-
Winston writes the first lines of his diary, marking his first act of rebellion, or thoughcrime, against the party.
" To mark the paper was the decisive act. In small clumsy letters he wrote :
'April 4th, 1984' -
Daily two minutes hate sessions and constant propaganda through posters, radio and telescreen show how the extent of the party's control over the general population :
"Before the Hate had proceeded for thirty seconds, uncontrollable exclamations of rage were breaking out from half of the people in the room." -
Winston notices O'Brien's subtle dissent, but also starts to suspect the dark-haired girl to be hostile towards him, planting in him seeds of paranoïa and curiosity :
" But there was a fraction of a second when their eyes met, and for as long as it took to happen Winston knew-yes, he knew !- that O'Brien was thinking the same thing as himself" -
Winston follows Julia's instructions and finds himself in the countryside, away from surveillance. Their affair, act of resistance against the party as much as pleasurable experience, begins here :
"A hand fell lightly on his shoulder. He looked up. It was the girl." -
Winston begins reading Goldstein's book, a supposed rite of passage when entering the Brotherhood :
" The inscription on the title-page ran : The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism by Emmanuel Goldstein. Winston began reading." -
Julia feigns to fall in order to deliver a note to Winston, where she had written 'I love you' :
"On it was written, in a large unformed handrwriting
I love you -
O'Brien forces Winston to deny reality to make him understand that whatever the Party deems to be true becomes reality in itself, insisting for instance that 2+2 can make 5 :
" 'And if the Party says that it is not four but five-then how many ?'
'Four'
The word ended in a gasp of pain." -
O'Brien is revealed to have been an agent loyal to the Party after all, who's responsability was to capture traitors such as Winston. He personnally oversaw the torture of said Winston :
"Without any warning except a slight movement of O'Brien hand, a wave of pain flooded his body." -
Winston is made to face his worst fear (rats) and betrays Julia, asking for her to be tortured instead of him :
" '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 !' " -
Julia and Winston join O'Brien at his home, where he deceives them into thinking that he is a member of the Brotherhood, an organisation that resists against the Party :
" We believe that there is some kind of conspiracy, some kind of secret organisation working against the Party, and that you are involved in it. We want to join it (...)" -
Julia and Winston, while in Mr Charrington's room, are arrested by the Thougth police. Mr Charrington is revealed to be an agent of said Thougth police :
" It occured to Winston that for the first time in his life, he was looking, with knowledge, at a member of the Thougth police" -
Winston is detained within the Ministry of Love, detention during which he is starved, tortured and humiliated in order to break him completely :
" He became simply a mouth that uttered, a hand that signed, whatever was demanded from him. His sole concern was to find out what they wanted him to confess, and then confess it quickly, before the bullying started anew." -
Broken and reprogrammed, he spends his days drinking gin and doing meaningless work :
" He never bothered to count his drinks (...) He even had a job, a sinecure; more highly paid than his old job had been" -
They both confess to having betrayed one another under torture. Their love, once a burning flame, was no more :
" 'I betrayed you' she said baldly.
' I betrayed you' he said." -
In his final moments before execution, Winston finally surrenders completely to the Party :
" He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother ."