A Political Act

 “Their embrace had been a battle, the climax a victory. It was a blow struck against the Party. It was a political act.” 

These few sentences decisively summarize the developing relationship between Winston and Julia—as people who are pursuing a forbidden relationship and as people who are rebelling against Big Brother. Orwell clearly places these sentences at the end of the chapter to explicitly highlight the significance of sexuality being of a political nature—a theme that we’ve seen throughout this semester. 

But we also know that Julia is against the Party for different reasons than Winston (e.g., Julia seems to be focused on having the freedom to do what she wants, while Winston is much more concerned about history being rewritten, reducing the scope of language, etc.). 

Can intimacy be considered a “political act” when people are engaging in it for different reasons? While both Winston and Julia direct hatred towards the Party, personally, I think that both of them just want to bond with like-minded people. We see this with Winston’s desperation for O’Brien to reach out to him to go against the Party. Therefore, does Julia in particular matter, or could anyone else that hates the Party serve as a “placeholder” for Winston? I also think that we have to consider that these bonds may have a deeper, embedded political meaning due to the circumstances of living in such a restrictive, authoritarian society. 

With this, looking back on these three sentences, what do you think is something in our world that is considered to be a “political act”? Should it be? How do the sentences above ring true in the context of our more-than-likely dystopian future?

Comments

  1. L. MoffittFebruary 22, 2021 at 9:47 AM

    Interesting discussion, and rather an important one. While Julia is still seen by Winston as being on "his side," she is as you say focused more on her own personal freedom. Seems like the Party could easily use that and twist it -- akin to people fighting for the right to go to restaurants when they want even if there's a pandemic?

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