Do it to O'Brien!

"Leebehr" <lgrupsmith.RemoveThis@yahoo.com> wrote...
 > What if Winston had said that instead of "Do it to Julia!" Would they
 > have released him or just kept at it.

That's one of my favorite parts. No, they wouldn't have released him.
Remember that shortly before that part O'Brien forces him to look at
himself in a mirror to see how wretched he has become, how he has been
totally broken and humiliated, and asks Winston if there is any
degradation he has not suffered. Winston replies "I have not betrayed
Julia," to which O'Brien replies "No, you have not betrayed Julia."
Then O'Brien begins rebuilding Winston, and after several months
Winston's thoughts wander and he cries "Julia, my love, Julia!" That
is when O'Brien walks in and escorts Winston to Room 101. There really
is nothing else that could happen, Winston has already confessed to
every conceivable crime, already betrayed everyone else he ever knew,
the only thing left is to betray the woman he loves.

Remember that the Party is out to destroy love, to destroy any loyalty
except to itself. Despite all the torture and degradation, Winston
was still loyal to Julia, thus still not "cured" in the eyes of the
Party. But all the physical torture in the world was still
insufficient to make Winston betray the woman he loved, the only thing
that could do it was the worst thing in the world...

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"'You asked me once,' said O'Brien, 'what was in Room 101. I told you
that you knew the answer already. Everyone knows it. The thing that is
in Room 101 is the worst thing in the world.'

The door opened again. A guard came in, carrying something made of
wire, a box or basket of some kind. He set it down on the further
table. Because of the position in which O'Brien was standing, Winston
could not see what the thing was.

'The worst thing in the world,' said O'Brien, 'varies from individual to
individual. It may be burial alive, or death by fire, or by drowning,
or by impalement, or fifty other deaths. There are cases where it is
some quite trivial thing, not even fatal.'

He had moved a little to one side, so that Winston had a better view of
the thing on the table. It was an oblong wire cage with a handle on top
for carrying it by. Fixed to the front of it was something that looked
like a fencing mask, with the concave side outwards. Although it was
three or four meters away from him, he could see that the cage was
divided lengthways into two compartments, and that there was some kind
of creature in each. They were rats.

'In your case,' said O'Brien, 'the worst thing in the world happens to
be rats.'

A sort of premonitory tremor, a fear of he was not certain what, had
passed through Winston as soon as he caught his first glimpse of the
cage. But at this moment the meaning of the masklike attachment in
front of it suddenly sank into him. His bowels seemed to turn to
water."
-- George Orwell, "1984"
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