1984 Quote Significance Ch. 2.1 - 2/24

"At the sight of the words I love you the desire to stay alive welled up in him, and the taking of minor risks seemed stupid" (109).

This quote is significant because it is a major turning point for Winston in the text. Before, he hated women, partly because they did not the feel the same towards him as he did to them. He tempted the forces of the world he lived in by writing a diary, committing various accounts of thoughtcrime, and was even thinking of murdering people. Now, however, he feels he can't. Upon reading the note passed by the dark haired girl, he can't fathom trying it. He has a reason to live now, one that he didn't have before. When you love someone, it gives you a morphed sense of hope, a hope that somehow, they'll love you back. You need to stay alive and be ever ready just in case the moment comes when they say they do or don't. Or, if someone says they love you, it works the same way. Even if you don't love them back, you aren't going to kill yourself over it. Perhaps, somewhere inside, because of their revelation, you begin to feel the same way. To love someone so much as to break all social laws to tell them invokes some kind of response. Before, Winston said he hated the Dark haired girl, but now, I believe he doesn't just want her for her body. Before he may have, but now he knows there's something more.When you first realize you love someone, it is natural to isolate yourself to think things through, especially if you feel the same way, which is what Winston did.

Niggling-[Adjective] 1. petty; trivial; inconsequential 2. demanding too much care, attention, time, etc.

Fatuous-[Adjective] 1. foolish or insane, esp. in an unconscious, complacent manner; silly 2. unreal; illusory