Part 3, chapter 5 finally gave me an answer as to why Julia was ever in the book. Previously, she seemed pretty useless as a character to me; basically just a person for Winston to sleep with and something of a foil against which to contrast Winston’s grand ideas of overthrowing the party. Don’t get me wrong, I still believe that she is the least developed character in the book, but now she at least serves a purpose to the plot: She is, by nature of Winston’s betrayal, the tipping point for Winston’s emotional allegiance to the party.
I’m not especially invested in Julia’s character, mostly because she’s not meant to be especially relatable to the reader (or at least I don’t think so), but I do harbor a slight curiosity about how quickly she betrayed Winston. O’Brien had mentioned earlier that Julia had given Winston up immediately, but I do wonder if that meant “intellectually” or “emotionally”. What do you think? Did Julia ever love Winston the same way he loved her? Do you have any other quarrels with Julia’s character?
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