Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Discussion Question #5
Following his capture in Mr. Charrington's spare room, Winston undergoes a process of "philosophical cleansing" and re-education against which he valiantly, but unsuccessfully fights. Discuss Winston's "capitulation" at the hands of O'Brien. How is Winston brought to "love Big Brother?" In sacrificing Julia, how has Winston, in essence, signaled his own end?
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During Winton's physical cleansing, O'Brien used extreme amounts of physical pain to alter Winston's thoughts and beliefs. He caused Wisnton so much pain that Winston's mind was torn between sticking to what he knew what was the truth and what he had to say for the pain to end. He became very confused, torn between stopping the torture and what was right. For a while he tried rebelling agaisnt O'Brien and sticking to what he knew was the truth, however the pain quickly became too much to handle and he actually didnt know what to think anymore. Soon after that his mind made the decision to belive what O'Brien was telling him and to succumbe to the Big Brother ways. In sacrificing Julia Winston gave up the one thing he truly loved and switched his love to Big Brother. Julia was pretty much the one reason he lived his life, his one true love in life and the reason he got up in the morning. By giving her up he killed his own reason to live, therefore signalling his end.
O'Brien tells Winston that he is there to be cured of his mental fallacies. O'Brien uses the logic of doublethink and the administration of pain until Winston is reduced to saying that four fingers are actually five. here we can see the beginning of Winston's "love for big brother" beginning to develop. O'Brien tells Winston that there is no escape and that even if they allow him to live, there will be no capacity in him to be a full human being. So at this point O'Brien is basically telling Winston that in order to live, he must lead a life in which he is loyal to big brother. When Winston asks about Julia he is told that she has betrayed him totally and completely. These are all very important steps in Winston's "capitulation". Winston is then told that the party wants power only for its own sake. Then O'Brien asks Winston if there is any form of suffering that he has not been reduced to. Winston says that he has not betrayed Julia. Winston realizes that he still has feelings for Julia ans uses that as some form of hope for still hating the party. Then O'Brien asks Winston what he thinks of big brother, When Winston says "i hate him" he is sentenced to room 101. In room 101 is Winston's greatest fear. RATS. O'Brien tells Winston that he is going to set the rats on him. To avoid this Winston cries out "do it to Julia not me!". Winston has just betrayed Julia. Winston in essence has signaled his own end because now intellectually and emotionally he is living for big brother.
Winston capitulated once O'Brien brought out the rats in Room 101. Winston's biggest fear is rats and how O'Brien figured that out was spying on Winston and Julia in the room above Mr. Charrington's store when a rat dashed across the floor and Winston reacted with fear. In Room 101, Winston is strapped to a chair. A cage is very near his face with two starving rats inside. Once released the rats will attack Winston's face and bite at it and and do all sorts of infectious and disgusting things to it. Once Winston realized his greatest fear was going to tear him to pieces, he betrayed Julia and demanded O'Brien to do it to her, and to set him free because he'll agree to confess to anything as long as he can escape the rats. Winston is brought to love "Big Brother" when he is unwillingly tortured repeatedly as well as O'Brien's brainwashing and his doublethink preaching. O'Brien twisted all of Winston's knowledge and understanding to his own advantage and confused him to the point where Winston couldn't even tell what two plus two was anymore. When Winston sacrificed Julia he gave up his ability to feel any emotion. He is alive but he is essentially dead because to be alive is to feel pain and to feel joy when it happens but Winston cannot feel anything.
Winston has trusted O'Brien throughout the novel. Even though he doesn't have any evidence to believe that he really can be trusted, he still feels a sense of security with O'Brien and that he is against the party too. Unfortunately Winston was wrong so when O'Brien is the one torturing him it is almost ironical. O'Brien almost brainwashes Winston into loving Big Brother. Even though Winston does in the end say to O'Brien when he asks that 2 + 2 = 5 I don't actually believe that Winston really thinks that is the correct answer. I still think deep down he knows that the Party is wrong and that he is right, but knows that in order to survive this torture he must show O'Brien what he wants to hear. Winston realizes that there is no hope for him anymore and inturn essentially gives up completely and gives in to worshiping big brother. By him selling out Julia he has literally betrayed all things that he was fighting for in the first place so realistically these promises that he made to himself and to Julia, when broken down ended up completely ignoring them in order to survive physically. He knows that by him doing this, it will take some of the "attention" off him and make the party happier knowing they succeeded in breaking him down.
‘How does one man assert his power over another, Winston?’
‘By making him suffer.’
(pg. 279)
Winston was discovered. He had committed the worse crime possible: thoughtcrime. O’Brien believes Winston is not mentally well and must “cure” him of his mental fallacies. They will not allow/leave him to continue on the same road he’s on. Although, I believe it’s just a cover-up of the real reason: to conform his mind – everyone obeys and loves Big Brother; he knows best and is the only other thing that matters besides the Party. They want to regain control over him: mind, body, and sprit.
The process of “re-education” is excruciating. I believe it begins by destroying the criminal’s ability to tell the time (day, night, hours, days, weeks, etc.) as there are no windows, nor do the lights ever turn off, in the Ministry of Love. This causes them to be disoriented – beginning of confusion.
Winston then experiences great and unspeakable pain, as he is tortured mercilessly. It is their way of being able to control him – placing him in a very fragile state (physically and mentally). They want to break him – confuse him using the combination of doublethink and pain. He no longer knows what to believe (2 + 2 = ?/up from down). In the current mental and physical weak state he is in, they reinstate the doctrine back in his mind. Then, at last, they induce fear by bringing Winston to Room 101 to face his greatest fear: rats. I believe this “seals the deal”. He finally betrays Julia; Winston no longer has any personal loyalties. He does not care or sympathize for anyone else; Big Brother is all that matters.
The instant he betrays Julia, his ‘spirit of man’ no longer exists in him; his humanity and spirit is gone. Winston is one of them now. For all the work and discovers he did for the better of humanity, is thrown out the window. He was the only solid character that stood for reason and truth.
Winston loves BB and signals this after sacrificing Julia for many reasons. The main one is that they put him in a situation where he isn't alive to love anything but BB and any other love results in pain. His last love and his most loved person Julia is the hardest to give up because of who she was to him and this results in Julia needing to be sacrificed and ended up being the last thing given up because of, again, who she was to him. Without having to give her up he wouldn't of lost all of who he was and would of not been the recreated person that loves BB and only BB with all he possibly can.
Winston says to do it to Julia instead of himself, therefore showing that he no longer loves her and is betraying her for big brother. Winston is saying that for the pain to stop. He may be betraying Julia but I don't think he has stopped loving her for big brother. He may stop loving her soon after the occurrences but during them I think he still does. You can't just say I'm going to stop loving someone now and start loving someone else, its an involuntary act. His love for Julia symbolizes his will to live free and free-minded so sacrificing her would be as if he is giving up on his life, his freedom and the way everything is for him.
Winston has trusted O'Brien throughout the novel. Even though he doesn't have any evidence to believe that he really can be trusted, he still feels a sense of security with O'Brien and that he is against the party too. Unfortunately Winston was wrong so when O'Brien is the one torturing him it is almost ironical. O'Brien almost brainwashes Winston into loving Big Brother. Even though Winston does in the end say to O'Brien when he asks that 2 + 2 = 5 I don't actually believe that Winston really thinks that is the correct answer.
With everything Winston went through there were essentially two main steps that led to his total and complete surrender. As well, eventually to his own end. First of all, Winston was made to utterly obey Big Brother. Winston was told that he had to be cured of his mental fallacies. In other words, transformed from an independant, thought provoked, human being, to a brainwashed, mindless and devoted, follower. This was achieved by enduring excrutiating pain and confusion, both physical and mental, administered by O'Brien himself. O'Brien combined methods of torture such as the drug injections, along with the use of doublethink, to overall twist Winston mind and body. We see how this ended up being effective, when Winston traces the statement; "2+2=5". However, this is not enough. We learn from O'Brien that it is not enough to only obey Big Brother, but one must entirely love him. This is the final stage in Winstons final capitulation. We see that Winston hasn't reached this stage yet when he yells out his love for Julia in his sleep, then admits to hating Big Brother and the Party. This is when O'Brien takes extreme measures by taking Winston to Room 101 for his greatest fear. Only to follow, this is also when Winston undergoes absolute surrender and signals his ultimate end. In Room 101 Winston comes face to face with his greatest fear, rats. While being exposed to this, he sacrifices his one and only love, Julia. This was the last thing he was left to love and live for, and now that connection was gone. All that was left for O'Brien to feel for was Big Brother, and this is how the last stage was completed and he was brought to love Big Brother. Overall this symbolizes Winstons end, because the "spirit of man" he onced talked about is long lost. He no longer has love for anyone, or a mind of his own. Therefore, he has become dead inside, trapped in a mindless corpse, devoted to Big Brother and the Party.
winston is caught and needs to be cleansed and re-educated,he had commuted the worst crime possible which is a hate crime. O'Brien needs to make Winston understand that Big Brother is the only thing that really matters and the only thing that should be loved. O'Brien does this by putting Winston through pain no one should ever have to endure and the only way Winston can stop the pain is to admit his love for Big Brother and give Julia up. I do believe that Winston has truly forgotten what he once believes about O'Brien and the Party. Winston tried to save Julia but couldn't deal with the thought of certain death. His end was her end and for that there really was no reason to continue to live.
Winston was tortured bothe mentally and physically to the extreme. By the end he was so worn out and confused he would basically agree to anyting O'Brien said. The moment where Winston is tortured to the point where he betrays Julia is when he is brought into room 101 and is forced to face his biggest fear which is rats. At this point Winston is so worn out that he really isn't bothered that much when he sells out Julia. In sacrificing Julia, Winston signals his own demise because he gave up the one thing he truly loved. He made a promise to never betray her but he broke that and is brought to the point where the only person he can love is Big Brother. In betraying Julia his only true companion he has nothing else to live for except Big Brother and the Party.
As soon as Winston has been arrested and brought to the Ministry of Love, we see him slowly capitulate to Big Brother-without even knowing it. At this point Winston has lost all control over himself; he's unable to sleep, eat, speak or even move. Once he has been taken away by O'Brien, Winston is put through unbearable physical pain that brings him to "love" Big Brother. He is caught in two situations, and he is the only person that can decide the final outcome; he must either say what O’Brien is saying and side with Big Brother, or he can continue to say what the truth is and what he believes in-but in doing this he is subject to physical torture.
He allowed himself to say 2 + 2 = 5, so he ended up letting go of the truth to end the pain, and when it came to going into Room 101, which contained his biggest fear; rats, he chose to sacrifice Julia instead. When Winston sacrificed Julia, he gave up the one thing in life that he truly loved and the only thing he felt he could live for. By doing this, Winston has, in essence, signaled his own end because he gave up the last piece of himself.
Room 101 is everybody's nightmare especially for Winston, as we all knew. There, Winston was tortured and had so much pain that his mind torn out. Facing his biggest fear, the rats, and torturing him mentally and physically are reasons of his "capitulation". He tried hard being himself and saying the truth but it wasn't enough. Because of the pain so, he give up. O'Brien caused him much pain and mentally tortured Winston by doublethink technique that Winston was confused and slowly believe to what O'Brien said. Because of O'Brien telling Winston that Julia betrayed him and she just love BB more than anyone, Winston's pain got worst. He became weak and weaker that he sacrifice and give up what he have especially his love for Julia. In this point, he signaled his own end and death. With all he gone through , he knew that he have to live without Julia and the truth.
While Winston is in the prison, he goes through a lot emotionally and physically. There are so many factors of how O' Brien weakens Winstons character. O Brien knows that Winston is strong and is willing to risk a lot of himself to prove that he is against Big Brother. Most people are too afraid to go against the inner party because they fear that the worst will happen to them. O Brien's first tactic to weaken Winston is physical. He tortures Winston to the point where he is physically able to do nothing. He has no strength and no will to do anything that may increase the pain. This is one way that O Brien "grabs" Winston, so he has no need to fight against accepting Big Brother. Then he trys to brain wash him by teaching him about learning that 2+2=5. In the end however Winston is still not completely accepting of the inner party when O Brien asks what he truly thinks of Big Brother, Winston says I hate him. O Brien knows that room 101 is the only way to get through to him.
In the end by sacrificing Julia he ends his own ideas about the party and he ends him self in a sense because he sacrifices one of the only things that truly made him happy. It is so hard to give up someone you have loved, but if it is necessary to save your self like Winston knew he had to do, then human beings will do this. He leaves his ideas and his feelings once he does this and truly Big Brother enters the picture for Winston.
Winston was caught by by O'brien rebeling against BB, because of the trust he had given O'brien.
Winston may have gave up for big brother, not because of not loving her anymore but because he wasnt able to endure the pain. I believe that no matter what winston will still love julia because shes was the one to give him the sence of security and without her he wouldent want to be alive. in the end O'brien may have got him to say that 2+2=51 but i belive that it was to fool O'brien into thinking that he was one with big brother. Hidden from everyone in theback of his mind he still loves julia and not Big Brother.
I think when you push a person to there absolute limits of pain and mental strain, their most basic human instances come into play. no matter how much you believe, your body can still only take so much, and when you reach that point you mind is complete jelly. O'Brien used that to finally kill off the last off Winstons real self and created "The Parties" perfect citizen. they told him to love big brother and he did. they could have told him he was a chicken in that state and he would have believed it too. I don't think Julia had much to do with it. like i said, your mind and body is at the merci at who ever was torchering you. Winston thought he was alot stronger then he really was, and in the end not even that could save him.
2+2=5, in room 101 he is convinced that julia has given him up, so with fear of that he tell's o'brian what they have done, and admits rebelling against big brother.
Well i saw the torture to be in 3 steps, Physical torture was meant to destroy his belief in the human spirit. The solitary confinement was meant to make him think over and debate to himself "Why you should love big brother". Cause if you debate something long enough, you can believe in it after a while. And the last part was to destroy any possible private loyalties, all loyalties must be towards Big brother. By destroying that last loyalty with Julia, he was defeated.
O'Brien tortured Winston alot, it was the crazy amount of insane torture that Winston thought whatever he could in order to get the pain to stop. Soon after being tortured so much he was confused, this is where O'Brien used the method of doublethink to get through to him. Now Winston loves Big Brother and shows us this by giving up Julia for good. Giving her up was the last obstacle O'Brien had to get past in order to fully "heal" Winston.
After winston is discovered for committing serious thought crimes and having a sexual relationship with a woman, he is subjected to brutal mental and physical torture from who he once thought to be on his side, O'Brien. For hours, maybe even days Winston was put through intense starvation and torture and eventually forced to give and julia and everything he believed in. Since Winston cared for Julia so dearly it took him forever to actually give her up. It wasn't till he had a cage of starving rats strapped to his face that he gave her up. It was then that he snapped and was made to give up all of his hate for big brother. By the end of it all he was loyal to big brother and believed everything he was told. 2+2 would never equal 4.
Winston completley breaks down in the hands of O'Brien, even though he thought that he could trust him.O'Brien inflicts so much pain on Winston that Winston finally realizes in the end that he cannot out smart Big Brother and cannot go about this torture. In Winston's mind previously he believed that Big Brother does not matter and that he can get away with thought crimes. O'Brien makes him realize that everyone must follow Big Brother or they will be forced by whatever needs possible (such as room 101) to only love Big Brother. Winston sacrificing Julia shows that he is now under the control of the party. Winston loved Julia previously and by sacrificing her it is like hes sacrificing himself to Big Brother, which is unfortunately the end of Winston's own soul which the end of Winston entirely.
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