1984_Chapters_5_to_10_Part_II

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Chapters 5 - 10

Part II

HOMONYMS. The rat had never come back, but the bugs had multiplied hideously in the heat. ... (pp 156, 157). 

In the room over Mr Charrington's shop, when they could get there, Julia and Winston lay side by side on a stripped bed under the open window, naked for the sake of coolness. The rat had never come back, but the bugs had multiplied hideously in the heat. It did not seem to matter. Dirty or clean, the room was paradise. As soon as they arrived they would sprinkle everything with pepper bought on the black market, tear off their clothes, and make love with sweating bodies, then fall asleep and wake to find that the bugs had rallied and were massing for the counter-attack

'You are only a rebel from the waist downwards, he told her.' (p. 163)
What did he mean by that? Explain.

'You are only a rebel from the waist downwards, he told her.' (p. 163)

Julia rebels against the physical privations that come with being an outer Party member. Inner Party members enjoy all sorts of privileges denied to the rank and file, such as good coffee, wine and nice apartments. Julia rebels against the puritanical hypocrisy of the system by having sex with men who can offer her the comforts she wants, including sex, but also consumer goods, such as make up. Unlike Winston, she is not concerned with the nature of truth or the nature of reality. She doesn't really care if the Party says two plus two equals five or whether or not the Party invented the airplane. She simply wants to have some pleasure in her life (and part of this includes the sense of victory that comes with beating the system) so that she can experience something beyond an endless round of toil, cheap gin, and rage.

'You are only a rebel from the waist downwards, he told her.'

Rebellion and disobedience. 

'Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.'

 Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man under Socialism (1891)

'It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right.'

(Thoreau, Civil Disobedience, 1952 )

Is there any paradox in this extract? 

How relevant is the extract? Can you write down the main idea of it in your own words?

The proles had stayed human.(p 172)

Winston realizes that he and Julia has become numb to the reality around them; they'd become hardened and uncaring. The Proles were still human because they had feeling; they had families, and they knew what it was to feel and act on their emotions.

Why did Winston say once that the proles are the only hope they have?

We shall meet again - if we do meet again ... 'In the place where there is no darkness?' (p. 185) What is the meaning of these words for the novel`s plot?

' We shall meet again - if we do meet again ... 'In the place where there is no darkness?' (p. 185)

This sentence appears  first in Part One, Chapter Two, it represents Winston's internal desire to rebel against the party's control. But Winston's thoughts on this matter are suddenly interrupted by a "trumpet call" from the telescreen. This interruption forces Winston to abandon his thoughts and, on a deeper level, to realise that resistance against the party is futile.

But, over time, Winston's sense of internal rebellion heightens to a point that he can no longer ignore it. In Part Two, Chapter Eight, for example, he goes to O'Brien's apartment and we hear the phrase repeated again. This is a critical moment for Winston because he has taken his internal rebellion to a new level: he has made himself known to O'Brien and is about to receive a copy of Goldstein's book. The fact that Winston is the one who utters this phrase is indicative of his optimism. It is more likely that O'Brien played along to encourage Winston in his anti-party activities.

Ironically, O'Brien is not the man Winston believes him to be; he is a member of the Thought Police and "the place in which there is no darkness," is, in fact, the Ministry of Love, and is a symbol of Winston's torture and reintegration into society. Just like the party's ironic slogans, like War is Peace, irony is at the very heart of 1984 and defines the course of Winston's life. 

Why do States want to control Africa, the Middle East and Indonesia?

What is the purpose of war according to the book?

What happens if leisure and security are enjoyed by all alike? Can a totalitarian government exist in such situation? Why?

How does Orwell foreshadow the plot of the novel?