On The Repression Of Totalitarianism To Women And Women’s Resistance In Nineteen Eighty-Four

George Orwell carries a big weight in the British as well as world literary circle,and he has been regarded by many critics as the best political writer in the20th centuryEngland. During his short span of life, Orwell left a rich cultural legacy to all mankind.His last two novels Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four have brought him aninternational fame. Orwell displayed in Nineteen Eighty-Four a nightmarish scenario tohis readers: in Oceania, the “Ingsoc” Inner Party rulers represented by Big Brother andO’Brien practice cruel and brutal repressions on human natures. Faced with theinhuman repressions, a minority of conscious and courageous individuals representedby Julia and Winston have been struggling to maintain their humanity and individuality,chasing after freedom, truth, love and faith.With the help of Hannah Arendt’s views put forward in her The Origins ofTotalitarianism, together with feminist criticism, the thesis tries to re-read NineteenEighty-Four with the entry point of some female individuals with rebellious spirits, andto analyze in depth the double suppressions of the female and their rebellions. Inaddition to mind control, women in Oceania are deprived of feminine characteristics.They dress and do the same jobs as their counterparts do, meanwhile make-up andsexual desires are forbidden. As a rebellious female member of the Outer Party, Juliabrushes regulations and prohibitions aside, pursuing valorously her small liberties anddead-ended love, and encouraging Winston to break the totalitarian chains who is as“impure” in mind as she is but doesn’t dare to defy the Party’s leadership and authority.In a sense, the female image of “Other” is recast by Julia: she not simply leads Winstoninto the search of self-awareness, but also declares a war against the totalitarian regime.The research home and abroad on Nineteen Eighty-Four has always centered onOrwell’s portray of the hero Winston, yet very few scholars noticed that Orwell’scharacterization of Julia demonstrated his renewed appreciation of the female rebelliousspirit. Therefore this thesis looks for a new way to probe into Orwell’s unrecognizedattitude towards the female and gender relationships, herein lies the value of this thesis.Based on a close textual reading, and drawing upon political existentialist and feministapproaches, the analysis is organized around the double suppressions of totalitarianismto women and women’s resistance. The main body of the thesis is divided into five parts.The first part is introduction which gives a brief overview of Orwell and Nineteen Eighty-Four, followed by the objectives and structure of the thesis. The first chapter ofthe thesis illustrates how Orwell moulds the image of female groups under thetotalitarian repression. The totalitarian rulers exercise inhuman repressive control overthe masses by means of restraining sexual desires, clamping down on thoughts, andcontrolling behaviors. On the other hand, rulers throttle all-roundly the femaleness, withthe aim of turning individuals into machines with little independent thinking and littlecreativity. The next chapter demonstrates the ideological resistance and body revolt ofthe female individuals with awakening consciousness. They are aspiring for free mind,beautiful body, better life and pleasurable sex. The third chapter deals with the reasonsfor the failure of female rebellions, by the analysis of the limitations of the passiveresistance and the imperfections in female individuals. From Orwell’s perspective, themost effective way to overthrow the totalitarian administration is to unite, believe in anddepend upon the Proletarian and the broadest masses by educating and arousing them.The last part is conclusion.