Previous
Book 3, Chapter 3
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in 1984, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Totalitarianism and Communism
The Individual vs. Collective Identity
Reality Control
Sex, Love, and Loyalty
Class Struggle
Summary
Analysis
Weeks or months pass. Winston is tortured less often and moved to a more comfortable room. He puts on weight and gains strength because he is now given three meals a day. He is allowed to wash, his rotting teeth are replaced with dentures, and he is given clean clothing. He dreams often of Julia, his mother, and the Golden Country. He has been given a slate and pencil and over and over writes the slogans on a slate he has been given. He also writes "two and two make five." He accepts that the laws of nature are nonsense and that reality exists only in the mind, and longs for the day when he will be shot.
Winston is allowed to get stronger, to regain a little bit of comfort and therefore hope. While he has accepted the Party's control over the physical world and over his own body, his dreams indicate that he has not yet betrayed Julia, has not yet accepted the Party's control over his mind.
Themes
Literary Devices
One night, Winston dreams of the Golden Country and wakes up crying out for Julia, loving her more than ever. He realizes then that his inner heart has not been converted, though his mind has surrendered. Inside, he still hates the Party, and he believes he will have his revenge when he dies, still hating it.
O'Brien walks into the cell and says Winston has made intellectual but not emotional progress. He asks Winston what his true feelings are toward Big Brother. Winston answers that he hates him. O'Brien says Winston must love Big Brother, and orders that Winston be taken to Room 101.
O'Brien also realizes Winston's continuing resistance. Winston, meanwhile, is feeling powerful in his defiance. And it is at this moment of small triumph that Winston will be brought to room 101.
Themes
