note into his hand. It is this encounter and the contents of that note which bring Winston and Julia together.

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How does the physical relationship between Julia and Winston influence or change them in 1984?

While the relationship between Julia and Winston begins as a purely sexual liaison, it soon develops into a mutually caring relationship. The two fall in love with each other. The first component of the relationship that begins to change them is, therefore, the genuine love they experience. Winston, especially, starts to become more humane. He moves from having sexual fantasies of harming Julia to wanting to protect and care for her. Both characters are willing to sacrifice themselves for the other.

A second component that influences them is having the room they can escape to over Mr. Carrington's shop. This offers them something like what was, in earlier times, a normal domestic life together. They lie in bed with each other, drink coffee together, and talk and dream together. This experience whets their desire for a life more fulfilling than the one they currently experience as outer Party members.

A third component that influences them is the knowledge they both have that their situation can't last forever. This encourages them to make the most of the fleeting time they do have, and it also encourages them to seek out what Winston believes is a secret, revolutionary underground plotting to overthrow the state.

The most important component of their being together is the relationship they build, which matters more to them than anything else. This is what is an intolerable thought crime in the eyes of the government. 

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