I’m pretty relieved the year 1984 didn’t turn out the way George Orwell predicted in his novel 1984. I mean, I personally can’t imagine living in a society with zero privacy (except, of course, when you turn you lights out at night…but even then, Big Brother can still hear you.) 1984 was written in 1949, predicting how the year 1984 would turn out. Orwell wrote about a society in which the citizens have zero freedoms. All of their actions are closely watched, all of their conversations listened to; it is even considered strange to see two people talking if they aren’t considered friends.

There are so called “telescreens” everywhere, which have both cameras and microphones to monitor everybody’s lives. Even if people could find a way to talk to someone in private, they would still be terrified they are actually talking to the thought police. Instead of living with the freedoms we have grown so accustomed to, they live lives of solitude, and follow the rules of a strict, oppressive communist society. Orwell’s goal with this book was to reveal the flaws of communism, and expose the dangers of it.

Why am I talking about this novel? Oh right, well recently my PLP 12 class read it and have been given an assignment on it. For the assignment we split in to groups and got to choose any character from the novel, to cut out the shape of, and draw symbols on it to create a visual representation of who our character is.

My group consisted of Gabi, Brianna, Anatolia and Alanah. Being a group of girls, naturally, we picked Julia, the main female character in the novel.

Once we created our character, we also cut out a section of them to later put on a green screen and animate.

Our final product looks like this, but I’m sure you’re wondering what all those symbols mean!

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So not, I’m sure you’re wondering….what do all those symbols mean???

It may be difficult to see everything in the video, so I figured I’d make a list for you:
-men on her feet
-map on her leg
-open lock on her jeans
-glasses hanging out of her pocket
-red celibacy sash around her waist
-her fiery heart
-the fox on her chest
-the mask she’s holding
-the birds in her head
-the field around her

Before I start explaining what all of these mean, I’ll start by giving you a bit of a background on Julia. She is the main character, Winston Smith’s, love interest. Like him, she commits thought crime, by thinking negatively thoughts about Big Brother. At the beginning of the book she is following him around kind of, by sitting close to him a few days in a row, and even following him to a store one day. Winston becomes concerned she is part of the thought police, until one day when she tripped right in front of him in a hallway. While he offered to help her up, she “had slipped something into his hand.” (1984, Part 2, Chapter 1) Later, when he finally got a chance to read it, it said “I love you.” Their relationship went on from there, with her finding ways for them to sneak out and be together.

So now that you know a bit about Julia, it’s time for me to explain our symbols to you.

1. the men on her feet.

Despite her red celibacy sash, she isn’t as pure and innocent as she makes out to be. Their first time really being together in a way they get to talk and spend time together, she leads him to a forest and “she had been that way before.” (1984, Part 2, Chapter 2) Later she admits she has done similar things “scores of times” (1984, Part 2, Chapter 2) with other party members.

Due to the fact she sleeps with so many different men, we felt it would be accurate to draw men on her feet, symbolizing the fact that she walks all over men. Julia is the type of girl who will seduce a man, bring him to one of her little hide outs, and sleep with him. She barely ever forms relationships with them, instead using them as a way to rebel against the party.

2. The map on her leg

Julia doesn’t seem to worry too much about the future and instead lives in the present. The markers on the map are supposed to represent how she lives in the moment, doing whatever she wants, disregarding possible consequences. Whenever Winston worried they’d be caught committing thought crime, and get killed for their relationship, she convinced him “[She was] real…solid…alive” (1984, Part 2, Chapter 3). Instead of worrying about being killed, she convinced him to live how he wanted to, while he still had the chance.

3. Open lock on her jeans

Let’s just say Julia isn’t the most loyal person. Obviously she rebels against the government and is disloyal to them, but I mean who blames her? I’m surprised more people aren’t disloyal. But, after Winston and Julia get caught by the thought police “She betrayed…Winston. Immediately – unreservedly.” (1984, Part 3, Chapter 2) The open lock is meant to represent how easy it can be for her to be disloyal to somebody. Despite her long relationship with Winston, she was able to let him go like that, much easier than he was able to let her go.

4. Glasses hanging out of her pockets

Despite giving Winston up so easily, she did love him at one point, before the thought police intervened. Of course, she loves him in secret. Winston in quite intelligent so the glasses represent him and the love she has for him, hidden away in her pocket.

5. Red Celibacy Sash

This symbol is meant to represent who she pretends to be. She wears this everyday to fit in and convince people she is a good party member who would never commit thought crime. She does lots of volunteer work and wears this sash as a way to fit and be unsuspected.

6. Her fiery heart

We felt a heart of flames accurately represented her passionate, yet fiery personality. Julia lives a very passionate life with “everything [coming] back to her own sexuality.” (1984, Part 2, Chapter 3) Everything she does, she does in a passionate manner. She actively (though secretively) rebels against the party, living the life she wants, despite what is expected of her.

7. The fox on her chest

Being able to sleep with so many men, and last so long not being discovered by the thought police takes a certain type of person. Julia is cunning and sneaky much like a fox. From knowing of so many various places to take men, to finding ways to determine which men would be able to fall victim to her traps, she has many fox like qualities.

8. The mask she’s holding

Julia is a master of disguise. She doesn’t let anyone see who she truly is, wearing a mask at all times to hide her true feelings towards the party. This mask is meant to represent the charade she plays in her daily life.

9. The birds in her head

Julia is pretty free minded. She thinks what she wants; her mind is as free as a bird. One funny thing about her is, despite wanting to rebel against the party, she had no interest in it “except where it touched upon her own life,” (1984, part 2, chapter 3). She doesn’t really care what the party does to take away freedoms and change history, unless it affects her. She lets her thoughts run wild, ignoring other issues, living in her own little world.

10. The field around her

Instead of using a symbol for the background, we decided a field would be the perfect place to put her. This field is both meant to represent the field she took Winston to for their first meet up, along with the fact that she can’t be caged. Leading a man to some random field, especially in this society where you never know if they could be a member of the thought police takes a certain amount of courage. This action is very representative of Julia’s character as a whole. She isn’t the type to get nervous in rebellious acts.

The field is wide open, perfect for her nature. No matter what society she is in, she won’t let it keep her from doing what she wants. A wide open field is full of possibilities, and has no potential to cage her.

All in all I actually really enjoyed this project, as it was an interesting way to delve deeper into one specific character. It really made me think about Julia, her motivations, and the role she plays in the book, subsequently making me think about the book as a whole.

Comment down below any symbols you would add to Julia if you were going to make one of these!