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.