explains
tothat he is insane to oppose the Party. The purpose of the torture O'Brien inflicts is to show
Winston that power is expressed most fully in forcing others to suffer, but more importantly, to
reintegrate Winston into the Party.
O'Brien describes power as the boot
stamping the human face and his torture of Winston expresses O'Brien's absolute control over his
victim. O'Brien uses that control, however, not only to compel Winston's outward obedience. He
tortures Winston to convince him to believe that truth is subjective: it is whatever the Party
tells him it is. For example, when Winston avers that two plus two equals five but doesn't
really believe it, O'Brien twists the back-breaking pain meter up high. Winston needs to really
believe that two plus two equals five, not simply pay lip service to the idea or practice
outward conformity while continuing to think otherwise inwardly. Finally, O'Brien tortures
Winston using his deepest fear, of being devoured by rats, to force him to betray . Once he has
betrayed her, Winston has nothing left to cling to and can fill his inner emptiness with worship
of Big Brother. Thus, torture acts to allow the Party to control Winston body, mind and
soul.
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