Reading both books, 1984 and 1984 Julia, one can sumerise that the gorvernment Big Brother can be seen not only as government enity but a religious cult. Big Brother can be seen as a religious figure within a cult because the praise of Big Brother shows the omnipotent power his image holds on the people of Oceania. Especially, when both books describe the slogan that says ‘Big Brother is Watching You.’ It is true that Big Brother- tecnically the inner party memebers- are watching you. They watch you through the telescreen, knowing everything you do. O’Brien even indicates it when he talks to both Julia and Winston but at different times. O’Brien talks to Julia first and says, “You are right. I know you more intimately than you can imagine. I have watched over you for seven years” (Newman 140). He says a similar thing to Winston in Orwell’s last part of his book. Either way, this indicates how closely the community in this religious cult is watched over. It shows that the higher ups in this community closely monitor those who have done wrong from the rules and laws Big Brother made like sexcrime, doublethink, etc.
In 1984 Julia, it demonstrates how far the cult has really gone compared to Orwell’s. In Sandra Newman’s book, she writes more about the individual sects within this Big Brother religion like Anti-Sex League. The sects have lecture about the evils of sexcrime or doublethink. Julia seems to be thrown deeper into the cult than Winston becasue she goes to most of the demonstrations and is a memebr of the Anit-Sex League. Another indication that this is a cult is the celebicy that all of them have to endear. It really hits the nail when they talk about artsem which is artificial insemenation, but it also goes further. The thing that makes this cult go even further is having a baby of Big Brother through the artsem. The talk about having Big Brother’s baby is further explained on chapter 14 of Newman’s book from pages 195-205 they call it ‘Big Future.’ One excerpt from these pages reads:
With Big Future, you are to be the true bride of Ingsoc, one of the pure vessels of a higher race…and you can wear the badge that marks you as the bearer of that greatest trust; the chance to carry Big Brother’s child (Newman 198).
This was a big revelation to the book indicating how far the party will go to have pure children from the purest of wombs much like virgin Mary, but ironiclly Julia fits the bill. This is strange because she doesn’t have pure celebicy like some people. For example, a girl from Julia’s hostel named Oceania who went through artsem but not Big Future has more of a camparison to the Virgin Mary than Julia. Still, the act of controlling even sex is very common in a cult or religious community.
Having the child of your god is a great achievement, and even Julia had feeling about it. She thought, “…She imagined fucking Big Brother in that great glass hall, where all might see” (Newmen 200). So she had similar fantasies, paralleling from what some groups or people think about God. Two people in particular think about an erotic relationship with god and they are Hildegard of Beign and John Donne. Their poems that they have written are examples of the kind of intimate relationship you can have with God. Another indication of Big Borther being the god and having ominpotent power is as follows: “Sleep is Vigilance, Six Hours For Health, Big Bother Watches over Our Peaceful Rest” (Newman 41). With these passages and descriptions, we can see the smiliarities and comparson of Big Brother being a metaphor for a cult.
We even see the metaphors of people falling for the cult or trying to run out of the cult like Winston wants to and Julia, who actually did run out. We watch Julia running from this cult after the deep seeded realization that she doesn’t love Big Brother, but hates him. She realizes she hates him and what the party stands for. She notices it after this phrase, “Twenty-seven years it had takn for her to learn what kind of smile was hidden behind the black moustache” (Newman, 330). What was behind the mousrache was a smile of vile vigor; a smile that meant power was for me and me alone; and a smile that meant that you will be crafted to my liking like a doll who had broken parts. The broken parts were the ways Julia has rebelled. It is more evident after her time at Love, where O’Brien and others tortured her. O’Brien even said something in the same lines, ” We shall squeeze you empty, and then we shall fill you with ourselves” (Newman 328). Big Brother wants to suck a person dry from thought, emotion, and self-awareness, he wants people to follow him like marionettes. But Julia does get out of this horrid metaphor of a cult, and it is illustrated at the end of Newman’s book.
In conclusion, readers may realize how much Big Brother is a representation for a cult. Big Brother’s party has to many metaphors like celebicy, praise, and faith. People seem to be falling for Big Brother everyday, especially with the constant propaganda for him. We see a rebellion starting in both books but furhter seen in Newman’s book;a rebellion from the cult that is running Oceania.