Book Three Reaction

As the story approaches to the end, it makes the readers wonder what is the main purpose or what is the motivation for Orwell to write this novel. The answer is not too complicated to find out, which the main purpose of this novel is to convey the readers about the totalitarian government.

In book three, Orwell takes insight of Winton’s torture by the Party. Orwell uses nearly four chapters to narrate the whole series of the torture. For instance, Winston experiences starvation, beating and mangling. Winston finally gives up when O’Brien takes him to the Room 101 and sets him up in front of a cage of rats. These are all the methods that Orwell uses to emphasize the reader how horrible the totalitarian government is if the Party members disobey the Party’s desire. This also makes the readers seem vicarious through the scenes. The Party adopts several other methods to control its own subjects such as the telescreens and the Thought Police. Is spite of what kind of method the Party uses, its goal is to confirm their limitless power.

The conveyance of the purpose of this novel is thoroughly displayed through the narration of Winston’s torture, which is the dangers and fearfulness of the totalitarian government.

The Party’s Psychological Victory

“Victory! Victory!”, the readers seem to hear the words scream by the Party as the story approaches to the end. When Julia baldly says to Winston “I betrayed you,” and Winston replies the same words to her, one can conclude that the Party is victorious on the aspect of psychological control. When Winston is in front of the cage of rats, he begs O’Brien to subject Julia instead of him. Also, when Winston is free from the prison, he traces “2+2=5” in the dust. Then he sees Big Brother’s face on the telescreen, he feels safe and happy. The two evidences both indicate that Winston’s mind is completely controlled by the Party after the serious of torture. He trusts the Party and he thinks all of his memories is inveracious. The Party is the victor in the end because Winston’s spirit is destroyed by the Party.

Winston's Dreams

As the story approaches to the end, Winston dreams of chatting with his mother, Julia, and O’Brien. He is inebriety about his dreams and he wishes he can live in the world that surrounds by his loves. Some of Winston’s dreams are wonderful, but some dreams bring him enormous agony. Winston’s dreams play an important role through the novel。

When he is dreaming about O’Brien, O’Brien gives him a message that “(they) shall meet in the place where there is no darkness”. Winston seems to foresee his future, which he lives in a world without the Party’s control. However, it is this dream that lead to his downfall and brings him pain and wrench. This dream also foreshadows the brutal torture and the luminous torturous room. Nevertheless, he loses everything in this brightsome torturous room, his dream and his ambition. He confesses and surrenders to the Party. Although Winston’s spirit collapses, he is still dreaming. The only difference is that his dream no longer relates to the Party, he simplex dream about his love ones.

From Winston’s dream about O’Brien to his mother, and to the final dream, his dreams go through the whole novel. Not only his dream foreshadows the following scenes but also develops the plots.

The Party’s Physical Control

Finally, the rats appear again as Winston arrives to the Room 101. Orwell uses the Room 101 to create a grisly feeling to the readers. Winston experiences the most horrific moment in his life, which O’Brien threatens him in front of a cage of rats. The rat is also appears in the early chapter when Winston and Julia are in the rented room. The rat foreshadows the torture that happens later on in the story, and it also keeps track of the theme of the novel, which is the physical control by the Party.

The Party is always surveils people’s movements. There are telescreens inside people’s house, and the Thought Police are all over the place. The Party will take action if someone has any attempt that shows the disloyalty to the Party, or commits Thought Crime. The Thought Police will always capture the people when they are sleeping deeply, then send them to the windowless cell. The Party will send the Inner Party member like O’Brien to interrogate, torture and brainwash the people until they are satisfied with the new, text bookish mind. During this process, the method they adopt is the physical torture, as Winston describes that nothing is more painful than physical pain. The Party controls Winston’s reality after he has been intimidated, manipulated and tortured physically. In the end, Winston “traced with his finger in the dust on the table: 2+2=5” which shows that Winston accepts the Party’s manipulation.(text page 303).

This is how the Party controls people’s thoughts and reality through the physical torture. They make the people display complete allegiance to the Party, to Big Brother. As a result, people are unconscious and they are at the Party's beck and call.

Reaction to the Party’s Slogan

One of the most significant slogans in this novel is “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” (page 260). As this slogan appears in the novel for two times, the usefulness of this slogan is displayed thoroughly by the Party.

The Party is good at using false history to manipulate people’s mind psychologically. It is a common sense for all human beings that if the past is good, people will continue recreating the good times, but people will absolutely try to avoid retrospection the bad memories. Therefore, due to this reason, the Party creates a past that is fraught with slavery and horror. Then people finds out the condition they have now is much better compares to the past so that they trust and willing to listen to the Party. For instance, during the torture O’Brien tells Winston that “You suffer from a defective memory. You are unable to remember real events,” (page 258). As a member of the Inner Party, O’Brien is persuading Winston to believe that he cannot remember the past and trains him to accept that. Through the brainwashing process, the Party makes people believe that they are the one who controls the present.

The authority is always in the hand of the Party because they create the slogan to manipulate and let people believe so.