1984 George Orwell Resistance of the Protagonists

The Resistance of Winston and Julia
In his novel ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’, George Orwell created a new world which is divided into three intercontinental super-states after a global war. The novel occurs in Oceania, which is one of these super-states. There are three parts of the social system; the upper-class Inner Party, the middle-class Outer Party and the lower class Proles, who make up 85 percent of the population and represent the working class, in other words; Big Brother; the party leader at top, the party in the middle and the proles at the bottom. The government; the Party, controls the population through four government ministries; Ministry of Peace, Ministry of Plenty, Ministry of Love and Ministry of Truth. The private and the public lives of the people are monitored by the telescreens. The protagonist Winston Smith is a member of Outer Party. Since he grew up during the revolution and the civil war, he can clearly remember how it was like before the revolution. This fact makes him keep negative thoughts towards the Party and Big Brother. He keeps a journal of these thoughts about the Party which if discovered by the Thought Police would warrant death. One day a dark haired woman hands Winston a note reading ‘I love you.’ She is Julia who repairs the Ministry’s novel writing machines. Before then, he always thought that she is a spy for the Inner Party. But with the note she hands him, he doesn’t resist and they begin a love affair. They first meet in the country, then they rent a room above antiques shop where they think they are safe and alone without knowing the Thought Police have discovered their rebellion and had been spying on them for some time. Julia was important for Winston, because the Party views marriage as a vehicle for producing children to serve the party. Erotic desire is rebellion. But with Julia, Winston feels different. Sexual intercourse with Julia is not mechanical, it is emotional. ‘Sexual intercourse was to be looked on as a slightly disgusting minor operation, like having enema’.(part 1, chapter 6, page 69) Winston believes that the Brotherhood has communicated with him when the Inner Party member, O’Brien approaches him. O’Brien gives him, the leader of the Brotherhood; Emmanuel Goldsteins’ book, which explains the war and the slogans WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. Winston reads the book again and again. He wants to talk about some possible organized rebellion against the party and share some parts of the book with Julia but it seems impossible. Julia does not believe in the existence of the Brotherhood. Julia does not believe the war is real. She thinks that it is made up by the Party to keep the people frightened. In her opinion, the Party fires the bomb on London themselves. But Winston believes that she does not care about finding the real truth. ‘She only questioned the teachings of the Party when they in some way touched upon her own life. Often she was ready to accept the official mythology, simply because the difference between truth and falsehood did not seem important to her’. (part2, chapter 5, pg: 154) Even though Julia is not interested, Part 2 is the most positive section of the book since it examines the chance of the survival of human relationships, hopes and Winston’s rebellion. The members of the party are shown as cold and impersonal, relationships are a matter of duty rather than of love and affection. But the Proles-the lower causes- are shown as having warmth and humanity. ‘Everywhere stood the same solid unquerable figure, made monstrous by work and childbearing, toiling from birth to death and still singing. Out of those naughty lions, a race of conscious beings must one day come’. The humanity of the Proles and their possible role in a future is repeated throughout the book. ‘If there is hope, it lies in the Proles’. Also the Proles make up about 85 percent of the population and the Party does not really pay any attention to them. But still, Winston knows that this hope has a very small possibility because the Proles are passive and uneducated and anything he has ever seen a group of Proles get upset over is a shortage of tin saucepans. ‘Until the become conscious, they will never rebel and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious’.(Part 1, chapter 3, pg:74) Winston tries to find out the reasons behind the Party’s mind control. ‘The freedom is to say that two plus two makes four. If that is granted, all these follows’.(part 1, chapter 7, pg:84) Winston and Julia discuss the inevitability of their capture. If caught by the Thought Police, they must not betray each other. Both understand , they will be made to confess andsay anything the Party wishes, but as long as they do not stop loving each other, two will not have truly betrayed each other. The Party cannot make you stop loving someone. ‘It’s the one thing they cannot do. They can make you say anything, anything, but they can’t make you believe it. They can’t get inside you’.(Part 2, chapter 7, pg:167) One day, the thought police captures Winston and Julia in their bedroom. They deliver them to the Ministry of Love for interrogation. They see Charrington, the shop keeper who rented the room to them, in the Ministry of Love. He reveals himself as an officer in the Thought Police. After some psychological torture to Winston, O’Brien enters into his cell and admits that is a spy for the Party and lets the guard in to beat Winston. During a torture session, his imprisonment in the Miniluv is explained; ‘There are three stages in your reintegration’ said O’Brien. ‘ There is learning, there is understanding and there is acceptance’ of the Party’s reality. During re-education, Winston admits and confesses all the crimes that he committed or not including Julia. In the second stage of re-education, Winston admits: ‘I have not betrayed Julia’ means despite his criminal confession, Winston had not stopped loving her. When Winston suddenly awakens, screaming ‘Julia! Julia! Julia! My love! Julia!’, O’Brien enter but not to interrogate this time. To send him to Room-101, the Miniluv’s most feared room where the prisoners greatest fear is forced on them, the final step in political re-education; acceptance. When the Winston’s greatest fear rats are about to devour his face, frantically shouts ‘Do it to Julia, not me!’. In his moment of fear, ultimately abandons his love for Julia. After obtaining what he want, O’Brien ends the tortures and Winston is reintegrated to society, brainwashed to accept the Party’s doctrine and to love Big Brother. After reintegration to Oceanian society, Winston encounters Julia in a park where each admits having betrayed the other and that betrayal changes a person. ‘But it was all right, everything was all right. The struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother’.(pg:300)