Book 2 Chapters 7-10
"'You are prepared, the two of you, to separate and never see one another again?' 'No!' broke in Julia. It appeared to Winston that a long time passed before he answered. For a moment he seemed even to have been deprived of the power of speech. His tongue worked soundlessly, forming the opening syllables first of one word, then of the other, over and over again. Until he said it, he did not know which word he was going to say. 'No', he said finally." -pg.143
The scene is set when Julia and Winston go meet O'Brien. O'Brien then interrogates Winston and questions him to see how far they are willing to go to be part of the Brotherhood. He answers yes to everything he asks, but Julia abruptly says no when asked if they are willing to split apart and never see each other again. What I got from it at first, is that it was a very risky move as they did not know how would O'Brien would react, he could have gotten them in trouble. Fortunately, he took it well as he said it was good she spoke up so the Brotherhood knew how far they were willing to help. The second thing it brought up to my mind was a seemingly recurring thing with these two, love. How they were able to say yes so quickly to throw acid to a kid's face, but not willing to never see each other again. I find it interesting how the relationship between these two characters is developing and I wonder how much further they can take it. To see these actions from O'Brien's point of view, I can see why he did not react in such a bad way when Julia stepped in and said they weren't willing to stop seeing each other for the Brotherhood. Maybe because O'Brien thought that these two wanting to be together was "love" and also a way of rebelling against the Party and Big Brother.
The scene is set when Julia and Winston go meet O'Brien. O'Brien then interrogates Winston and questions him to see how far they are willing to go to be part of the Brotherhood. He answers yes to everything he asks, but Julia abruptly says no when asked if they are willing to split apart and never see each other again. What I got from it at first, is that it was a very risky move as they did not know how would O'Brien would react, he could have gotten them in trouble. Fortunately, he took it well as he said it was good she spoke up so the Brotherhood knew how far they were willing to help. The second thing it brought up to my mind was a seemingly recurring thing with these two, love. How they were able to say yes so quickly to throw acid to a kid's face, but not willing to never see each other again. I find it interesting how the relationship between these two characters is developing and I wonder how much further they can take it. To see these actions from O'Brien's point of view, I can see why he did not react in such a bad way when Julia stepped in and said they weren't willing to stop seeing each other for the Brotherhood. Maybe because O'Brien thought that these two wanting to be together was "love" and also a way of rebelling against the Party and Big Brother.
I like your insights about this particular quote because it almost seems like a test about whether Winston and Julia actually "love" each other. I do not believe that Winston and Julia are only together because they love each other, I think that for the most part they are using each other because Winston wants to start a rebellion and he knows Julia has been with many of the Party members which is against their beliefs. I also think it is pretty foolish for Winston to believe in O'Brien's word so easily because most people in Oceania cannot be trusted.
ReplyDeleteI chose a similar quote to yours. Instead of putting the ending where they deny to be apart, I put the section they agree to all their demands. Once you start reading a little beyond you'll see an interesting twist in their development.
ReplyDeleteI like how you pointed out the intentions of O'Brien's intention to ask how far they are willing to go and learn if their "love" a way to rebel against the party. You did a good job in going in depth with this quote. It shows a lot of the relations ship between Julia and Winston.
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