O'Brien continues to interrogate Winston and seems to contradict what he had said before. He says that "The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake." The Party, unlike a democracy, is not made up of the people living within the area. Therefore, the Party has little to no interest in who lives within their territory or what happens to them. The only thing that they are interested in is power, and they want their people to only care about that. This is the reason that they take away all of the pleasures and fun in the people's lives.
Winston then looks at O'Brien's tired face; and O'Brien realizes what Winston is thinking. How does O'Brien read Winston's mind? He brings his face closer to Winston's and says, "You are thinking that my face is old and tired. You are thinking that I talk of power, and yet I am not even able to prevent the decay of my own body..." This is foreshadowing what Winston's body actually looks like. O'Brien purposely brings his face closer toward Winston, making him think that he is decayed looking, but actually Winston is the gaunt one.
O'Brien influences Winston's mind and complete thought processes just like the Party does to everyone else. He slowly changes Winston so that he begins to understand what the Party is and what it stands for. He finally disintegrates Winston by telling him to take off his clothes. Winston removes his clothes and looks into a three-sided mirror. He sees himself as a gray skeletal figure. It was frightening to him. He had a bald scalp, drawn-in cheeks, a crooked nose, and his legs had shrunk so that the knees were thicker than his thighs. O'Brien was telling him that he was what a man looked like and that he was the last man. Before looking at himself in the mirror, Winston saw himself as superior. So it was degrading to look at himself in the mirror as a skeletal figure. O'Brien meant to show Winston that that is what he was doing to himself by being against the Party. Winston was doing it to himself. At the end of this, O'Brien asks Winston, "Can you think of a single degradation that has not happened to you?" And Winston replies with some hope, "I have not betrayed Julia." By saying this, Winston set him up to the torture that is experienced in Room 101. If he had not said this, I believe that O'Brien would not have realized this, and he would not have entered Room 101.
Winston finally begins getting fed regularly, and his strength starts coming back. By doing this, O'Brien reveals himself as Winston's savior, and Winston begins to accept O'Brien view on the world. He understands that the Party is everything. Winston was unable to overcome his physical and psychological torture. By himself, as a lone man, he could not defeat the thought that had been embedded within his consciousness. Upon a blank sheet of paper, Winston writes his thought freely... "Freedom is slavery. Two and two make five. God is power." Even though he had been defeated, he still could not help to think and wonder when he would be shot. O'Brien finally asks, in Winston's final steps toward his "cleansing," "... what are your true feels toward Big Brother?" Winston replies, "I hate him." This reveals that Winston still has his own thought process left. He is not completely overcome yet....
Winston then shouts out Julia's name in his sleep, revealing that his conversion is incomplete. O'Brien sets him up with his greatest fear in Room 101. Within Room 101, O'Brien stretches Winston to his breaking point with his greatest fear that we saw earlier in the book, rats. Therefore, it was foreshadowing when Winston was afraid of rats in the room above Mr. Charrington's apartment. The author did not merely just have the rats appear there for conflict, but also to develop Winston's character and that he apparently hated and abhorred rats. O'Brien places two rats within a wire cage that would go around his head and eat of his face; and as he brings the cage closer to Winston's face, he knows what he must do to stop this. He must betray Julia, and by betraying Julia, the Party and O'Brien have proven to Winston that they can take away love, they can take away everything.
When Winston is let free, he is no longer the same person. He finds his life running on gin. Then when he meets Julia, he also finds that he no longer loves her. He says that he wants to meet her again, but this meeting never occurrs. Winston finally comes to love Big Brother and is thankful for his long-wished-for bullet to his head. By this, the reader can conclude that rebellion against the Party was impossible. Winston was the closest it had come to rebelling successfully, but it never happened. Everyone was always overcome by the Party. There was no hope. Winston as an individual ceased to exist.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Chapter THREE
Winston wakes in a cell in the Ministery of Love. He does not know what time of day it is or how many days have gone by. Within his confinement, he has no way of telling time or anything that is going on outside; the only thing that he knew was that he was hungry. Then a woman of about sixty is brought into Winston's cell. Her name is also Smith, and she makes the statesment, "Why... I might be your mother." Nothing else is exchanged between the two. Winston just thinks to himself that it is probable. Why doesn't Winston really care that the woman could be his mother? He had been wondering what had happened to her, and he felt guilty for the way he treated her even though she loved him so much. Then why didn't he ask her more questions about this? Or is it just that she had changed, if she was his mother, so he didn't really want to know? I don't understand this part...
"He hardly thought of Julia. He could not fix his mind on her. He loved her and would not betray her; but that was only a fact, known as he knew the rules of arithmetic. He felt no love for her, and hardly even wondered what was happening to her." This statement contradicts itself. He says that he loves Julia, and at the same time, he says that he doesn't love her. I think what he was saying when he said he loved her and would not betray her was only what Julia and he said that they would do, but actually I don't think that Winston truly loves Julia. If he can't even think about her, then how can he love her? This statement is also ironic because Winston says that he would not betray Julia because he loved her but when the Ministry begins torturing him, he would say anything to get them to stop. He said that he would betray anyone and say anything they wanted him to say.
Winston sees many people enter and leave his cell. Including a man with a skeletal face from being starved who is hit across the cell for trying to eat a minute piece of bread and another man who would do absolutely anything not to be put into room 101. The man would even give away his wife and children. He says "You can take the whole lot of them and cut their throats in front of my eyes." This gives Winston some insight to what happens in the Ministry of Love
When O'Brien said that they would meet again where there was no darkness, he actually meant the Ministry of Love. Winston figures this out when he realizes that in this place the lights will never be turned out. So when O'Brien said that they would meet where there was no darkness, it was foreshadowing because O'Brien knew that Winston would end up there. O'Brien was in on the conspiracy to catch him the entire time.
Many other people enter and leave Winstons cell, all the while he is still there and his hunger and thirst are still increasing. Then O'Brien walks into the cell. Winston can't help himself to say, "They've got you too." O'Brien replies, "They got me a long time ago." O'Brien is telling Winston that the Party got him a long time ago; in other words, he had been on the Party's side the entire time. Then O'Brien makes the statement "You knew this, Winston. Don't deceive yourself. You did know it--you have always known it." Winston thinks to himself, and yes, he had always known it. But if he had always known, then why did he continue to side with O'Brien and believe that the Brotherhood was real? Was he just in denial and wanted some hope to believe in? And if the Brotherhood wasn't real, then what about the book that Winston got? I think that the Party and the Thought Police made the book to catch thought criminals. They basically set a trap for everyone who believed that the Brotherhood was real.
Winston is then put through torture and beating to supposedly help make him sane again. All the while, O'Brien remains Winston's hero even though he is the primary person behind all of his pain. How does Winston still see O'Brien as a hero? Is he in serious denial or is he really insane? I think that while he is in the Ministry of Love, he goes insane rather than sane because he was sane to begin with. But this is the Party's whole plan, for the accused to believe that they are insane when they really aren't so that they will begin to believe what the Party say and take it as true.
The prisoners within the Ministry of Love are subject to torture and starvation; and finally, at their weakest point, when their minds can be manipulated, the Party seizes the opportunity to make them believe and take in whatever they say. O'Brien reveals to Winston, during his torture, that the Party doesn't put innocent people through torture, only the insane. They "help" the insane. The Party must make the accused believe that they have done wrong before they kill them or their will become more against the Party, like in Russia. In reality, what the Party really does is take away all individuality and basically make everyone a walking, talking robot on the side of the Party. They use the wars and the change of wars to stimulate this robotic hatred.
O'Brien, in the denouement, transforms Winston's "corrupt" mind into what he and the Party wishes him to be, "just like everyone else." I think that Winston will eventually lose all of his sense of independence and will see O'Brien as his savior. He will "lose" just like the rest of the prisoners.
"He hardly thought of Julia. He could not fix his mind on her. He loved her and would not betray her; but that was only a fact, known as he knew the rules of arithmetic. He felt no love for her, and hardly even wondered what was happening to her." This statement contradicts itself. He says that he loves Julia, and at the same time, he says that he doesn't love her. I think what he was saying when he said he loved her and would not betray her was only what Julia and he said that they would do, but actually I don't think that Winston truly loves Julia. If he can't even think about her, then how can he love her? This statement is also ironic because Winston says that he would not betray Julia because he loved her but when the Ministry begins torturing him, he would say anything to get them to stop. He said that he would betray anyone and say anything they wanted him to say.
Winston sees many people enter and leave his cell. Including a man with a skeletal face from being starved who is hit across the cell for trying to eat a minute piece of bread and another man who would do absolutely anything not to be put into room 101. The man would even give away his wife and children. He says "You can take the whole lot of them and cut their throats in front of my eyes." This gives Winston some insight to what happens in the Ministry of Love
When O'Brien said that they would meet again where there was no darkness, he actually meant the Ministry of Love. Winston figures this out when he realizes that in this place the lights will never be turned out. So when O'Brien said that they would meet where there was no darkness, it was foreshadowing because O'Brien knew that Winston would end up there. O'Brien was in on the conspiracy to catch him the entire time.
Many other people enter and leave Winstons cell, all the while he is still there and his hunger and thirst are still increasing. Then O'Brien walks into the cell. Winston can't help himself to say, "They've got you too." O'Brien replies, "They got me a long time ago." O'Brien is telling Winston that the Party got him a long time ago; in other words, he had been on the Party's side the entire time. Then O'Brien makes the statement "You knew this, Winston. Don't deceive yourself. You did know it--you have always known it." Winston thinks to himself, and yes, he had always known it. But if he had always known, then why did he continue to side with O'Brien and believe that the Brotherhood was real? Was he just in denial and wanted some hope to believe in? And if the Brotherhood wasn't real, then what about the book that Winston got? I think that the Party and the Thought Police made the book to catch thought criminals. They basically set a trap for everyone who believed that the Brotherhood was real.
Winston is then put through torture and beating to supposedly help make him sane again. All the while, O'Brien remains Winston's hero even though he is the primary person behind all of his pain. How does Winston still see O'Brien as a hero? Is he in serious denial or is he really insane? I think that while he is in the Ministry of Love, he goes insane rather than sane because he was sane to begin with. But this is the Party's whole plan, for the accused to believe that they are insane when they really aren't so that they will begin to believe what the Party say and take it as true.
The prisoners within the Ministry of Love are subject to torture and starvation; and finally, at their weakest point, when their minds can be manipulated, the Party seizes the opportunity to make them believe and take in whatever they say. O'Brien reveals to Winston, during his torture, that the Party doesn't put innocent people through torture, only the insane. They "help" the insane. The Party must make the accused believe that they have done wrong before they kill them or their will become more against the Party, like in Russia. In reality, what the Party really does is take away all individuality and basically make everyone a walking, talking robot on the side of the Party. They use the wars and the change of wars to stimulate this robotic hatred.
O'Brien, in the denouement, transforms Winston's "corrupt" mind into what he and the Party wishes him to be, "just like everyone else." I think that Winston will eventually lose all of his sense of independence and will see O'Brien as his savior. He will "lose" just like the rest of the prisoners.
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