Winston’s Relationship With Julia: 1984

George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four explores the relationship between Winston and Julia. Orwell does this by emotionally enlightening the audience of Winston’s day to day life of love, pain, hurt and accomplishment. Winston and Julia share a secret relationship that eventually contributes to Winston’s tragic fate of ultimately being alone and loving Big Brother. Whilst Winston was being tortured in The Ministry Of Love he painfully overcame his hate towards Big Brother and was brainwashed into loving Big Brother like the rest of the citizens of Airstrip one. This, therefore, means nobody can disapprove Big Brothers horrific behaviour laws. However there are other factors that contribute to his downfall. Winston tries on many different occasions to reclaim past memories; this involves keeping an illegal diary, which is later used against him in room 101. The strict rules and regulations that govern the citizen’s lives enforced by Big Brother contributed to Winston’s fate. Without such strict rules Winston and Julia’s relationship would not have been forbidden and there would be no need for them to sneak around, and eventually be caught and punished. Winston also rents a room in the parole area of town with Julia, which they believe is a safe and private place, but blatantly find out they aren’t in solitude, their every move was being documented. With the strict regulations prohibiting relationships both Julia and Winston find themselves thrown into the Ministry of Love where Winston is tortured and goes insane. These actions are factors that lead to Winston’s fate, however it is ultimately his relationship with Julia that is responsible for his tragic fate.

Winston’s relationship with Julia can be seen as the ultimate reason for his fate. Although the strict rules enforced frustrated Winston, he didn’t learn to adapt well to the rules, therefore his uncontrollable actions of continuing to see Julia ultimately lead to his tragic fate. Winston and Julia build up a very trustworthy secret relationship, after she gives him a note that reads “I love you”, which they both new was extremely illegal. Whilst their affair was blooming Winston’s ulcer stopped being inflamed and his health improved dramatically, opposite to when he was in the Ministry Of Love. This shows that when he was taken away from his lover his tragic fate started to form. They continued seeing each other for a long period of time and proceeded in renting a room to have private sexual intercourse. Julia and Winston’s relationship is very organized and secret.

Winston’s relationship with Julia is one of the main reasons that lead to Winston’s fate. If Winston had never broken the rules and met or read Julia’s note it is arguable that he could still hate and not respect Big Brother. Instead after coming out of being tortured in room 101 his views and beliefs change dramatically about Big Brother, he believes that Big Brother is god and is mesmerized to believe whatever Big Brother implies is correct. Winston and Julia rent a room in the parole area of town. They believe it is a very private room because it has no visible telescreens, however they were wrong. They got caught and where punished and separated in The Ministry of Love whilst being tortured. This lead to Winston’s fate in room 101 where O’Brien horrifically tortured him with his very own words from his diary. As a result of pursuing a relationship with Julia, he was being forced to love and respect Big Brother and his choices, his feelings for Julia decreased. O’Brien used Winston’s diary entries against him along with torturing Winston with Rats, this lead Winston to choose life over Julia “there was just one person to whom he could transfer his punishment. One body who he could thrust between himself and the rats. He was shouting frantically over and over. Do it to Julia. Do it to Julia, not to me. I don’t care what you do to her. Rip her face off. Strip her to the bone. Not to me Julia not me!” This positions the readers to feel sorry for Winston and shows the readers that enough torturing and your beliefs and relationships quickly change and crumble drastically. Furthermore whilst Winston was in the Ministry of Love he became very weak and physically ill, he got extremely sick and could hardly move and didn’t eat.

Winston is obsessed with reclaiming past memories. This obsession contributed to Winston’s fate because of his blatant disregard for the rules, as it is illegal to reclaim past memoires. He cannot accept that the past is gone and is being changed right in front of him. Winston buys a diary from Mr. Charingtons shop. The diary helps him remember his day to day activates and own individual history and language, however he address each diary entire to O’Brien, because he feels they are friends and he can trust him. O’Brien later uses Winston’s diary against him in the Ministry Of Love. Not only did Winston lose his relationship with Julia he also lost his relationship with O’Brien, as he betrayed Winston. O’Brien reads and re -reads phrases Winston had written in his diary using them against him, forcing happy memoires never to be remembered again “His soul, white as snow”. O’Brien also strategically tortures Winston with rats, because Winston had mentioned in his diary that his greatest fear of all was rats. Which lead to Winston losing his mind and lead to his disastrous fate. The diary allowed O’Brien to know what would really hurt Winston and therefore increased the intensity of his torture, and contributed to his mental and physical state. However these rules were reality and Winston’s stubbornness of not accepting them and having a relationship with Julia led to his fate.

Overall George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four explores the relationship between Winston and Julia and demonstrates that not only does Julia and Winston’s secret relationship contribute to his tragic fate, but in some way Winston brought it upon himself by refusing to let go of past memories and refusing to accept the strict rules which govern his life. Winston’s actions as a result of this refusal such as buying the dairy and renting the room lead to his demise. After he was caught having a secret relationship and his diary was used against him as a form of personal torture. However ultimately it is this secret relationship shared with Julia that is responsible for his fate of going insane and becoming mentally sick but most of all “He had won the victory over himself. He loved big brother”. Winston fate ended up being mesmerised by Big Brother just like everybody else in Airstrip one all because of Julia.