This week's reading was by far the most cultivating and interesting so far. Before Part II , Winston decides to not go to the community center one night and instead takes a walk to a part of the town where the proles live. As he walks, he sees an old man and realizes that this man is probably one of the few men left that know what life was like before the revolutionary war. He follows the man into the pub and tries to get him to remember things about his youth. After many failed attempts, Winston realizes that even if there are men alive that lived prior to the war, all they remember are bits and pieces of random information. I feel that this was semi-depressing for Winston, all his hopes of finding out if the Party was telling the truth were gone now, and he must continue to live by the Party's word. when he leaves the bar, he isn't quite sure where he is, but soon stumbles upon the shop where he bought his journal. He enters, knowing what a risk it is, and finds a friend in the shopkeeper. He ends up buying a piece of old coral, so he can feel that he belonged to a time other than his own.
In the next chapter, I was completely blown away by the event that took place. Julia gives Winston a note that says "I love you" and nothing else!! So after all this time and worry about Julia being the thought police and trying to kill him, she was really just in love with him. Winston thought that maybe this was just some sort of ploy to get him to commit thought crime. I personally never thought that, I think Winston sometimes thinks too badly of people. If he doesn't agree with the Party and their rules, shouldn't he think that there has to be other people that think the same? Anyways, the note was ironic because only a week earlier when he left the shop and saw her, he thought that maybe he should smash her head with a rock to take care of her. They eventually talk shortly at the canteen and then in then at the end in the square she gives him directions to meet her. I think Julia is going to be quite rebellious. She has obviously done a lot of thinking and planning on how to get Winston alone, therefore ignoring Party rules. Perhaps, though, she is just what Winston needs, a little push to help him rebel. After all, a change starts with just one person.
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4 comments:
I was just as stunned as you when Julia handed him the love note. Here Winston had just contemplated killing her because he thought she was an enemy, when in reality, she's in love with him! I think this was definitely a great way to move the plot forward.
I agree with you about how it is depressing for Winston about how even those men who were alive before all of this happened have forgotten most of what was their life and how truly important it really is.
What i thought about was how Winston had to think or try to figure out what the note meant i mean we all know that if someone says i love you then there is a connection there but Winston thinks that there is a something going on with her trying to get him into trouble like you stated.
The love note is very ironic. I definitally wasn't expecting that. It's a good thing Winston didn't decide to kill her in the alley!
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