His subversion having been exposed, Winston is being brutally tortured by O'Brien. He's strapped down to a cot, hooked up to a machine that emits excruciatingly painful currents of electricity. As Winston's interrogator, O'Brien can turn up the machine's dial if he doesn't get the answer he wants.
O'Brien tells Winston that the truth is only what the Party says it is. He reminds Winston of something he once wrote in his diary: "Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two equals four." O'Brien holds up four fingers and asks Winston how many fingers he's holding up. Winston answers four, prompting O'Brien to turn up the dial on the machine, which sends ever more painful electric shocks into Winston's beaten, broken body. O'Brien asks the same question several times and each time receives the same answer, with the same result for Winston: more excruciating pain. O'Brien wants Winston to realize that, from his perspective as an individual man, he cannot know the truth; only the Party can. Whatever vestiges of reality exist within Winston's mind must be expunged completely, to be replaced by the alternative reality inhabited by the Party.
Tuesday, May 7, 2019
What does Winston do that makes O'Brien turn up the dial?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
What is the theme of the chapter Lead?
Primo Levi's complex probing of the Holocaust, including his survival of Auschwitz and pre- and post-war life, is organized around indiv...
-
Bacteria are single-celled microorganisms that thrive in diverse environments (such as the ocean, the soil, and the human body). Various bac...
-
Note that these events are not in chronological order. The story is told by the narrator, looking back upon her life. The first notable even...
-
It seems most likely you are asking about Michael Halliday's theories of language. He argues children have seven main functions they use...
-
When we try to analyze the modern world today, we’ll notice that it’s going through several changes. No one is sure who will control or s...
-
Under common law, any hotel, inn, or other hospitality establishment has a duty to exercise "reasonable care" for the safety an...
-
Ecofeminism (alternately ecological feminism) examines the connections between women and nature. Basic feminist tenets undergird ecofeminism...
-
Meg Meg is the central character in the novel, and we see the action through her eyes. She is important to the novel because she, along with...
No comments:
Post a Comment