1984 Final

The role the doctrine O'Brien proclaims to Winston in this passage maintains the system of oligarchical collectivism upon which INGSOC is based and Winston’s ultimate fate at the close of the novel. O’Brien is “brainwashing” Winston in an effort to gain his obedience of the government. He does this by telling him that his belief of the Party’s “truth” doesn’t exist because he is separated from the rest of his peers. O’Brien goes onto explain that Winston’s beliefs are untrue, and are causing this separation. The government wants it to be that the only reality that matters is their reality. So, we can see why thoughts like Winston’s would be seen as concerning to the government. O’Brien makes Winston feel very insecure about his beliefs, as he intended to do. He tells Winston that “if one thinks individually, they are not self-disciplined.” This is kind of an insult to Winston because discipline is a major part of the Oceanic lifestyle. Each day he has to deal with an unsightly routine, and O’Brien’s statement could have damaged Winston’s self-esteem. This statement also shows us that O’Brien is trying to make Winston feel like an outcast, not only an outcast, but an enemy, so to speak, of the government. By convincing people such as Winston that their behavior makes them an outcast, O’Brien hopes to get into their heads so that they believe that they are the only one who has different beliefs. One statement in particular shows the succinct idea of the government: “What-ever the Party holds to be the truth is truth.” If the people of Oceana started to care and listen to each other, their might have been a break through. It seems that the Party tried to cast away those with differing ideas, as they did with Winston, but things like that could have been changed by a slight showing of care or at least interest in the outcast. Unfortunately, the Party prevented that with their oligarchical collectivism.

This doctrine leads to Winston’s final “demise” because of it’s over bearing power and O’Brien’s persuasion. In the end, Winston surrenders himself to the beliefs of INGSOC. It’s ironic that even though he is not killed, we feel that he is dead, on the inside that is. He ignores the thoughts that are his own and adopts the entire belief of everything that O’Brien, INGSOC, and the Party tells him. They say that Winston needed an “act of self- destruction.” They could have easily killed Winston and avoided the time and effort they took in convincing him, but keeping him alive and in the society denies others of having objecting beliefs, especially with Winston accepting the “truth” now. The Party did a great job in keeping everything under complete control. They do this through mind control, isolation, and invasion of privacy. These key acts make the belief that any ideas that contradict the governments are against the law, that the nonbelievers are all alone, and that every where they went they could be watched. It is most dissapionting that Winston ended up giving in to the ways of the Party. He could have been a hope for change in the world if he had stuck to his beliefs.