Julia

Part II of George Orwell's 1984 has seen the introduction of the resourceful Julia, who leads a clever double life: one as a cheerfully chaste poster-girl for the Party, and another as a quick-witted, law-breaking woman with a powerful sexuality. 

Anyways, from a reader's perspective, Julia is certainly more interesting than Winston, but the way her character is framed has left me with some questions regarding Orwell's views on gender. Julia seems very much a male fantasy; those of you who were in 20th Century Novel last semester may recall Brett from The Sun Also Rises, who is also (at least in my opinion) a male fantasy-dream girl. Both characters have an abundance of sex appeal, "contrarian" personality elements, and various men at their fingertips. And, yes, I do believe that Julia's "love note" to Winston most likely wasn't one of pure and singular romantic love, but rather of respect (for being against "them") combined with lust.  Julia's a bad girl: sharp and resourceful, corrupt to the core, and she's "had" scores of men. Conveniently, she's everything Winston finds attractive. Curious. She's the perfect girl to him; does that mean she's supposed to be the reader's darling as well?

That begs the follow-up question: is the reader meant to be sympathetic to what Winston desires? The Big Brother regime is, obviously, meant to be viewed as horrible and oppressive in this novel. But the main character isn't exactly a shining beacon of morality either. He confesses to Julia, in their first moments together in the hideout, his fantasy of raping and murdering her, under the guise of "wanting her to know the worst of him." She laughs. How romantic. They're "corrupt to the core" together.

Let me know what you all think!

-NC