'Women In George Orwell's 1984'

Although Julia is one of the main characters, feminism literary critics have determined that women are looked down on in this dystopian society through multiple instances when women are treated as less than men in George Orwell's 1984.

Orwell chose to only specifically mention four types of women in this novel; mothers, wives, sexual partners and celibate women. These are the most common stereotypical roles for a woman. Smith's mother is shown as emotional and not rational when Orwell states that she was not very intelligent bit instead he thinks of her as noble because of her sacrifice of love for her children. His mother is shown as the one who cooked, cleaned, and took care of the children. Winston's wife is shown as passive and unintelligent

Men are still allowed to secretly have sex because it was their instinct. Men can sneak around and have sex with prostitutes; “consorting with prostitutes was forbidden, of course, but it was one those rules that you could occasionally nerve yourself to break. It was dangerous, but it was not a life-and-death matter” (Orwell 50). Even though men are allowed this Julia states that "girls are always supposed to be pure" (Orwell 102). Women are the only ones allowed to worn in the porn department because they can control themselves since they should not have the urge like a man does. Men have the right to allow their instincts to show while the women must conceal them. This gives men a right that women do not have which shows that they are above them in this dystopian

Orwell used feminism in the novel when he describes the women as having the same outfit as the men, a boyish haircut and no makeup . This shows that the women were not forced to live up to the certain standards that are expected in today's society, such as wearing make up and looking girly.(Insert Quote) Many feminist critics truly support this ideal because it is exactly what women are fighting for today. "With just a few dabs of color in the right places she had become not only very much prettier, but, above all, far more feminine"(Orwell 118) Even though women did not use makeup, Winston insinuating that makeup is something that makes a woman feminine. Another way that they believe Orwell connects the novel to feminism is through a comparison of Big Brother watching everyone to the resemblance of the gaze of a man. Johnathan Schroeder stated that a gaze signifies a psychological relationship of power.(21) The object being gazed at is inferior to the gazer. Typically, women are the objects while men are the gazers. Schroeder explains how Big Brother, the male, is watching all of the society which shows who is in power in the novel(21) . Even though both sexes are watched in the novel, it shows that the gazer holds power above the