#2- 1984

"The girl with the dark hair was coming toward him across the field. With what seemed a single movement she tore off her clothes and flung them disdainfully aside. Her body was white and smooth, but it aroused no desire in him; indeed, he barely looked at it. What overwhelmed him in that instant was admiration for the gesture with which she had thrown her clothes aside. With its grace and carelessness it seemed to annihilate a whole culture, a whole system of thought, as though Big Brother and the Party and the Thought Police could all be swept into nothingness by a single splendid movement of the arm" (29).

Winston envisions this in a dream but later, on page 104, he actually experiences the exact moment. This is one way that Orwell communicates to the reader the belief that perception is reality - a main idea that is discussed throughout Nineteen Eighty-Four. The Party especially pushes this belief by saying that "reality is behind the skull" (218) and this is how they control people. Winston's admiration for Julia is generated by her political use. He admits that he is originally attracted to her carelessness and he later confesses that their love is a "political act" (105). The "movement of the arm" seems particularly important here as well because later, on page 136, Orwell uses this same phrase to talk about another similar kind of gesture. This other motion, a hug, was a natural instinct of humans - a way to offer protection to a loved one - before the Party changed everything and took away the emotion behind the embrace. Although Julia is from a different generation and this gesture of hers is a carefree, defiant movement, it shows how much a single simple, natural movement of a human being can strike another.


Work Cited:
Photo Credit: Caron, Lorraine. "Naturopathic Doctor." 2006-2010. 24 Aug. 2010 <http://www.drlorrainecaron.com/well_child_visits.htm>.