Use Of Torture In 1984 By George Orwell

In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, he knew how to use pain and suffering in an effective way to control a population and implement a totalitarian system. There were successful ways in psychological torture, physical abuse, and the fear of being in pain. Through traumatic torture, rebellious citizens are taught that the Party's perspective is the accurate perspective.

The psychological torture that was used on Winston was the main reason as to why he lost faith in his own rebellion. The party’s main goal of mental abuse is to deindividualize him and strip Winston of his pride and identity. As soon as Winston’s sense of self was taken away, O’Brien rewired his mind so that Winston thinks how the Party wants him to think. He implements the

Party logic into his brain, and truth of the party replaces the previous veracity Winston had. Winston had lost what previously motivated him to try and rebel, had been replaced. He then realized that the Party could control everything, and he lost his will to resist them. He grew accustomed to the fact that the Party could make Winston do anything, so he put his faith in them, and believed in the party undoubtably.

The physical pain that is inflicted upon Winston causes him to convert to a true citizen of Oceania.

Winston does not recognize himself anymore. He is a shell of who he used to be. The keeping of food was getting to him; he is a walking skeleton with recognition of who he truly is. With his sense of self lost, he places all remaining hope into O’Brien to make Winston back into somebody. He craves an identity, and a place in the world. Winston obeys O’Brien and the party without fail. Another method of physical torture that impacted Winston was the consistent beatings. There was always “four or five men”, and “there were times when it went on and on until the cruel, wicked, unforgivable thing seemed to him not that the guards continued to beat him but that he could not force himself into losing consciousness.” The men had beat Winston to a point where if one of them raised their arm, he would do anything they told him to. He would confess to whatever he had to because “the confession was a formality” and because he did not want to be brutalized anymore since “the torture was real.” At that point, O’Brien had gotten what he wanted. He had broken Winston down so much, and Winston was doing everything he had to do to stay alive. He would confess to crimes he did not commit, he participated in doublethink, and he believed that what the party said was the ultimate truth. He was playing the perfect part of a civilian in

Oceania.

Lastly, the lengths that residents would go to in order to avoid the pain and trauma that would arise from questioning the totalitarian regime of Oceania.

Citizens must constantly be in check of what they say, and what shows on their face as a reaction to a sentence. If you have children, they are what you need to watch out for. They grew up with the Big Brother control, and they are undoubtedly loyal to him, and only him. Kids will sell out their own parents in order to display their loyalty for Big Brother. All of the inhabitants of Oceania know that something terrible will happen to them if they disrespect Big Brother and the policies he stands for. They are aware that the thought police may come for them, and they would be taken to Room 101. Room 101 is where you are taken to face your greatest fears. The thought of having to face that terror head on, and the pain that could potentially arise from that, is a main contributor to Big Brothers power. For people to avoid the pain, they live in a state of denial, and do not acknowledge the oppressed state that they live in. However, they do not truly live at all. The only reason there are still people living in Oceania, is to serve Big Brother and the fact that you need people to rule over to have totalitarian

control.

In conclusion, the methods that were used to implement pain and the fear of pain was very effective, and gave Big Brother the totalitarian control that he desired. The agony and torment that was inflicted upon the citizens had an important role in the book, and without those extreme methods, the book would of been extremely different. The psychological torture broke the person down, the mental torture made confessions possible, and the fear of knowing what would happen if you were to rebel drove this society into nothingness. The citizens of Oceania are not truly alive and they are a shell of the emotional people humans typically are. They conform to the rules entirely, and will do whatever Big Brother tells them. The Party teaches disobedient inhabitants through agonizing methods that it has the correct perspective.