Lunacy Is Sanity

Yup, just as I anticipated, Winston is being tortured.

I learned a lot more about O’Brien. He is extremely passionate about the Party and Big Brother, and that he suffers from a sadistic personality disorder. O’Brien is the interrogator, torturer, teacher, and friend (or “comrade”) to Winston. His main goal is to completely brainwash every “prisoner” in the Ministry of Love by inflicting large amounts of pain and it seems like it will actually work. Winston seems to have a very intelligent and inquisitive mind, so it’s hard to say if it will work on him. Although there was a brief moment that Winston believed that 2 + 2 = 5. It all felt pretty real, but with so much pain being inflicted on Winston’s body, I’m sure it was a hallucination. The real test is to see how O’Brien’s “patient” acts when his answers aren’t based off of a pain meter being hooked up to his body. Perhaps we will get to see what that is like…

Throughout this entire section I thought that we were in Room 101, only to find out near the end that we were not. This was a bit confusing and I think that there could have been a bit more clarification.

However, this scares me because Winston was already being tortured into lunacy (or “sanity” if you are O’Brien). If the Room 101 is a torture room, I cannot imagine what else might possibly be in store for Winston.

On a final note, I’m still not really sure how long Winston has been tortured for. At one point, O’Brien referenced that he had been taking care of Winston for seven years. But later on, when asked how long he thought he’s been there for, Winston guessed months. This is quite a gap for interpretation. Since seven years is a long time to be tortured, I’m going to go with the latter and say Winston has only been in there for several months.

The story continues next week!

Twice the Mice… Or Is It Rats?

Wow! This section was definitely a game changer!

I think it is safe to say that Winston and Julia and no longer an item. They are both now in the custody of the Thought Police. It turns out that their hideaway place was bugged all along (with a telescreen behind a painting) and the owner/prone Mr. Charrington turned out to be an undercover agent. I really didn’t see that coming! When their hiding place was surrounded, I was thinking about Mr. Charrington and hoping that the Though Police didn’t hurt him too badly or kill him. Over all, great job disguising him! I definitely sensed something was wrong when Julia noticed that the stove was out of oil (when she had just filled it), but the telescreen suddenly talking caught me off guard and was super creepy.

Winston and Julia’s affair had been going on for quite some time so I don’t really understand why the Thought Police didn’t take them away sooner. Is there a reason behind all of this?

Winston acknowledges that his jail cell is lighted 24/7 and thinks about O’Brien’s comment that they will meet where there is no darkness. Now, this all makes perfect sense (and yes, my original guess was wrong). Suddenly, O’Brien appears and a bit of hope sparks up in me, but rationally this doesn’t make sense because nobody is ever saved by the Brotherhood. Then, we discover a guard is behind O’Brien with a truncheon in his hand and my feelings about O’Brien change in an instant.

I do remain confused (and excited to read more) about O’Brien and now I am thinking that he was playing Winston all along. Seriously? Two undercover agents were playing Winston? And I was so sure that O’Brien was a good guy! Honestly, I don’t know anymore. What I do know is that Winston is in for beating and a half! Poor guy! Not sure I’m ready to read about what they are going to do to him, especially since the other jail mate was dragged out of the cell saying that he would let them slit his wife and kids’ throats if he did not have to go back into Room 101.

I would have liked to have seen Winston get to do some damage to Big Brother before he was captured. You know, making it feel as if he made a difference? O’Brien said that not until after Winston finished the book would be considered apart of the Brotherhood, but Winston did not get to the end. So, technically he still isn’t a part of it. Not that any of that matters, as I’m sure he will be tortured the same.

Next time, I’m guessing we will enter Room 101…

Sanity is Not Statistical

Well, while this section was very informative it was my least section to read through. I had to take several breaks throughout. I was reading a book within a book. First section that I looked into is called WAR IS PEACE. Next chapter: IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.

There were so many details about who is at war with each other (Oceania, Eastasia, and Eurasia) and how they got there. While I appreciated some of the clarity, I still found a lot of it dull. The tone for this book within a book was clearly very serious. The purpose was informative. We find out that each country’s (is that what you would call something this large?) goal is to take over the entire world and to abolish thinking. Two very hard things to accomplish, if you asked me.

I am more than a little bit confused when you mention that building consumer goods is necessary for war, but that these goods mustn’t reach the population. Why would you need to build something only to throw it away in the ocean or desert? This doesn’t add up.

However, I did like that you through in Julia’s reaction to the book: completely uninterested. It added to the fact that she probably doesn’t want to be apart of the Brotherhood and is only going along with it for Winston. She needs to read the book before she is considered apart of the Brotherhood and she tells Winston to read it out loud as she doses off to sleep or to summarize it to her later. Sounds very true to her character.

The section left me with an interesting phrase coming from Winston as he dosed off the sleep: Sanity is not statistical. What an interesting observation!

Happy Easter!

The Brotherhood

This was an exciting section for me to read, and many mysteries were uncovered. First, I am happy to see that my instincts were right about the Brotherhood and O’Brien. The Brotherhood exists! And O’Brien was the key to entering the door!

It was great to get a quick peak into an Inner Party’s life. Julia and Winston showed up to O’Brien’s house. After a moment of awkwardness, O’Brien shuts off the telescreen (!!!) and absolute honesty is spoken. Winton’s blunt delivery completely caught me off guard, as did the questions O’Brien asked in learning about their dedication. It is clear that by joining the Brotherhood, Winston and Julia are giving up their identity (in some cases, literally), integrity (willingness to through acid in a child’s face!), and lives (this is unavoidable). But the Brotherhood does exist and there are people out there - although we have NO idea how many - sacrificing their lives for what they believe in.

I would say that without a doubt that this book is written for entertainment purposes because it is a novel. Even though the main plot is quite serious and exaggerated, the writing makes it existential. I really enjoyed Winston’s reaction to trying (red) wine for the first time. He was expecting the over-exaggeration of a sweet and potent flavor, but was completely disappointed with the taste. I think this is the case for most of us the first time we tried wine. In the beginning, the idea and prominent presentation that wine represents is far more appealing than it actually tastes. (However, this does acquire over time, as I am a wine lover.) Little remarks like this turns a fictional story into short invitation into a plausible world.

The first word that comes to mind when I think about the tone of the book is tension. The story creates a situation where insignificant actions have detrimental consequences. Even thinking the wrong thought can result in a torturous death! Nothing is taken lightly here and one cannot take too many precautions. I definitely feel tension coming from the author while reading this book.

So, Hate Week happened and while I’m happy you didn’t go into excruciating details about it, I am confused why you keep mentioning the change in who Oceania is at war with. The switch up has happened again and now Oceania is at war with Eastasia, not Eurasia. Maybe you were trying to make a point that he ever so casually made the switch in midsentence and nobody seemed to notice, but what is it really adding to the story? And it’s not really just something you talk about in passing? You create some pretty elaborate details around it and I just don’t understand why nor find it all that interesting to read about.