According to Aldous Huxley, D. Lawrence once said that Balzac was 'a gigantic dwarf', and in a sense the same is true of Dickens. Charles Dickens, by George Orwell. Come to think of it, the song she was singing had been written by one of the ministries, probably the one Julia works at. Therefore it would not have contained any ThoughtCrime. Nevertheless, no party member could have sang it carefree like the prole.
I was thinking along the lines of how the woman could give hope to Winston because the woman could possibly have the children who could possibly revolt in the future. Which make me wonder was she singing the song mindlessly or was she singing it with purpose? I guess this part just kind of confuses me. Her children will never revolt, because they would never be allowed education, weapons, independence, or the ability to gather. They're cattle - free to sing and dance, but are still beasts of burden used by the Party and will never have power.
He knew the reason. It was because of the atmosphere of hockey-fields and cold baths and community hikes and general clean-mindedness which she managed to carry about with her. He disliked nearly all women, and especially the young and pretty ones.
She is pretty, seemingly chaste, and, at least outwardly, loyal to the party. The Party, the totalitarian governing body, does not encourage love matches and sex outside of purely functional relations between man and wife for the sole purpose of procreation is a punishable offense.
Even this opening, consisting of a seeming distasteful description of Julia, points to the power she has over Winston. He may have strongly negative feelings towards her to the point he wants to rape and kill her in the beginning, but the ability to elicit such strong feelings speaks to the strength of her influence over him.
Julia, on the other hand, lives life according to her desires and finds ways to be with the men she chooses to be with while avoiding capture. She has the strength to do what she wants and in the process even manages to defy the Party which she hates as much as Winston does. Not only is Julia not a weak a character in , she seems to have more going for her than Winston. She is more clever in and is more cunning in the ways that she rebels against the Party. Instead of focusing on unrealistic goals, she finds ways to get around the Party doctrine without calling attention to herself.
This can be seen as a more mature response to a system that is in complete control when there is no real resistance movement that can be looked to for possible deliverance from the oppression. The party has also tried to get rid of the feminine qualities of women such as affection and care-giving. The fact that Winston is angry at women for letting this happen to them underscores the power and ability he subconsciously believes them to have.
He feels they should have somehow prevented this from happening. She is clever enough to appear to be obedient externally but also finds ways to live according to her desires not those of the Party.
She gives Winston hope, and he begins to imagine a world where he can think and do whatever he wants after they overthrow the Party. Julia also validates his beliefs and his feelings. Julia gives Winston hope, validates his beliefs and strongly impacts his life. However, it is this sturdy nature that both Winston and Julia admire. Winston also notes that despite all the work the Prole woman must do, she is constantly singing throughout, something Winston finds hopeful.
The Proles make up a large majority, 85 percent of the population of Oceania. Winston believes that if the Proles were to become fully aware of their plight that they would rebel and bring down the Party. Winston and Julia view her as beautiful as she will be able to give birth to future generations of children who will become rebels against the Party. So in addition to presenting this woman as strong and resilient, as Julia was presented, the Prole woman is also presented as being able to remain happy in the face of difficulty and able to not just help ensure the survival of her generation but also generations in the future.
The fact Winston and Julia see her children as intent on overthrowing the Party, speaks to her effectiveness as a mother and as having the ability to influence her children to do what is right for all members of the society. Winston remembers a time when women showed affection for affections sake alone. In a dream, Winston remembers his mother making this kind of embracing gesture, and associates a similar gesture with the mother in the film who is trying to shield her child from bullets.
They emanate from the strength, nurturance and protecting nature of women, that Winston sees as being embodied by his mother.
In another memory of his mother, Winston remembers playing a board game with her on a rainy afternoon, right before she disappears. The memory includes his younger sister and it is a happy memory of laughter and playing together just to enjoy each others company. It is clearly his mother who is holding the family tightly together and binding them into a cohesive unit. The family members love and care for each other have aspirations other than just pleasing the Party or gaining brownie points by turning people in as revolutionaries to be tortured.
She establishes an atmosphere where affection is shown for affections sake alone. Her very disappearance speaks to her strength and influence as if she was not seen as a threat to the Party they would not have taken her.
One day Winston goes to see a movie which shows a young boy and his mother being attacked. The mother instinctively puts her arms around him trying to comfort him covering him up as much as possible as if that protect him from the bullets. She automatically puts herself in harm's way despite there being no chance either of them will survive the situation. This further builds on the memories Winston has of his mother, as it shows the direct connection between parent and child which comes before every other need.
It also is an example of how people have the ability to be selfless, despite the Parties efforts to reinforce a type of selfishness by suggesting that it is right for people to do whatever it takes to increase the chance of their survival.
This is ironic in a society perpetrated on the idea that everyone must come together under a common umbrella of Party loyalty first without thoughts to their own needs. Winston feels conflicted when watching this scene as part of him longs to be able to experience and express these types of emotions yet he knows that such thoughts are a betrayal against Party values. He recounts this scene in his diary showing how strongly it affected him, along with an account of a Prole mother who becomes furious at what the movie showed and that it was showed to children.
This outburst occurs when the theater is filled with Party members, which poses a clear risk to the mother that she will be taken into custody. Winston and Julia make love and fall asleep. After waking, Julia notices a rat poking its head through a hole near the baseboard. Winston reveals that he's afraid of rats, and Julia comforts him, promising to fix the hole. Winston begins the nursery rhyme that Mr. Charrington taught him a few weeks back, and Julia mysteriously finishes most of the verse — something her grandfather taught her.
Winston looks at the glass paperweight and muses about it and what it symbolizes for himself, Julia, and their life together. The lyrics that the prole woman sings mirror the feelings that exist in Winston about his relationship with Julia, even if he does not know it as he hears them. He is becoming much more fond of Julia, to the point of becoming upset when she must break plans with him. In fact, Winston and Julia are beginning to live like "real" people now, like people of the past who luxuriated in the kinds of freedoms forbidden in their current situation.
This chapter sets up a certain domesticity between them, a kind of comfort previously unavailable to them. But that comfort is deceptive, and Winston is aware of that fact, even if Julia is not.
He is sure that they will be caught; the only question in Winston's mind is when. Whenever a detail recurs or is emphasized, the reader should be certain to pay attention to its meaning or function.
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