Examples Of Sexism In 1984

Winston is sexist in 1984. Throughout 1984, the reader can easily tell that Winston has a superiority complex when it comes to talking about women, and likes to stereotype and group women together. For example Winston says, "'You're only a rebel from the waist downwards,' he told her" (Orwell 156). Although it is argued that Julia’s understanding of the party surpasses Winston’s, Winston believes that Julia only rebels with her body. Julia rebelling with her body is just as much a thoughtcrime as Winston writing in his journal. He is doing the same thing as her, using intimacy as a way to go against the party but still believes he is more intellectually inclined than her. Winston also believes that those around him only do things that serve

Dystopian novels are supposed to represent an undesirable world, so could the sexism in his writing be a part of his warning as well? The style of his writing that is consistent throughout the novel reflects ideas that he as a person does not necessarily agree with, but believes could happen if the wrong person gets in control. "Writers create imaginary dystopias to exaggerate and highlight unethical methods of social control" (Witmer 54). There is an argument to be made that the sexist aspect of Orwell’s writing could be intentional. If the rest of his book is a warning against a totalitarian government and its dangers impacting society, the sexism in the book could easily be included in this as well. Orwell was well aware of the impact 1984 was going to make. Regardless of the scale, those who read it would be warned about the power we as citizens allow the government to hold. Majority of governments during World War II, and governments now expose blatant sexism to the public, just as the Inner Party does with the Outer Party and proles. Winston subconsciously displaying these ideas is just another example of how the party possesses its members through sex-insticnt at the cost of women. Sexism is not only present in 1984. It is a tool used in Handmaid’s Tale as well to emphasize danger, it just used differently. Atwood explains to her audience her use of sexism in the book and the impact she intends to make. Harris explains, "Both authors seem to believe that novelists disseminate critical thought and values more powerfully than teachers in formal institutions of learning, for if Orwell had meant to sound a warning by discrediting both totalitarian-minded and time-serving intellectuals, as Crick puts it (127-28), Atwood's epilogue shows that trahison de clercs in action" (1). Recently printed