1984 Section Two, Part III Summary (pp. 126-136)
by George Orwell

Julia and Winston plan how to next meet, and they leave by different routes than by which they arrived. The next time they make love it is in the "belfry of a ruined church" (128). They spend as much time as possible talking in short bursts whenever they can manage it. While walking together a rocket bomb lands near them, injuring Winston, and for a moment Winston fears she has died. Many times, they pass each other with no sign of recognition due to the presence of patrols and helicopters. Both are engaged in work and Party activities so much they can hardly meet, though these activities are necessary to maintain their façade of being good Party members, or as Julia says, "If you kept the small rules you could break the big ones" (129). Julia even talks Winston into enrolling in "part-time munition work which was done voluntarily by zealous Party members" (129).

Winston learns more about Julia: she is not clever but good with machinery, and works, as he suspected, in the Fiction Department. Winston learns she has even worked in Pornosec, an all-women division of the Fiction Department that produces pornography for proletarian youths. He learns Julia's philosophy is that the Party wants people to stop having a good time, so people should break the rules as best they can in order to have it. She also feels any organized revolt against the Party is impossible and so does not concern herself with such things.

Julia surprises Winston with her insight about what his wife was like. Julia reveals the Party conditioning causes women to act like Winston's wife, Katherine. Julia's understanding of sex is much greater than Winston's, and she is able to explain the point of the Party's "sexual puritanism" (132): to cause hysteria through sexual depravation, which can be converted into fervor for war and leader worship. Winston sees this as extending to the family, where bonds are broken down by making children an extension of the Thought Police.

The section ends with Winston telling Julia about a time he'd become lost with Katherine on a hike. He pointed out some flowers to her, and when she came to look at them, he thought about pushing her over the edge of a cliff. Julia wonders why he didn't kill Katherine, and Winston says he regrets it. Winston refers to himself and Julia as "the dead" (135) because they are sure to be executed. Julia, however, insists they are alive for the moment and Winston should stop talking about death.