Julia sees Winston and thinks, "There is the cause of all my trouble." Do you think that’s true? How much is Julia to blame for her own circumstances?

At the Ministry of Love, Julia sees Winston and thinks, "There is the cause of all my trouble." Do you think that’s true? How much is Julia to blame for her own circumstances?

Do you think she would have been recruited by O’Brien if she’d never passed the note to Winston? Why or why not?

Julia is to blame but it is not actually her fault. When O’Brien asked her to work for the Thought Police she would have to say yes. Otherwise she would probably be targeted, tortured and killed.O’Brien set her up to destroy the men she was involved with and herself.

I don't think Winston is the cause of her trouble. It seems like Julia was on O'Brien's radar even before she slipped Winston that note, plus they obviously knew about her penchant for seducing men. One could argue that the situation was Julia's own fault, but in that climate of constant surveillance everyone is "guilty" of something, and if they wanted to entrap Julia they'd come up with something.

I wouldn’t use the word blame, but Julia was the mistress of her own fate, to the fullest extent possible under the regime of Big Brother. That brought her problems, for sure, as much to do with her strong will and over-confidence as with the evil of others, but in the end she was a survivor.

Newman nicely detailed Julia’s behavior with other men prior to the time Julia connected with with Winston. Julia used the same plan and treated all men the same, acting almost like an unpaid prostitute. For someone who acted so secretly both in thought and action, Julia’s belief that Winston was the cause of all her trouble seemed like an excuse so that she did not have to acknowledge to herself that she had gotten caught. Between her long “affair” with Winston and the meeting with O’Brien, it is hard to think that Julia was not responsible for her own troubles.

Julia is mad at herself for being caught and being caught and possibly not seeing/realizing that she was being watched.
But, Julia did let her guard down with Winston and thought I should have been more careful and thus her statement that Winston is to blame is partially true.

I don't think Winston is to blame for Julia's trouble. She had issues well before she met him and having grown up creating lies about her life, it was relatively easy for her to fall victim to O'Brien. She wanted to believe what he said because she wanted to believe she could have something better in life.