I read 1984, and I don't understand one thing. (spoilers?)

[stpalm]

Spoilers, maybe? This book has been out for 50 years, so I guess you can blame yourself if this post ruins the story for you.












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Anyway, after O'Brien tortures and brainwashes Winston, why wasn't Winston shot? It was said repeatedly throughout the story tha after the torture the Party shoots you, because they don't merely want to kill you, they want you to die loving the party. But after being in room 101 and the rats attacking him, he was released. Why did this happen? It seems like other characters who went into the Ministry of Love (like Syme) simply disappeared. It was a great book, but this point is a bit confusing.

[cheezus]

1. isn't that how it ends?

winston just has to come to the full realization that he loves big brother first

[stpalm]

3. but then I thought he was supposed to be shot. (nt)

[cheezus]

5. well, there's this anyway

The voice from the telescreen was still pouring forth its tale of prisoners and booty and slaughter, but the shouting outside had died down a little. The waiters were turning back to their work. One of them approached with the gin bottle. Winston, sitting in a blissful dream, paid no attention as his glass was filled up. He was not running or cheering any longer. He was back in the Ministry of Love, with everything forgiven, his soul white as snow. He was in the public dock, confessing everything, implicating everybody. He was walking down the white-tiled corridor, with the feeling of walking in sunlight, and an armed guard at his back. The longhoped-for bullet was entering his brain.

He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.

[solinvictus]

2. Perhaps because of O'Brien..

Remember, Winston was courted into what he believed was the inner circle of the resistance. O'Brien, of course, turned out to be a double agent and entrapped Smith. My reckoning is that Smith was to serve as a living example to any who'd even think of resisting the INGSOC regime.

[stpalm]

4. Ah, I see.

My reckoning is that Smith was to serve as a living example to any who'd even think of resisting the INGSOC regime.



that makes more sense.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

6. We decided while watching The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy...

That the guy who plays Arthur, the guy in the bathrobe Martin Freeman, would be great to play Winston in a movie. I swear he was who I was thinking of when I read the book.
It's a fantastic book, and it really needs to be made into a new movie.
Duckie

[Squeech]

7. Not exactly

He gives up in Room 101, but he doesn't love Big Brother yet. O'Brien lets him go back to his life and his job, and then in the last pages, the news screens describe this allegedly brilliant military maneuver, and seeing that, Winston realizes "He loved Big Brother"-- and that's the last sentence in the book.

You could imagine that O'Brien had an assassin on call, ready to fire as soon as Orwell's typewriter was silent. Or you could decide that Winston as an independent thinker is as dead as the Party needs him to be anyway.

I've read something about the Theory of the Novel, and one of the tenets of that theory is that the novel is over when the character change of the main character is complete. When Winston declares he loves Big Brother, that's the completion of the character change. He's toast.

[redsoxliberal]

9. exactly.

[redsoxliberal]

8. because he didn't love BB until the very last line

presumably he was killed a little while later.

I read it about 4 months ago, but I'm still absolutely gutted at the ending. :(

[stpalm]

10. I just ordered "Homage to Catalonia" on Amazon...

looked interesting... anyone else read it? how did you like it?

It's about Orwell fighting the Fascists in the Spanish Civil War.

[solinvictus]

12. Great for you!!!

It' a wonderful book that I've re-read several times. Orwell's objectivity and honesty in "Homage" caused him a great deal of political trouble. He's painfully honest about all parties involved and spares no criticism of the left as well as the Fascists. Check back in with a post on your opinion of it when you're done.

[ridgerunner]

13. Yeah, I really liked "Homage" also

but my favorite is "Down and Out in Paris and London". Not much has changed in the restaurant business since he wrote it.

[Willy Lee]

11. So do you see many similarities between bush and Big Brother?

When I reread that after Black Tuesday (the one in 2004) I was shocked.

Sad and shocked.

War is peace and all...