1984 Reflection

The War within Winston

In my eyes, the closing of this novel illustrates a battle between Winston and himself, as his obsession with the past and rebellion becomes the root of his internal destruction.

Midway through the book, we see Winston happily engaged in a loving relationship with Julia, but he appears to be more obsessed with gaining knowledge of the past. At this time, Winston is involuntarily sucked in by the waves of information that O’Brien shares with him. All the answers that Winston longed to find more than anything else were finally being answered through O’Brien. This led Winston to trust O’Brien. My first reaction to this new relationship was skeptical. I didn’t think it was possible for Winston to find another loyal companion after the author made it sound crazy enough that Winston found one in Julia. Sure enough, Winston is caught and betrayed by O’Brien. Although his perception of Big Brother before entering jail remains true to his previous beliefs when he says, "They can’t get inside you. If you can feel that staying human is worth while, even when it can’t have any result whatever, you’ve beaten them” (170). Despite Winston’s strong will to resist, he quickly found out that when he was held prisoner and faced limits of his own body, Big Brother controlled everything.

            After reading about the way Winston was abused and transformed, I felt that Orwell was trying to make the point that even the strongest willed people are susceptible to conform. Winston tells the reader himself when O’Brien asks him, “How does one man assert his power over another, Winston?” Winston replies, “By making him suffer”(276).  It was apparent here that physical pain, or the sense of physical danger could make one obedient. This is evident when Winston betrays the last loyalty of his past, his love for Julia, which wasn’t strong enough to beat his fear for rats. In my mind, that’s what this book is about. The creation of a world with people that know only truths through the government was probably the easy part for agents of the oppressive party, Big Brother. The goal to eliminate the few non-believers made it necessary to build a network of telescreens to monitor every citizen like a bug under a magnifying glass.

Through Winston’s eyes, we saw how the brutal torture was too much for his conscious to endure. "But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother” (308).