Human Nature and Psychological Torture in George Orwell’s 1984 In the novel 1984, Orwell depicts a society in which the entire population conform to one looming belief. Through the character of Winston, Orwell presents to the reader a figure which exhibits the important qualities of human nature. Winston’s unique nonconformity in this dystopian society lead to a string of psychological tormenting inflicted upon him, which eventually molds his thoughts to bear Party ideals. Winston’s psyche is completely stripped from him, resulting in the susceptibility of his mind to be conformed to any desired belief; human nature requires one to hold onto his or her beliefs in order to function in daily life (“Treatise”). The Party recognizes this fragile …show more content…
aspect and is successful in creating a society maintained by one predominant theory. George Orwell’s utilization of psychological torture in 1984 takes advantage of the intricate structures of human and mind in order to manipulate and alter one’s beliefs and disposition. The changes in Winston’s perspective do not occur abruptly. Orwell illustrates that the descent of Winston’s mind into acceptance of authoritarian principles set forth by the Party is gradual. The anatomy behind the human mind is what makes this change possible. The character of O’Brien serves the purpose of slowly diminishing Winston’s frame of reference. Winston’s conflicting views towards O’Brien significantly influence his progressive compliance of Party ideals. Neural response establishes the foundation for human knowledge. Once an initial impression is in place, the mind follows with the formation of simple ideas (“Treatise”). Winston’s first encounter with O’Brien applies this concept. Up to a point, Winston struggles to repress his divergent views and creates a facade enabling him to adapt with the rest of Oceania’s stringent society. At first impression, Winston views O’Brien as a comforting figure and is able to find consolation within him. Considering this information, Winston feels the same gratitude towards O’Brien during his torture sessions: “For a moment he clung to O’Brien like a baby, curiously comforted... He had the feelings that O’Brien who would save him from it (Orwell 112)”. The Party’s recognition of this vulnerable side to humans contributes to how they are able to maintain their meticulous society. The structure of human nature is what allows for the desensitization of the people in 1984, including Winston himself. According to the outlook of the Party, the human mind is simply a blank state, a compliant object left to be manipulated (Argyros). This is O’Brien’s main objective during the orchestration of Winston’s torture. “‘Never again will you be capable of ordinary human feeling. Everything will be dead inside you. We shall squeeze you empty, and then we shall fill you with ourselves’” (Orwell 124). Once Winston is broken down, all of his individual beliefs prior to the psychological torture become dissipated. The only thing left to occupy Winston’s mind is the love for Big Brother that O’Brien manifests in him. In spite of the unbearable physical torture that O’Brien inflicts upon Winston, the psychological component behind the torture results in significantly greater repercussions.
The physical pain only breaches Winston’s mental armor so far. The extend of the damage is done with the use of particular methods in which Winston is not able to defend himself against. O’Brien exploits Winston’s phobias against him to induce fear and dread without actually causing any physical harm (Reyes 605). In Room 101, O’Brien successfully fractures Winston’s beliefs by the mere implication of rats, and by doing so, does not cause any physical pain in the process. In the midst of Winston’s torture sessions, O’Brien constantly proposes that Winston only has himself to blame for what has happened to him. The sense of comfort that O’Brien periodically offers leads Winston to believe this claim: “‘You reduced me to this state.’ ‘No, Winston, you reduced yourself to it. This is what you accepted when you set yourself up against the Party…. Nothing has happened that you did not foresee (Orwell 131)’”. The reverence that Winston feels towards O’Brien is an essential aspect needed for the alteration of Winston’s beliefs and disposition. As seen near the end of the novel, Winston is able to recover from the physical strain induced upon him, whereas he is unable to recuperate his previous …show more content…
nature. Consequently, the manipulation of Winston’s beliefs would not be possible if not for the psychological torment that he endures.
The life that Winston knows prior to his time at the Ministry of Love becomes tainted due to the effects of psychological torture. The pure terror and helplessness that Winston begins to feel during the process of interrogation overwhelms his mental defenses, prompting the complete destruction and reconfiguring of his belief system; the result is the absolute alteration of Winston’s personality. This is due to the fact that once one undergoes a traumatic experience, everything previously known to him or her becomes an unattainable warped reality (Robinnet). This immense pressure takes a momentous toll on Winston, leading him to foster and produce a lifestyle composed of beliefs that are entirely contradictory to his former views. Along with this newly refined ideology, O’Brien effectively strips down Winston’s unique persona, severely fracturing it in the process. A common effect seen in victims of psychological torture is the disintegration of his or her personality (Reyes 600). In Winston’s case, O’Brien provokes feelings of extreme self-condemnation, causing Winston to crave acceptance in the disciplinary society distinguished in 1984. Ultimately, the aftermath in Winston’s mind displays the crucial outcome of psychological torture and its effects. “He remembered contrary things, but those were false memories, products of self-deception (Orwell
120)”. The notion of Winston’s restructured perspectives validates the effectiveness of the government’s psychiatric use of torture. Winston emerges from his final session as a distinctively different person; as a man once full of individuality, Winston becomes yet another impeccable archetype of the Party. Overall, the Party’s recognition of the structure and fragility of human minds enables the ability to dictate the beliefs of the people. Winston’s eradicated individuality is a prime example of how the Party uses this knowledge to their advantage. No matter how strongly one feels for liberation and defiance against the Party, the vulnerability of the human mind will never allow for these inverse ideas to flourish in the society set in 1984. George Orwell’s utilization of psychological torture in 1984 takes advantage of the intricate structures of human nature and mind in order to manipulate and alter one’s beliefs and disposition.
In “1984,” Orwell uses Winston to portray a single individual’s attempt to take action against a powerful government, culminating in his failure and subjugation. His individual efforts failed tremendously due to the overarching power of the Party to control every aspect of social life in Oceania. Orwell uses Winston’s deeply seated hatred of the Party to portray his views on power and social change. Winston’s actions show that even in the direst of situations ...
Winston is arrested and taken to The Ministry of Love, another of the main government agencies. Here he is tortured physically by starvation and electrocution under the watch of The Party. He is manipulated physiologically by being conditioned to avoid torture by answering questions about his loyalty to The Party.
Winston commits “thoughtcrime” leading to his arrest and questioning at the Ministry of Love, the communities jail center working with matters pertaining to war. His comrade O’Brien begins torturing him in an underground room and calls it the “learning stage”. He teaches Winston the truth about the Party and their slogan; eventually he explains that “Freedom is Slavery” is easily reversed as “Slavery is freedom. Alone- free- the human being is always defeated… if he can make complete, utter submission… [and] merge himself in the Party… then he is all-powerful and immortal” (264). The Party uses this statement to illustrate that when one acknowledges the collective will, they become free from danger and desire. Those who are surrendered to INGSOC, including O’Brien, assume that when an individual has freedom they become subjugated to their senses and emotions. Moreover, Winston continues to be starved and tortured until he appears to be nothing but skin and bones when his opinions transition to align with the governments. He now accepts everything that O’Brien has expressed to him including that he is crazy and two plus two equals five. While he thinks about what he has been taught he thinks about “How easy it all was! Only surrender, and everything else followed… he hardly knew why he had ever rebelled” (278). In a sense, Winston is now free, only in a
George Orwell creates a dark, depressing and pessimistic world where the government has full control over the masses in the novel 1984. The protagonist, Winston, is low-level Party member who has grown to resent the society that he lives in. Orwell portrays him as a individual that begins to lose his sanity due to the constrictions of society. There are only two possible outcomes, either he becomes more effectively assimilated or he brings about the change he desires. Winston starts a journey towards his own self-destruction. His first defiant act is the diary where he writes “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER.” But he goes further by having an affair with Julia, another party member, renting a room over Mr. Carrington’s antique shop where Winston conducts this affair with Julia, and by following O’Brien who claims to have connections with the Brotherhood, the anti-Party movement led my Emmanuel Goldstein. Winston and Julia are both eventually arrested by the Thought Police when Mr. Carrington turns out to be a undercover officer. They both eventually betray each other when O’Brien conducts torture upon them at the Ministry of Love. Orwell conveys the limitations of the individual when it comes to doing something monumental like overthrowing the established hierarchy which is seen through the futility of Winston Smith’s actions that end with his failure instead of the end of Big Brother. Winston’s goal of liberating himself turns out to be hopeless when the people he trusted end up betraying him and how he was arbitrarily manipulated. It can be perceived that Winston was in fact concerned more about his own sanity and physical well-being because he gives into Big Brother after he is tortured and becomes content to live in the society he hated so much. Winston witnesses the weakness within the prole community because of their inability to understand the Party’s workings but he himself embodies weakness by sabotaging himself by associating with all the wrong people and by simply falling into the arms of Big Brother. Orwell created a world where there is no use but to assimilate from Winston’s perspective making his struggle utterly hopeless.
The first idea that is consistently shown in this novel that supports theme is torture. In the last part of the book especially torture is used to break Winston down until he is nothing but skin and bone. “They slapped his face, wrung his ears, pulled his hair, made him stand on one leg, refused him leave to urinate, shone glaring lights in his face until his eyes ran with water; but the aim of this was simply to humiliate him and destroy his power of arguing and reasoning.” (Orwell 241) Torture
Orwell used individualism as an antidote for totalitarianism. He portrayed a society where the power of the governing `Party' only gives "the individual [...] power in so far as he ceases to be an individual." The Party views individualism as a disease, as a malfunction in the individual's mind to control their memory and thought impulses - a failure "in humility, in self-discipline." 1984 is told from the perspective of Winston Smith, a Party member who works in the Ministry of Truth; he is neither a particularly heroic character, nor is he blessed with any extraordinary traits, so why would Orwell choose such an average man to be his protagonist? Winston possesses a personality, he has preferences, he esteems history and recognises its malleability in the hands of the Party (which is the ...
In 1984, Winston’s torture had a purpose of brainwashing, where the themes of control is explored and alienation is hinted and introduced in his interrogations with O’Brien and his time in room one-oh-one. Firstly, Winston is imprisoned in Miniluv (Ministry of Love) for his rebellious sexual activity with Julia, and the reader will assume that this is repression of opposition by the government. But once O’Brien is revealed to be Winston’s interrogator, it is clearly established that the purpose of this torture has never been repression, but rather controlling the thoughts of the few individuals that were “insane”(253) enough to rebel against government. O’Brien described this procedure as curing, as he also describes Winston as insane, and made it distinctively clear to Winston that his goal was not to punish or indulge “in the overact”(253) but rather the thought. While the goal is instead of destroying our enemies, “we change them.”(253) In this stern explanation from O’Brien, the...
Winston is confronted with struggle throughout the entirety of George Orwell`s dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Living within a totalitarian regime subsequently causes Winston to seek approaches for dealing with such abundant oppression; he finds liberation through self-awareness, understanding and ultimately rebellion. First, Winston realizes that “if you want to keep a secret you must also hide it from yourself”, alluding to the notion of thoughtcrime (162). This recognition exemplifies the complete cognizance that Winston has regarding the oppressive society displayed throughout the novel. Next, Syme states “It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words”, alluding to the idea of Newspeak (28). This statement directly correlates to Winston speaking with other party members to gain knowledge about how others feels about policies deployed by the government. This information-seeking also connects with Winston`s rebellion, as he actively searched for others to join his uprising, which is shown when Winston tells O’Brien “We want to join [The Brotherhood]” (171). Winston’s attempt to join a rebellious organization exhibits his evident desire to release his suppressed emotions. Winston devises a very methodical approach to deal with the problematic society he resides in.
The book, 1984 written by George Orwell, is in the perspective of Winston. Winston lives in airstrip one, which is Britain broken by war. In the beginning Winston opens up with his frustrations towards the party and Big Brother’s controlling ways. Winston’s freedom is limited by the rules and regulations of the party. Winston finds ways to get out of these rules, but he soon finds out that the people he thought were helping him were actually spies and workers for the party. He gets put through brainwashing until he has no individuality or freedom wanting to break out of him. In the end he is successfully brainwashed as seen on page 298 “He loved Big Brother.” As seen through Kim Jun Un who controls his followers through propaganda. The author’s
O’Brien tortures Winston due to his acts of thoughtcrime, Winston is told that the Party will be satisfied with nothing less than Winston completely giving in. O’Brien explains, “We are not content with negative obedience, nor even with the most abject submission. When finally you surrender to us, it must be of your own free will. We do not destroy the heretic because he resists us; so long as he resists us we never destroy him” (210). Winston is tortured for the goal of eradicating the cause of Winston’s fight, to consider himself happy and free. O’Brien wants to destroy any possibility of Winston becoming a martyr for his cause. The use of the telescreens, microphones, and all other sources of the government spying on its people ensures a lack of freedom: “Asleep or awake, working or eating, indoors or out of doors, in the bath or in bed- no escape. Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimeters inside your skull” (26). The members of this society are monitored at all times for the sole purpose of government control, with constant monitoring they are able to discover the most they can about individuals and later use it against them to gain an upper hand in controlling any possible uprising. Fear is used as another tactic to gain control. Winston is aware of the fact that “More
Winston Smith is a member of an unchanging machine and as a result is subject to the atrocities that this society entails. Now, Winston throughout the course of the novel chose to defy the party of Ingsoc and because of trying to stand up to the atrocities, he was devoured promptly by the beast of the Party who has the Big Brother as its figurehead. In the face of this totalitarian rule, it is better to dissent in silence and ignore the atrocities that happen around you. Winston Smith decided to forego the path most traveled by and as a result all the difference to his life. Winston eventually suffered a metaphorical or literal death when that bullet entered in his brain and Winston won victory over himself. While the tangibility of that bullet creates some debate, there can be no debate to the fact that had Winston had not expressed his rebellious thoughts he would have led a natural, albeit, unfulfilling life. I believe that Winston Smith would have been ultimately better off dissenting in silent and keeping his treasonous thoughts to himself in order to avoid the fate of those who oppose Big
George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 follows the psychological journey of main character Winston. Winston lives in a utopian society called Oceania. There, the citizens are constantly monitored by their government coined “Big Brother” or “The Party”. In Oceania, there is no form of individuality or privacy. Citizens are also coerced to believe everything and anything the government tells them, even if it contradicts reality and memory. The goal of Big Brother is to destroy individual loyalties and make its citizenry only loyal to the government. In Orwell's novel 1984, he uses Winston's psychological journey to stress the dangers of individuality in a totalitarian regime because it can result in death. Winston’s overwhelming desire to rebel
In the novel 1984, Orwell produced a social critique on totalitarianism and a future dystopia that made the world pause and think about our past, present and future. When reading this novel we all must take the time to think of the possibility that Orwell's world could come to pass. Orwell presents the concepts of power, marginalization, and resistance through physical, psychological, sexual and political control of the people of Oceania. The reader experiences the emotional ride through the eyes of Winston Smith, who was born into the oppressive life under the rule of Ingsoc. Readers are encouraged through Winston to adopt a negative opinion on the idea of communist rule and the inherent dangers of totalitarianism. The psychological manipulation and physical control are explored through Winston's journey, and with Winston's resistance and ultimate downfall, the reader is able to fully appreciate O'Briens reasoning, "Power is not a means, it is an end."
Through months of torture and debilitating pressure, he was stripped of his individualism and was taught to love big brother (McLaughlin). The pressures of society mixed with the strenuous hours of daily torture took a toll on his weakened brain. This was most evident when O’Brien asked him one last time if he loved Big Brother, and he answered yes. He did not say yes in order to end the torture, rather he said yes because his brain was rendered incapable of independent thought. Orwell does this to show his readers that self expression and independent thought are what ultimately make us human. Without those two things, we are left to live in an impressionistic society, one that urges us to like and believe in certain things- similar to that of Oceania. O’Brien torturing Winston was more than just the climax of the book; it was the solution to Orwell’s underlying question: Can the traits that make us human prevail in the face of turmoil and despair? "You had to live—did live, from habit that became instinct—in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every moment scrutinized” (Orwell 3).The fact that this statement made in the beginning holds true by the end of the novel answers the question that no; humanity would not
...he views of the Party. "Do it to Julia! Do it to Julia! Not me! Julia! I don't care what you do to her. Tear her face off, strip her to the bones. Not me! Julia! Not me!" (Part 3, Chapter 5). Winston’s mind is considered cured the moment that he turns on the one person her truly loves.