1984 #2

Winston becomes incredibly fixated on the girl with dark hair because she has an outstanding impact on the way Winston views the controlling government. Winston lives in a world full of lost meaning, everything truthful has been eradicated and past history is seemingly nonexistent. Winston know this to be true, it is part of his job to make sure no citizen under the Party can have free thought. When Winston first writes in his diary, he is overwhelmed with “a sense of completely helplessness” (7). Winston is fearful and restricted by the Party. The sense of being watched every second of every day results in the release of powerless and purposeless feelings. However, Winston has taken a controlling interest in a certain young and beautiful woman whom he has seen occasionally inside the Ministry of Truth. This woman seems to excite Winston. He is dumbfounded not only by her beauty, but her own sense of heresy that distinguishes striking similarities between the two. During a dream, Winston sees this woman with dark hair undress in a field, but it is not her beauty that interests him: “What overwhelmed [Winston] in that instant was admiration for the gesture with which she had thrown her clothes aside” (31). Winston realizes as he begins his diary, that he is helplessly lost in this world. He feels oppressed by the Party; whereas this woman simply flings her clothes to the side with no regret or fear at all. This demonstration of free will and purpose excites Winston. He sees a gesture of rebellion, an idea Winston has fought long and hard to suppress as to avoid treason against the Party. However, it is this feeling of purpose and meaning that encourages Winston to find rebellion in his words. Hopefully Orwell will elaborate on this desire in the upcoming chapters.