Blog #2

1984 by George Orwell

In order to maintain his newly found love affair, Winston rents the empty room above Mr. Charrington’s shop (another bad idea). This apartment becomes their source of freedom, where they can break away from party obligations and pretend to live normal lives. On one occasion though, Winston finds a rat in the room and immediately becomes horrified. This is insignificant at the time, but later foreshadows what Winston will encounter when he and Julia get caught. Interestingly enough is the contrast found between Winston and Julia. Winston is primarily concerned with rebelling against the party and discussing the corruption of the party, whereas Julia only rebels through her sexual acts. Julia is rather uncommitted to hating or supporting the party. She enjoys her acts of rebellion, but is ultimately unconcerned with how the Party runs things. I think it bothers Winston that she is so passive about the Party, but regardless he loves her. The plot really gets rolling when Winston has his first real encounter with O'Brien. During his brief conversation with O'Brien, O'Brien states, "The Tenth Edition in not due to appear for some months, I believe. But a few advance copies have been circulated. I have one myself. It might interest you to look at it, perhaps?"( Orwell, 158). It is obvious that O'Brien is speaking of Goldstein's book that was mentioned earlier in the novel. If only Winston knew O'Brien was not a man to be trusted.