1984

- What does Julia look like? What is she like?

p132 The girl had risen to her knees. Her face had turned a milky yellow colour against which her mouth
stood out redder than ever
p146 In the same instant it occurred to him that he did not know what colour the girl’s eyes were. They
were probably brown, but people with dark hair sometimes had blue eyes.
p151 Would you believe,’ he said, ‘that till this moment I didn’t know what colour your eyes were?’ They
were brown, he noted, a rather light shade of brown, with dark lashes.
p154 I knew you were against THEM.’ THEM, it appeared, meant the Party, and above all the Inner
Party, about whom she talked with an open jeering hatred which made Winston feel uneasy, although
he knew that they were safe here if they could be safe anywhere. A thing that astonished him about her
was the coarseness of her language. Party members were supposed not to swear

- When Winston and Julia meet in the country, describe the setting considering the use of images.

p154 They were standing in the shade of hazel bushes. The

sunlight, filtering through innumerable leaves, was still hot
on their faces. Winston looked out into the field beyond,
and underwent a curious, slow shock of recognition. He
knew it by sight. An old, closebitten pasture, with a footpath
wandering across it and a molehill here and there. In
the ragged hedge on the opposite side the boughs of the elm
trees swayed just perceptibly in the breeze, and their leaves
stirred faintly in dense masses like women’s hair. Surely
somewhere nearby, but out of sight, there must be a stream
with green pools where dace were swimming?

- What are the differences and similarities between Julia and Winston?

Winston actively opposes the party, Julia does not care the same way. “waist down”
p196 don’t imagine that we can
alter anything in our own lifetime. But one can imagine little
knots of resistance springing up here and there—small
groups of people banding themselves together, and gradually
growing, and even leaving a few records behind, so that
the next generations can carry on where we leave off.’
‘I’m not interested in the next generation, dear. I’m interested
in US.’
‘You’re only a rebel from the waist downwards,’ he told
her

- Comment on their relationship.

- What are the Party slogans?

- What's the structure of society in Oceania like?

p260 After the revolutionary period of the fifties and sixties,
society regrouped itself, as always, into High, Middle, and
Low.

p263 Given this background, one could infer, if one did not
know it already, the general structure of Oceanic society. At
the apex of the pyramid comes Big Brother. Big Brother is infallible
and all-powerful. Every success, every achievement,
every victory, every scientific discovery, all knowledge, all
wisdom, all happiness, all virtue, are held to issue directly
from his leadership and inspiration. Nobody has ever seen
Big Brother. He is a face on the hoardings, a voice on the
telescreen. We may be reasonably sure that he will never die,
and there is already considerable uncertainty as to when he
was born. Big Brother is the guise in which the Party chooses
to exhibit itself to the world. His function is to act as a
focusing point for love, fear, and reverence, emotions which
are more easily felt towards an individual than towards an
organization. Below Big Brother comes the Inner Party. Its
numbers limited to six millions, or something less than
2 per cent of the population of Oceania. Below the Inner
Party comes the Outer Party, which, if the Inner Party is described
as the brain of the State, may be justly likened to the
hands. Below that come the dumb masses whom we habitually
refer to as ‘the proles’, numbering perhaps 85 per cent of
the population. In the terms of our earlier classification, the
proles are the Low: for the slave population of the equatorial
lands who pass constantly from conqueror to conqueror,
are not a permanent or necessary part of the structure.

- What's "doublethink"?
p270 DOUBLETHINK means the power of holding two
contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting

both of them. The Party intellectual knows in which

direction his memories must be altered; he therefore knows
that he is playing tricks with reality; but by the exercise of
DOUBLETHINK he also satisfies himself that reality is not
Violated
Winston is 39, Julia is about 15 years younger than him. She is young, healthy, dark haired. She was born
after the revolution, so she has always been immersed in the party.

Country -> pleasant atmosphere, contrastive with everyday decayed London, nature is described as wild
and beautiful. There is an idea of freedom in nature, as there is no surveillance and the place is not
ruined because of war.

Sex and love are forbidden. The proles are more human, they are allowed to feel and to love their
neighbor and their family. They haven’t been brainwashed like the members of the party. Sex is not
supposed to be enjoyed, which is why Julia and Winston’s encounter is political.

Party slogans -> “War is peace” “Ignorance is strength”, “freedom is slavery”

War is peace -> having a common enemy (war) keeps people of Oceania together, and they endure hard
living conditions, they do not enjoy material things.
Ignorance is strength -> people are kept in the dark about history and reality, which makes them easier
to control. Population’s ignorance makes the party stronger.
Freedom is slavery -> free people (proles) are like slaves.

Big Brother: myth, metallic voice, no one has seen him -> he never dies.

Doublethink: people can accept two realities at once and hold them as truth. It is a result of propaganda.

Julia and Winston feel safe in their room because there is no telescreen (turns out to be false). Mr
Charington ?? turns out to be a member of the Thought Police.

Julia and Winston are doomed, Winston has always been aware of this. She lives in the present, he
cannot help worrying.

P69 BOOKLET “Little Red Riding Hood Revisited” -> traditional children’s story conveying a new message.

“perpetrator” legal English -> language is different, more modern, not for children.

Wolf is a victim of society, not necessarily the villain.

Legal jargon: signed a contract with third party, alleged perpetrator, wolves’ rights, not withstanding the
fact that, intervention, third party heretofore, to wit (to know)

Medical jargon: cholesterol, digestive tract, duodenum, posture,

Text is humorous -> use of jargon, serious language

PART 3

Dark, settled in the Ministry of Love. Winston is brainwashed. His feelings and thoughts are changed, he
is tortured for the sake of exercising power. Lights are on all the time so prisoners can’t sleep and lose
track of time.
After torture in Room 101 -> turning point. He would rather have the rats attack Julia than have him on
himself, he wishes her that pain. He had dreamt of her, which meant he still loved her, but at that
moment he truly gave her up. After that, he is empty. Finds himself in the Chestnut Café, drinking,
accepting everything. He runs into Julia and neither of them feels anything towards the other. They had
both betrayed each other in Room 101. In their meeting, the weather reflects their feelings: they are
cold, hostile. Their physical appearances have changed, they lost interest in each other, their feelings
were eliminated, they had accepted everything, they are perfect members of the party. Very contrastive
with the description of the Golden Country when they had met before.

Julia had always been more interested in her comfort and pleasure; Winston had been more focused on
ideas and political implications. But, in the end, they had both been emptied and brainwashed. Even
Parsons, who had been loyal, had been sold by his own daughter. No matter the degree of crime, they
all ended up in the Ministry of Love.

Thoughtcrime, thought police: anyone can have intrusive thoughts regarding the Party’s true nature.

Message/warning: cautionary tale, novel highlights multiple dangers: totalism, technology, communism.
Its relevance is renewed through time.

Proles: intellectually free, they are not controlled, free to express themselves, to love, their families
have meaning. But, according to O’Brian, they are still too stupid to revolt and take down the party.
There is no hope.

Newspeak: narrow downs range of thought. Semantic fields are reduced, to the point that ideas related
to rebelling against the Party cannot even be formed. The narrower our language scope, the narrower
our thoughts. Connection to today -> certain forms of communication makes us reduce our speech
(Twitter, texting). Contrast with inclusive language -> expanding language to make it more inclusive.

Winston and O’Brian: he was someone he could talk to, although O’Brian wants to defeat Winston
intellectually, to reduce him, but Winston had been so alone in his thoughts and in his convictions that
he clings to him anyway.