1984: Book 2, Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

Julia and Winston travel back to London separately, by different routes. But before they leave they arrange to meet at a crowded market four days later.

For several weeks Julia and Winston meet at irregular times in the streets of London, but do not return to the clearing. As Winston works 60 hours a week and Julia is busy with the Junior Anti-Sex League, they find it difficult to meet.

One night they have sex in an abandoned church. While In the church, Julia tells Winston about herself. She is 26, lives in a hostel with 30 other girls, and works on novel-writing machines in the Fiction Department. Though she doesn't like to read, she's comfortable with machinery and enjoys her job. She was a troop leader in the Spies and because of her reputation for chastity was selected to work in Pornosec, the all-girl section of the Fiction Department that produces pornography for the proles. Julia doesn't believe in the existence of the Brotherhood. She just hates the Party and likes outwitting it, committing small acts of rebellion without getting caught.

Julia also understands the Party's policy on sex better than Winston does. She explains to him that depriving people of sex induces hysteria, which can be transformed by the Party into hatred of the Party's enemies and worship of Big Brother.

Winston, in turn, tells Julia about a time when he was on a community hike with Katharine and nearly pushed his wife off a cliff. He tells Julia that whether or not he pushed his wife doesn't matter, because failure in the face of the Party's oppression is inevitable. Winston adds that they will eventually be caught, that they are dead. Julia, who believes only in private rebellion rather than organized revolt against the party, tells him to stop talking about dying, and begins planning their next meeting.