Tuesday, April 5, 2011

1984 - Theme

"Power is inflicting pain and humiliation. Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing," (266).

One of the major themes towards the end of the novel is that physical pain has incredible control over a person's emotional state. Winston along with many other prisoners in the Ministry of Love are tortured beyond belief in order to get them to change their opposing views of the Party and Big Brother. Winston eventually begins conforming to their ideas because he will do anything to stop the pain. Knowing that he cannot escape the bed he is strapped to and knowing that he has no control over the pain that is inflicted upon him causes him to force himself to conform to the views of the Party. This is how the Party gains their power. By taking over the physical human body, they begin to take over their emotional state as well. Most would listen to authorities if it meant that the physical torture would be put to an end. This is a very universal theme in some ways. If someone is tortured, the one who is inflicting the torture will inevitably get what they want, giving them more and more power and control over that individual.

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