Winston had been so diminished, physically and mentally, and almost nothing remained of his former self. He did not look like Old Winston and, although he called himself a man, he had the bodily dimensions of a pre-teen.
Being at such a deprived state, Winston was empty, just as O'Brien wanted. That way, Winston could be filled up and satiated with Big Brother. Once he surrendered the last thing that mattered to him, Julia, he Big Brother was able to take care of him as he should: feeding him three meals a day, letting him smoke decent cigarettes and allowing him personal hygiene. Winston could only come to love Big Brother.
What we have here, my friends, is a classic case of Stockholm Syndrome. It just disgusts me the mental torture and manipulation that humans are capable of. How scary the thought is that someday, the government may in fact have a way to find out our deepest, darkest fears and use them against us? I cannot even draw to mind what my biggest fear is, and I get creeped out just wondering what it might be and knowing my fear would be greater when it was presented to me.
 |
| I really hate cotton balls, but I hardly doubt they'd be a torture tactic. |
A curious thought just popped into my head: Winston hates rats, and Julia turned him in, or ratted him out, so it's interesting that he claimed to have loved her. Is one of the morals that Big Brother is trying to get across that what you love the most will be your downfall? Hmm....
Also, Julia confessed to having betrayed Winston, I get that much. But how did she end up betraying him? What did she scream and beg for them to torture Winston with and not her?
Damn you, George Orwell for leaving me with all these questions!
Yes, so many questions! Were "memory holes" really a safe place to dispose of sensitive information? Was the Brotherhood real? Was the Party dropping bombs on its own people? Why did Julia go with Winston to O'Brien? Was Julia part of the setup, just like Charrington? What happened to Winston's wife? Why didn't Winston become an unperson (wouldn't that have been much easier?)? Was the only reason Orwell wrote this novel was so he would have his audience read the very detailed and long account of "The Book"? How relevant is Ninteen Eighty-Four today, really?
ReplyDeleteI am also worried and disgusted by the total darkness that we humans have inside of ourselves. The worst part is that no matter how much we say we wouldn't do that to another human being, we could probably bring ourselves to do those acts in certain situations. I read a book last year on the same topic.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think that's one of the reasons why I enjoy this book so much: Orwell isn't afraid to dive down and uncover the darkest, most depraved parts of the human soul.
... Oh, and I know what would be in Room 101 if they sent me there, but I'm not telling...
About the mention of the government using our deepest darkest fears to control us...in a way they do for some of society. The people on welfare, social security, food stamps, government funded programs etc. They are ways of controlling us, so we don't bite the hand that feeds us. I am not against these programs that I have mentioned above, I just find them as ways our government attempts to control us..which is pretty frightening.
ReplyDeleteWhat's even creepier is the possibility that you do not know your deepest darkest fear, but the government does. Okay, obviously in reality they don't, not YET! But of course books like this one cause us to question and theorize all sorts of possibilities. In general one of our collective deepest darkest fears may be the loss of freedom or the loss of security. With heartbreaking and honestly frightening events taking place like Boston Marathon bombing so fresh in our minds we can't ignore the inkling of fear that can be planted. Although we must try our best to, because that's what they want-for us to be afraid!
ReplyDeleteYou raised a very interesting question about your greatest love being your ultimate downfall, because as I think about the movie Troy, love ultimately caused two separate factions to go to war with one another,causing the downfall of the Trojan Dynasty/Empire. Furthermore, there are ample literature writings, along with movies, that oftentimes portray/tie people's biggest downfalls to relationships, opposed to their own self-doings. Control displays itself in many forms; Patriarchy, relationships, and even through laws and regulations, just to name a few. Reading how Winston was tortured by having his biggest fear come to reality, made me think of military torture techniques like Waterboarding, that have been documented to bring people to the brink of death, in order to give up information. Kind of makes you wonder if the person being tortured to the max like Winston, only gives up information in order for the torture to stop? Furthermore, if that is the case, how accurate or precise would that information be? Nice post, you generated a lot of questions and curiosities for me from your writing.
ReplyDelete