The Importance Of Betrayal

George Orwell's novel, 1984, portrays a chilling picture of how the power of the state could dominate the lives of individuals through cultural conditioning. The Party controls every aspect of life and sets strict guidelines. Every inner and outer party member has to worship Big Brother unless they are a prole. Proles are the lower class part of society. Winston is an outer Party member and works in the fiction department fixing history and the Party's faults. Winston feels frustrated by the oppression and rigid control of the Party, which does not allow free thought, sex, and any expression of individuality. His newly found, rebel love, is named Julia and together they create a strong devotion for each other which goes against all of the Party's values.

In the second-to-last chapter, Winston is forced into the final betrayal of Julia. Julia is the only person in the world whom Winston could have pushed between himself and the rats because she is the only person standing between him and the love of Big Brother which is a large issue to the party. As long as Winston loved Julia, and what she represented to him, he was able to believe in himself. Once he betrays that love, he violates his own humanity and can no longer love another human. And in Oceanic society, the only thing it is acceptable to love is Big Brother, the "face" of the Party. Which might not even exist. This abandonment of love is very important to the Party. In other words, Julia and Winston's love was the only barrier blocking them off from loving Big Brother at all. Basically, from loving the party.