Winston is having trouble accepting the party line spewing from Big Brother and the State after he finds a like-minded soul in Julia. It is easy for Winston to put aside the unexpressed doubts that were solely in his mind. When Winston finally puts those thoughts in words and those feelings validated by another, he gains confidence in his convictions. Winston’s next step is to take action in contravention of the Party’s edits but based upon his convictions. The clandestine meetings with Julia place both their live at risk. His internal questioning of the party is the first step in protesting. In order to have the impetus to join an actual protest, an individual must first form the idea that society is out of order or simply wrong. When Julia and Winston are invited into the highly secretive world of the Brotherhood, it does not provide Winston with the brotherhood that he envisioned.
The Occupy Wall Street movement is similar to Winston’s rebellion in the sense that it is against a powerful societal member, the Wall Street financial institutions, which members of the movement believe have caused them some sort of harm. However, Winston does not initially question the control that Big Brother and the party have over him the way these protestors do. The motivation of the protestors is diverse. Some hard core liberal members want to convert the US to essentially a socialist state with a redistribution of existing wealth; other members of the movement are simply frustrated that they have lost their jobs or that they have been unable to find gainful employment after obtaining an expensive education. Winston’s struggle and that of the Occupy Wall Street are similar in that they both have the support of the unspoken masses.
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