Winston Smith’s Struggle Against Totalitarian Control
Winston Smith’s Forbidden Love and Rebellion
Winston schemes to approach Julia, the girl he’s interested in. For several days, he tries to talk to her until one day in the cafeteria, he manages to speak to her discreetly, ensuring no one notices. From that moment, Julia and Winston begin a secret relationship, meeting whenever they can in different places. Eventually, Mr. Charrington rents Winston the room above his shop.
This room becomes their refuge, free from the small monitoring telescreens. However, they know that sooner or later, they will have to leave or risk being caught there. One morning, Winston learns that Syme has been vaporized, just as he feared. The next day, no one remembers that Syme ever existed.
Julia tells Winston about his glances with O’Brien and what he had dreamed. One day, O’Brien himself approaches Winston. As they stand in front of a telescreen, O’Brien remarks that he has noticed Winston’s articles, despite his interest in Newspeak, contain words no longer present in the latest edition of the dictionary. He offers to stop by Winston’s house so Winston can see the dictionary, using this as an excuse to give Winston his address. Winston sees, or wants to see, in O’Brien’s gestures and words, signs that he is actually speaking of the movement against the Party.
Winston tells Julia the news, and finally, both go to visit O’Brien. After switching off the telescreen (a privilege of Inner Party members, though only for half an hour), O’Brien tells them all about the Brotherhood. They had to be ready for anything, even to attack or kill a child. They might have to undergo operations to change their appearance and must read Goldstein’s book. They would only have contact with a few members of the Brotherhood, so that when they were finally caught and confessed everything, they would not implicate many others. Furthermore, once caught, they were lost, because the Brotherhood would not risk trying to save them.
A few days later, Winston and Julia meet in their shelter. Although she had little interest in Goldstein’s book, Winston began to read it aloud to her. A few hours later, after they had closed the book and were looking out the window, a cold voice came from behind a table in the room. It turned out that a telescreen was hidden behind the table. In a moment, the room was filled with the Thought Police. They beat Julia in the stomach and took her away. Then, Mr. Charrington appeared in the room, revealing himself to be an incognito agent of the Thought Police.
Winston’s Ordeal and Ultimate Submission
Imprisonment in the Ministry of Love
Winston is being held, probably in the Ministry of Love. He doesn’t know if Julia is there, but that’s not what worries him most. Surprisingly, Parsons is also there. He has been denounced by his own daughter, who heard him say in a dream, “Down with Big Brother.” Parsons, happy that his daughter has betrayed him, says it shows she has been taught well, and he is pleased to have been caught before he went too far.
Physical and Psychological Torture
Winston spends several days, weeks, or even months (he doesn’t know precisely, as there are no clocks or windows to distinguish day from night) being moved from one room to another, enduring many physical and psychological tortures. During these tortures, O’Brien is present, revealing himself as the torturer. Everything he had told Winston about the Brotherhood was a trap; he has been an agent of the Thought Police researching Winston for seven years.
Winston knows he will be killed; he has even been told. All he wants is to die rehabilitated, believing in and worshipping the Party and Big Brother. This way, he will not die as a martyr, which was a failure other dictatorships committed in the past and why they did not last. Winston resists at first, then tries to trick them by saying what they want to hear while thinking the opposite.
Room 101 and Final Betrayal
They realize what he is trying to do and take him to Room 101, where he faces his greatest fear: rats. Winston cannot stand it and shouts for them to do it to Julia instead of him. After enduring the final torture, they release him.
He speaks to Julia, and they confess to having betrayed each other, acknowledging that the tortures have destroyed what was between them. Winston returns to the “Walnut” café and watches the news on the telescreen: a victory over a group of foreign soldiers who had been interned in Oceania’s territory. Winston feels happy, and at the same time, he realizes that his “recovery” is complete: he loves Big Brother and everything related to him. He knows they will soon come to fetch him.