Question

Essay comparing and contrasting Winston and Julia

Answer 1

Answer:

George Orwell’s novel 1984 presents us two characters who are entirely different, but still complement each other entirely, the protagonist Winston and his love-interest Julia. Julia’s optimistic character highlights Winston’s fatalistic one. Winston believes he and Julia are compatible and can relate to each other because they share the same believes. They both detest Big Brother and want to rebel against the Party. While this is true, their similarities seem to end there. There are in fact major differences between the two that set them apart from each other. What makes Julia inherently different from Winston is the fact that her rebellion, as opposed to Winston’s, is purely self-centred.

Julia really only hates the party when it affects her personally, while Winston hates the party because of what it stands for. Julia does not care about the past in the way Winston does. This contrast can be seen most clearly in chapter IX, where Winston reads Goldstein’s book to Julia. Winston is excited about the book, whereas Julia is seemingly uninterested; she even falls asleep while Winston reads it. Winston is interested in finding an explanation for the Party’s control and how it all begun.

They both get a thrill out of acting traitorous. However, while they have that in common along with a mutual desire for each other, they have several differences. Winston dreams of the days before Big Brother and possess the desire to join the Brotherhood and bring down Big Brother. Julia, on the other hand, does not really understand the full concept of what she is rebelling against, and in fact, she does not really even care. Julia is younger than Winston and does not remember the time before the revolution while Winston can. Lastly, Julia lacks an innate fear of death, one that seems to dictate Winston’s actions. Her main goal is self-satisfaction and she has no fear of the Party holding her.