Response 10

I hate the ending of the book.  I honestly threw my book across the room.  I was waiting for Winston to break the system and change the ways of the Party forever.  I had hope in Winston.  I really thought that he was the only one that could make things different. Now, all hope is gone.  I did not understand what O'Brien meant when he said that they did not execute people.  While Winston was being reeducated and tortured he asked if he would be executed.  O'Brien explained to him that they did not execute people.  They break the people down and teach them to love Big Brother.  It is when they are broken and soulless that they are executed.  Winston was not killed physically, but mentally and emotionally.  He is not the same person that he was before.  He thinks, acts, and believes differently now.  It really struck me when Winston talked to Julia.  I thought that there would still be some sort of attraction between them.  Winston and Julia admit that they betrayed each other.  It was at the moment that they wished that the other person be harmed instead of them that the betrayal occurred.  "All you care about is yourself."  This is a very powerful line because it illustrates what the Party was trying to force Winston to do the whole time.  As long as Winston does not care about anyone other than himself, he is no longer a threat to the Party.  Winston is now all like the other people.  He shuts the memories out of his head and is no longer concerned about why things are the way that they are.  Winston is a new person now.  O'Brien tells Winston during his interrogation that Winston cannot save himself.  He says that no one who has gone astray is ever spared.  O'Brien says that even if they were to let Winston live out his life he would never escape the Party.  "What happens here is forever." The use of torture and brainwashing killed Winston.  It eliminate his desire for love, truth, and feeling.  Winston's mind was manipulated and he is changed forever.