Julia - Sandra Newman
This page features some notes Mel took about Julia by Sandra Newman. This page might end up including chapter summaries, names and ministry departments, key themes, notable quotes, and discussion questions by chapter. If you are spoiler averse, no fear! Major spoilers are at the bottom and ultimately will be in dropdown menus. Use this page to track unpersons, follow more cryptic plot elements, and to see a little of the inside of Mel's brain. Woot!
Notebook Sections—
For Julia participants will receive a read along journal. The journal includes in introduction page and then each page features themes I observed while reading paired with a quote from Julia. The sections are as follows:
-A quote that I used as if it were a theme, you gotta snag a notebook for this one I guess, ha!
-On Julia turning her brain off
On further reflection I would have combined this section with 'Mental Gymnastics' as listed in 'Other Curiosities' .
-On Totalitarianism & Fascism
-On Criminals
-On Gender
-On Bodily Autonomy
-On Thought Crime
-On Other Curiosities
This section is meant to be where you can explore themes that stand out to you. Additional themes I listed in the section include the illusion of control, mental gymnastics, othering, and trauma responses.
1 - introductions to the world and our first Hate
Named Characters:
Julia
Old Misery / Comrade Winston Smith
Syme
O’Brien
Essie
Margaret
Ampleforth
Big Brother
Emanuel Goldstein
Ministry Departments/Jobs
Rewrite
Notable Quotes:
“And Naturally the woman was to blame. Who else?”
“Julia looked away–always the safest option when anyone was doing something peculiar…”
Discredit the truth to simplify the lies. “Emmanuel Goldstein had once been a hero of the revolution, who had fought at Big Brother’s side. Then he turned against the Party, and now devoted his considerable cunning and energy to the destruction of Oceania and its people. No one was safe from his malice. If he couldn’t turn citizens against the Party, he would poison the water supply. If he couldn’t pervert little children, he would bomb their schools. He detested anything chaste or brave, because he lacked these qualities, and, for this reason, he hated Big Brother with all his warped, parasitical heart. Though his speeches were full of obvious lies and meaningless jargon like “free speech” and “human rights,” he still managed to gull some people. His acolytes were responsible for everything that went wrong in Oceania, from the sabotage that meant no one had enough food to the undermining of soldiers’ morale that kept Oceania from winning the war.
Of course this couldn’t all be true…”
“Julia was perspiring with fear, but it had come off. The treacherous yawn was gone.”
Thoughts: As I listen, I'm struck by the fiction machines Julia repairs. Orwell got the function of future technology correct; he just had no way of accurately predicting the mechanism.. Orwell predicted a world with recycled stories; an endless deluge of distraction that contains no new thoughts. The key feature being that critical thinking can be removed. The media options that are available are comfortable, familiar, and serve the important purpose of reinforcing the biases you already have. The fiction machines Julia is repairing are nothing more than AI, Hollywood, especially in a post-marvel universe world, and the news that is never all that “new”.
caution! This section contains spoilers
Julia Turns Her Brain Off
page 18 "No, Nothing happened after all."
page 20 "It [ode to joy] was even moving to Julia, who liked to think herself a cynic."
page 30
page 37
page 44
page 58
page 71 (and page 16)
page 74
page 77
page 105
​
Totalitarianism and Fascism
page 36 "daft lived while clever died."
really makes me think of the MLK Jr quote "Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." Under totalitarian regimes some element of willful ignorance can be a safety net around those with enough privilege to skirt by unseen. They just need to be willing to 'unsee' anything that might pose new and dangerous thoughts.
On Criminals
page 75 "What nonsense to expect rightful behavior from a pack of criminals."
page 99 "Then one day vanished..." management techniques and using torture victims as visible reminders
Gender Commentary & Bodily Autonomy
page 16 "Supremely masculine"
page 45 "But I was bound to believe him, wasn't I? To do as he said?"
page 46 "It's murder, you do see that, don't you?" "...they were just the words one must use."
page 75 any injury a young woman receives must be a sex crime, no other way to see it...
On Thought Crime
page 100 "Somnolent smile" waking from a nightmare? Better quickly hide that and look right!
page 102 "Show no visible shock"
Other things I am curious about
On mental gymnastics: page 105 a chocolate welcoming gift/alibi
On othering: page 106 proles vs comrades
page 40
page 43 & 314
page 45
page 69
page 82
page 102