1984
question
Winston and Julia's relationship
Rahul
Aug 20, 2019 10:27AM
Hello guys,
I have just found something quite interesting! I believe it has significance to Winston's inner emotions. What do you think?
This is the passage before Winston meets Julia in the canteen.
Surely enough, she was at a table in about the same place, and again alone. The person immediately ahead of him in the queue was a small, swiftly-moving, beetle-like man with a flat face and tiny, suspicious eyes. As Winston turned away from the counter with his tray, he saw that the little man was making straight for the girl's table. His hopes sank again. There was a vacant place at a table further away, but something in the little man's appearance suggested that he would be sufficiently attentive to his own comfort to choose the emptiest table. With ice at his heart Winston followed. It was no use unless he could get the girl alone. At this moment there was a tremendous crash. The little man was sprawling on all fours, his tray had gone flying, two streams of soup and coffee were flowing across the floor. He started to his feet with a malignant glance at Winston, whom he evidently suspected of having tripped him up.
I have two questions:
FIrstly: what is the effect of the fact that the beetle faced man is mentioned again? Why is that he is the one who is Winston's final obstacle in seeing Julia?
Secondly: does Winston actually trip the man up or does he get lucky? If you think its the first, like I do, why does Orwell not explicitly tell us that Winston tripped him up? What is the effect of the fact that we have to infer this for ourselves
This is discussed no where else on the web so I'm interested to see what we can come up with.
:)
I have just found something quite interesting! I believe it has significance to Winston's inner emotions. What do you think?
This is the passage before Winston meets Julia in the canteen.
Surely enough, she was at a table in about the same place, and again alone. The person immediately ahead of him in the queue was a small, swiftly-moving, beetle-like man with a flat face and tiny, suspicious eyes. As Winston turned away from the counter with his tray, he saw that the little man was making straight for the girl's table. His hopes sank again. There was a vacant place at a table further away, but something in the little man's appearance suggested that he would be sufficiently attentive to his own comfort to choose the emptiest table. With ice at his heart Winston followed. It was no use unless he could get the girl alone. At this moment there was a tremendous crash. The little man was sprawling on all fours, his tray had gone flying, two streams of soup and coffee were flowing across the floor. He started to his feet with a malignant glance at Winston, whom he evidently suspected of having tripped him up.
I have two questions:
FIrstly: what is the effect of the fact that the beetle faced man is mentioned again? Why is that he is the one who is Winston's final obstacle in seeing Julia?
Secondly: does Winston actually trip the man up or does he get lucky? If you think its the first, like I do, why does Orwell not explicitly tell us that Winston tripped him up? What is the effect of the fact that we have to infer this for ourselves
This is discussed no where else on the web so I'm interested to see what we can come up with.
:)
As to the first question, the beetle faced man seems like the embodiment of the dehumanized bureaucracy in which Winston lives. He is a thoughtless, vacant figure who seems to accept the world as it is and expresses no interest in questioning it. Accordingly, the beetle faced man contrasts sharply with Winston's idealized perception of Julia, who Winston even this early on seems to believe possesses an ember of defiant spirit against the established order. It only makes sense that the beetle faced man and everything he represents stands in Winston's way of connecting with Julia.
As to the second question, Orwell didn't generally lend himself to subtle implications when it came to the morality of his protagonists. They all generally own up to their actions, which makes sense given the weight that Orwell put on personal accountability in his works. It seems unlikely that Orwell would have Winston trip the beetle faced man but then decline to have Winston embrace the moral consequences of his actions.
As to the second question, Orwell didn't generally lend himself to subtle implications when it came to the morality of his protagonists. They all generally own up to their actions, which makes sense given the weight that Orwell put on personal accountability in his works. It seems unlikely that Orwell would have Winston trip the beetle faced man but then decline to have Winston embrace the moral consequences of his actions.
In the first instance, Winston does jostle him out of the way somehow, even if he doesn't actually trip him. The book says 'With ice at his heart Winston followed.' implying a loss of the usual conscience.
Secondly, these are the sort of interactions which are particularly scary in a totalitarian state, because they make you enemies. Who is the informer in the group? Surely the person who is disgruntled with you for some reason, who thinks you are out to get them anyway, so you might as well get in first. What happens to the other overenthusiastic man in the canteen who is presumably overcompensating for doing something wrong/ making a mistake on the sly. Presumably the man with 'tiny, suspicious eyes' reported on him and got him taken away to Room 101.
Secondly, these are the sort of interactions which are particularly scary in a totalitarian state, because they make you enemies. Who is the informer in the group? Surely the person who is disgruntled with you for some reason, who thinks you are out to get them anyway, so you might as well get in first. What happens to the other overenthusiastic man in the canteen who is presumably overcompensating for doing something wrong/ making a mistake on the sly. Presumably the man with 'tiny, suspicious eyes' reported on him and got him taken away to Room 101.
Aug 22, 2019 09:57AM