One of the most interesting things about to me 1984 was the portrayal of Julia, and it's actually something that I've been a little conflicted about. When we first really met Julia, I was definitely very intrigued by her as a character, and I was also (for once) really happy with the way that Orwell depicted her. She was a breath of fresh air in comparison to the depiction of Lenina, Linda and Fanny from Brave New World. Where they conform mindlessly to the ideologies of their government, Julia refuses to accept the Party's rules and expectations. She has strong opinions, and she's not afraid to share them when she's given the chance. She's smart too - she knows what she needs to do and say in order to keep up the facade. She plays the Party in order to survive, and she does it all for herself. What comes to mind again is the moment where she tears off her chastity belt. It's such a blatant and tangible act of rebellion, and I know it's not necessarily gendered because chastity sashes aren't limited to the women in the society, but still, it feels really powerful when I think about all the baggage (past and present!) that comes with the discussion of women and their "innocence."
That was the other thing I loved about Julia - how comfortable and confident she is in her sexuality. She has a lot of sex!! And she enjoys it and she's proud of it! That's something that's often missing in female characters, especially in books of that time period - usually their sexuality just doesn't really exist, or if it does it's predatory and the woman is a "slut" (Think Lenina in Brave New World, who gets real close to raping John). I also liked the fact that Winston didn't seem too threatened by Julia's personality. She consistently took charge in situations, and it didn't seem to be a problem to him, as I might have expected it to be.
At the same time though, it felt like some of Julia's virtues are defined in direct opposition to ~women in general~ in 1984. Women within the society of 1984, at least from Winston's perspective, are generally very shallow and consumed by the Party's ideologies. Granted, pretty much everyone is this way, but (and I can't find the specific spot in the book, so I know my assertions seem kind of sketchy and baseless which I'm sorry about) the way Winston describes it, it's more extreme with women. He describes the women in such a way that they seem to compare more to the children in the book than anyone else. Even Julia herself says she hates women: "Julia was twenty-six years old. She lived in a hostel with thirty other girls ("Always in the stink of women! How I hate women!" she said parenthetically)" (115 in my book but I think my book is different- it's in II of Part Two). Reading that made me cringe because it feels all too familiar. It's similar to the "not like other girls" trope that's really common in books and movies, and honestly just everyday life. A girl who is "not like other girls" is cool because she does things that are stereotypically masculine - either she drinks whiskey or plays sports or, oftentimes, it's because she has a lot of casual sex. In these cases a girl's elevated value is gained specifically in opposition to "other girls," which like? -- what's wrong with girls, why is it an insult to be like other girls??
So I guess what I'm saying is that, while there are lots of things that I love about Julia's portrayal initially in the book, I'm not comfortable with the fact that her intrigue becomes significant specifically in comparison to the inherent stupidity and vapidity of all women in 1984, and I'm disappointed by the internalized misogyny that Orwell depicts Julia as having.
-Lili
That was the other thing I loved about Julia - how comfortable and confident she is in her sexuality. She has a lot of sex!! And she enjoys it and she's proud of it! That's something that's often missing in female characters, especially in books of that time period - usually their sexuality just doesn't really exist, or if it does it's predatory and the woman is a "slut" (Think Lenina in Brave New World, who gets real close to raping John). I also liked the fact that Winston didn't seem too threatened by Julia's personality. She consistently took charge in situations, and it didn't seem to be a problem to him, as I might have expected it to be.
At the same time though, it felt like some of Julia's virtues are defined in direct opposition to ~women in general~ in 1984. Women within the society of 1984, at least from Winston's perspective, are generally very shallow and consumed by the Party's ideologies. Granted, pretty much everyone is this way, but (and I can't find the specific spot in the book, so I know my assertions seem kind of sketchy and baseless which I'm sorry about) the way Winston describes it, it's more extreme with women. He describes the women in such a way that they seem to compare more to the children in the book than anyone else. Even Julia herself says she hates women: "Julia was twenty-six years old. She lived in a hostel with thirty other girls ("Always in the stink of women! How I hate women!" she said parenthetically)" (115 in my book but I think my book is different- it's in II of Part Two). Reading that made me cringe because it feels all too familiar. It's similar to the "not like other girls" trope that's really common in books and movies, and honestly just everyday life. A girl who is "not like other girls" is cool because she does things that are stereotypically masculine - either she drinks whiskey or plays sports or, oftentimes, it's because she has a lot of casual sex. In these cases a girl's elevated value is gained specifically in opposition to "other girls," which like? -- what's wrong with girls, why is it an insult to be like other girls??
So I guess what I'm saying is that, while there are lots of things that I love about Julia's portrayal initially in the book, I'm not comfortable with the fact that her intrigue becomes significant specifically in comparison to the inherent stupidity and vapidity of all women in 1984, and I'm disappointed by the internalized misogyny that Orwell depicts Julia as having.
-Lili
I agree with you. I was really excited by the way Julia was portrayed in the beginning of the book. However, as the book went on, I also noticed some of the things you mentioned above. I think it was especially disappointing because of the way she was portrayed in the beginning. It seemed like she was going to be portrayed in a different way from other female characters that are usually only used as love interests or don't play a significant role in the book. While she did play a significant role in the book, Orwell's misogyny definitely tainted her portrayal and the other women in the world of 1984.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm picking up what you're putting down. Julia went from a sex driven character, who just wanted to stick it to the party, to a suddenly dull a boring side character. It feels like Orwell just made her "stupid" for no reason. It doesn't even make sense either, because she could've helped move the plot along more... I don't know, there's so many things wrong with this book. I just wish Julia wasn't just shoved to the side after being used up as Winston's love interest. I personally wish Julia had more to her than just casual sex.
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting if 1984 were narrated by the likes of Julia instead of Winston. Unlike the latter, she has a history of defiance from the Party. Winston, on the other hand, does not attempt to defy the Party until he is given the idea from Julia herself. She also holds different views from Winston, who emphasizes his want for direct activism while Julia only wishes to enjoy the moment and doses off whenever Winston brings the topic up. Finally, I would like to know how Julia handles being tortured in the Ministry of Love, where Winston fell to its vices within weeks. However she is portrayed, I think we should explore Julia's character, so we learn of another perspective against the Party in 1984.
ReplyDelete1984 would be a completely different set of thoughts from the point of Julia, but would have a similar plot. I feel like with the exception of sex, Julia and Winston are almost the same person: they both are against the party and they both have to be in the closet for that. Therefore, she would think and say similar thing as Winston because of their values, and therefore the book wouldn't be too much different plot wise
DeleteI also agree with you. In regards to women in Brave New World I definitely felt that Julia was more developed. She actually had a purpose and goal. She wanted whatever freedom she could achieve in a limited, controllable society. However she still wasn't as developed as much as Winston, not close enough. I feel like it would have been interesting to see the Room 101/ Ministry of Love scene through Juliette point of view. What is her worst fear? What "broke" her?
ReplyDelete- Anna O.
I agree with you. In the beginning, I liked how Julia had an important role and it seemed like maybe there was finally a female with a prominent role. However, as the book went on, I felt that there were many holes in relation to her, or parts of the storyline where I felt that reading her perspective would have also been nice. I also felt that reading about room 101 from her point of view would have added an interesting layer to the novel.
DeleteI think 1984 would definitely would have gained a lot from involving Julia more and giving her a more important role in the book. Even though she was somewhat developed she still was nothing near a main character and I think she could have provided at least a more interesting perspective on Oceania. I think it would have also been really interesting to see what broke her in the ministry of love, I think that would have taught us a lot about oceania.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you. I found it tough to articulate just what irks me about Julia, but her "I'm cool and better than other women" attitude really just sums it up. I remember we talked a lot about this phenomenon with other women characters during junior year, but the character of Julia seems to also be a victim of the "cool girl" phenomenon, which comes from the book "Gone Girl", where women are expected to be "cool": they should drink beer and whiskey, eat burgers without caring about their weight, enjoy casual sex, play a lot of sports, etc. Basically adopt a ton of "masculine" traits and in that adoption of those traits, say that having more "feminine" traits is inherently bad, as it is unattractive to men.
ReplyDeleteI actually wasn't too excited when Julia was introduced as a character because I was scared that, because she was female, she was going to be a character who would mainly be associated with sex and be a relatively flat character...and unfortunately, she basically was. I wish she was a character who was more involved in a scheme to epically overthrow the government, or just a more developed character in general. Just my thoughts :)
ReplyDeleteI also found her to be a pretty flat character. In the beginning, her coming in to the story seemed new and interesting and I expected her to add more to the story, but in the end she did not really add anything exciting. It would have been cool to see her do more as a character, especially with the rebellion against the government, but she seemed a little underdeveloped.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I like Julia in the sense that she is a strong, clever female character, which is a breath of fresh air to see. However, I also agree that I wish she would embrace the fact that she is a confident woman instead of trying to alienate herself entirely from all women. I think it would have been really cool if there were more women like her who defied the party and were involved in rebellion, but she seemed to be the only one, which I found slightly disappointing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with a lot of your points. Julia was set up to be a strong female character who sort of fell a little flat, and also has the internalized misogyny you were talking about. I do think that while Julia's virtues are often defined in opposition to the women of Oceania, I think you could say the same for Winston. We don't get to see a ton of people in opposition to the Party in this book, so most of the people we see are all shallow (like the guy who was happy his children reported him to the Thought Police), meaning we don't know how other rebellious women might feel about other women. But I would say Winston sort of has a disdain for all people as well, which is sort of similar to Julia's internalized misogyny.
ReplyDelete