The Rebellion of Julia in 1984

徐恬

摘 要：Rebellion is one of the significant themes of the political novel 1984. This essay explores the characteristics of Julia's rebellion， and tries to find out valid reasons to explain the cause of her rebellion so that it provides another aspect on the understanding of this novel.

關鍵詞：1984； Julia's rebellion； reasons

1984， a political novel written by George Orwell with the purpose of warning readers in the western world of the dangers of totalitarian government， has been among the central topic in western academic circle and viewed as “Bible” of dystopian literature. Rebellion has long been one of the major topics of studies on 1984. This essay focuses on the rebellion of Julia and analyzes the reason of her rebellion so that it provides a different aspect on the understanding of this novel.

Julia is a true rebel but she covers it well. Julia is a bold-looking girl and often being the most hysterical one during the Hate which Winston despises most. She covers her disobedience through active participation in various kinds of Party organizations and activitie. One prominent rebellion of Julia is her promiscuity between party members and it is an unforgivable crime. She has more love affairs with dozens of Party members including Winston but not with those of the Inner Party whom she calls swines. Resourceful and shrewd as she is， she manages to get authentic foods， and brings real sugar， white bread， jam， milk， real coffee to their rendezvous-things are not available for outer Party members. She even used perfume and make-up.

Julias rebellion mainly focuses on sex， foods， love and those joys of a little woman， and thus being superficial， material and less in-depth compared to those of Winston. Winston concerns about matters of overall importance， such as politics， wars， future of the country. His rebels through committing thought crimes. Instead， Julias rebellion is not based on any ideology but her passion for mere pleasure.

What attributes to the differences between Julias rebellion and Winstons is worth analyzing. The author Orwell who has created could account for it to some degree. Orwells personal experiences of getting along with women and his attitude towards the female group should be paid great attention to. Meanwhile， living in a patriarchal society， the author is inevitably influenced by this conventional ideology and is very likely to reflect it on his works. Julias limited rebellion motivated by love of pleasure and shallowness is bound to be coherent with Orwells limited view of women and their important role in society. Women are by no means invisible in Orwell's writings， but they appear as wives or daughters or young persons caught in domestic drudgery. Thats why Julia is just a mere rebel with a shallow purpose， who can hardly go further or go deeper in her course of rebellion.

Bibliography：

[1] Orwell， George. 1984. New York： New American Library， 1961