Winston's Torture

The torture that Winston endures from O'Brien in room 101 are all part of a cleansing process that the party makes people go through before they kill them. Winston would like to die a valiant death, defying the party, but O'Brien made it very clear that before they killed him they would make him be a good party member. Winston undergoes stretching, rats, electric impulses, all of which are to make him think like a good party member. They don't want him to have anything valiant to die for, they want to kill him as a good party member so that nobody can see his death as valiant. This is why they let him be a party member, but eventually they will kill him, Winston just doesn't know when. Earlier in the book Winston said that he would not betray Julia, but when he came face to face with rats he told them to do anything to her but to spare him, and we found out in the last chapter that Julia did the same thing. They both betrayed each other. I think that this ending crushed Winston, he has lost all original thoughts and memories that he once had, and now he is a good citizen awaiting his death. I think that he has lost his faith in mankind, since he thought that he could die valiantly, and actually show love towards another person by not betraying them, but these ideas are crushed. All of his freedoms that he once had, his love, memories, happiness, have been completely destroyed so that he can be a good citizen. Winston is no longer human like he once was. I think that the broad message in this book is actually that human instinct to save yourself in a time of danger will always come first, even if that means giving up all things that allow you to have a happy life. The ultimate message is that under pressure our instinct for survival will keep us alive.

Emmanuel Goldstein's Book

I agree with the theory, and I think that the proles really won't ever wake up from their stupor. This is sad because they are the only ones that Winston thinks can overthrow the party if they fought over things that were more important. Of course this won't happen because they really don't seem to care. They just don't look at the inner party the way Winston and Julia do. The proles don't even know what is going on, if a bomb goes off they assume it's an enemy of the party, when it could be the party attacking them to keep them in fear and hating one thing so that they don't have time to even question the inner party. Of course the outer party, cannot ban together and go against the inner party. It is hard to determine whether the proles are lower class, because the outer party could also be considered lower class, since they hardly live better than the proles. If you cannot even determine who is in what class, whether it is higher or lower, then you cannot ban together and overthrow anything. The party cannot be changed by anyone, it is unstoppable, this is the main that Goldstein's book gives us. I agree with Goldstein on this theory, and yes it would take more than just the proles to overthrow Big Brother and the inner party, but at the same time that in itself is hard to achieve. This entire society is not meant to be long-term, but will eventually be destroyed as long as there are people like Winston and Julia rebelling in any way they can.

Winston's Dreams

Well, needless to say that Winston has some repressed issues, but he also has some repressed dreams, like the one he has in book 2 about his mother and his sister. I think that Orwell uses these dreams to help depict how Winston feels and thinks about people and is also using this to depict an aspect of human nature.
Winston's dream is about him as a selfish, spoiled child, who basically took all the food. This is interesting because we can tell how he feels about children by the way he describes himself as a child. He and Julia refer to children as swine. I think that this is interesting because his mother seems to be the one pleading with him for mercy, while he screams and shouts for the last bit of chocolate until his sister and mother are both in tears. What is another interesting thing to note her is that his mother actually seems to care about her children, and Winston doesn't notice this until later on. This kind of behavior must be common in the party. I think that this helps us see what Winston has suppressed, and also makes the differences between him and Julia a lot clearer, and also helps us see how his views on society have changed. Winston regrets how selfish he was as a child, when he didn’t at the time. One more thing to note is that his mother could tell that his sister was going to die, when he couldn’t, which is also an indicator about how selfish and uncaring he was.

Winston Knows?

The thing that Winston knows at the end of chapter 6 is that he will eventually be caught and killed. In chapter 6, O'Brien tells Winston that he can see the Newspeak dictionary if he meets him at his flat. It is also at this point in the novel where Winston doesn't know whether O'Brien is on his side or whether he is trying to catch him for the party. So, in a sense Winston kind of realizes that this is a his last fight, that after this something will probably happen to him, and right now in the book he doesn't know what to think about O'Brien, or even if he should trust him. O'Brien could be spying on him and turn him in or he could be very similar to Winston and be secretly against the party. I think that it is still too early to tell what kind of person O'Brien is. I think that Winston is foreshadowing his own downfall or possibly even death, all because he would go to O'Brien's flat, and he knew that something significant was going to happen in the ministry of love and this was the last step in his long drawn out process of the conspiracy. It all started with an involuntary thought, then to words, and then to actions, and now he has a feeling that this will all end in death. Whether O’Brien kills him or if someone else kills him he doesn't know, all he knows is that there is a grave waiting for him. If I were Winston I would not trust O’Brien, because up until this point he hasn’t had any contact with him except for the 2 minutes hate, and now out of the blue he is inviting him over to his house to get a newspeak dictionary, that’s a little creepy even though he might seem like a nice guy.

Winston and Julia

The relationship between Julia and Winston is mainly about them rebelling against the inner party. The fact that they love each other, which is not allowed in the party is a silent rebellion for their own sanity. However, it is interesting how Winston thought at first that she was spying on him, then when he found out that she loved him he jumped at the thought of meeting her again. This doesn't really happen in our world today, especially since they hardly even know each other, and they really don't seem like they go together and are only together because it was convenient for Orwell. The one important difference between them is that Julia is rebelling against the government because she thinks that things can't be changed anyway and she's just happier breaking the rules and feels like they truly can't beat the entire system, while Winston questions the inner party and thinks that the party can be brought down. Also, Julia expects more out of life and is a bit more adventurous than Winston. They are very similar in that they want to rebel against Big Brother by meeting in private and doing things that are looked down upon. There is a very large age difference between the two of them, but I suppose that it takes one to know one. Although there wasn't much spark at the beginning of their relationship, Winston starts to feel like he needs her, while I get the feeling like Julia just wants to rebel and just likes going against the party in any way. Ultimately, Winston says that Julia knows that she will eventually be caught by the thought police, but at the same time Julia believes that she can live in this world where she constantly contradicts the party and will not get caught. This silent rebellion is a way of keeping themselves sane, and it shows that it is possible to have lust, and love in the party.

Winston v. John

Winston's view is entirely different from John's, he hates purity, and goodness and wants it to die. John loves purity and goodness, because he didn't see any of that while he was in the savage reservation, and when he met someone like Lenina whom he put on a pedestal he thought she was the purest thing ever. The point is that there is no purity at all within the party, even though they are trying to create a perfect world. I think Winston hates purity because purity is what the party is trying to achieve, and by Julia not being pure he loves that. He likes that she is rebellious against the party, and this is a silent attack against the party by just not being pure and how the party wants her to be. I think that Winston is trying to show that there is nothing pure like there used to be, no love, because everyone is caught up in their fear and hatred. I also think that they are starting to love one another, because they are both rebellious, and they are also sneaking away from the party doing things that would now ironically be considered to not be pure. I just think that this is an interesting contrast between this world and the world created by the party. John wants purity, but ends up not liking it in the New World, while Winston hates purity, because of the standards of purity set up by the party.