Loyalty / Betrayal: Explain how both emerge in the novel.

The development of the relationship between Winston and Julia is founded on the concepts of loyalty and individual betrayal. From the beginning of their relationship, the two recognize that their relationship will end with torture, betrayal, and death.  No other alternative is possible.  This only serves to strengthen the pair’s loyalty to each other, as they imagine themselves dying an idealized death of a martyr, loving each other until the end.  This sentiment is depicted in Winston’s statement: “I don’t mean confessing.  Confession is not betrayal.  What you say or do doesn’t matter: only feelings matter.  If they could make me stop loving you – that would be the real betrayal,” (173) and Julia’s refusal to believe that the Thought Police could ever stop her from loving him.  However, at the end of the novel, Winston betrays Julia.  In effect, he commits the greatest betrayal of all – he stops loving her.  By doing so, he not only betrays the Brotherhood and everything he ever believed in, but also betrays Julia on a intimate, individual level.  Winston’s terror of rats outweighs his love for her.  We later learn that Julia allowed her fear to outweigh her love for him as well.  Their love for each other was overpowered by their greatest fear.  All in all, Winston and Julia’s character development is based as much on individual betrayal as it is on loyalty and love.

Just as Julia and Winston’s relationship is determined by the concepts of loyalty and betrayal, the population’s relation with Big Brother is thus determined as well.  The Party is fiercely loyal to Big Brother.  Families are expected to allow loyalty to Big Brother to outweigh loyalty to any other person, be it son, daughter, mother, father, husband, or wife.  For example, Parsons is so loyal to the Party that he is glad to have been captured and brought to the Ministry of Love before he could do any harm to the Party.  Children frequently turn in their parents to the Thought Police, as they allow their love of Big Brother to tear apart their family.  Loyalty to the Party and to Big Brother is crucial to his reign, and betrayal is equally important to the survival of the Party.  The slightest infringement against the doctrine of Big Brother is punished swiftly and harshly.   As previously stated, betrayal of family members is not only commonplace, but encouraged by the government.  Betrayal of a fellow comrade allows the Party to purge the population of dissidents.  Also, in order to follow the Party, one must betray themselves by using doublethink.  In order to doublethink, one must unconsciously forget and remember conflicting information.  This is a betrayal in that you cannot formulate a true opinion about events while being essentially brainwashed by the government.  In this way, the Party repays its members’ loyalty with betrayal.  In brief, Big Brother is reliant on both his people’s loyalty and their individual betrayals to each other in order to remain in power.