What is it from?

[Basketball09]

When Winston and Julia are caught, O'Brien at one point says that in the future they may not even be able to recognize each other. At the end of the novel, Winston and Julia barely recognized each other, and Winston sees Julia's scar. Did they actually have some sort of surgery to make them appear to be someone different? Or is it from the conditions of the Ministry of Love?

[Boostie16]

I think that from their different experiences in the ministry the way they look at everything has changed. Then even the way they look at each other changed. So I don't think they had surgery but its just what the torture and abuse did to their minds and bodies.

[Geesta]

This could be one of two things;

1. It could be from the torture, and horrible experiences at the Ministry of Love.
or
2. This could be from an actually surgery that Julia had undergone, so that she was not the same person anymore.

[small_m1]

I thought that when I read the book, it was from the torture she had undergone years ago. Aleast that's what it insinuated?