1984 Exploration

“I betrayed you,” she said baldly.
“I betrayed you,” he said.She gave him another quick look of dislike.“Sometimes,” she said, “they threaten you with something-- something you can’t stand up to, can’t even think about. And then you say, ‘Don’t do it to me, do it to somebody else, do it to so-and-so.’ And perhaps you might pretend, afterwards, that it was only a trick and that you just said it to make them stop and didn’t really mean it. But that isn’t true. At the time when it happens you do mean it. You think there’s no other way of saving yourself, and you’re quite ready to save yourself that way. You want it to happen to the other person. You don’t give a damn what they suffer. All you care about is yourself.” (Pg. 261)

Think this passage is one of my favorites because in this passage it really emphasizes how physical control over the body leads to control over the mind and heart. It also shows how Julia and Winston went through the horrible experiences during their sufferings and they came out of it completely different people who are now Party-controlled, law-abiding citizens. This passage also shows how the Party and Thought Police were able to destroy the love between Julia and Winston.

"And perhaps you might pretend, afterwards, that it was only a trick and that you just said it to make them stop and didn’t really mean it. But that isn’t true. At the time when it happens you do mean it. You think there’s no other way of saving yourself and you’re quite ready to save yourself that way. You want it to happen to the other person. You don’t give a damn what they suffer. All you care about is yourself"

In this passage in book III Julia is talking to Winston, as they discuss what happened to them in Room 101. She tells him that she wanted her torture to be shifted to him, and he responds that he felt exactly the same way. These acts of mutual betrayal represent the Party’s final psychological victory. Soon after their respective experiences in Room 101, Winston and Julia are set free as they no longer pose a threat to the Party. Here, Julia says that despite her efforts to make herself feel better, she knows that in order to save herself she really did want the Party to torture Winston. In the end, the Party proves to Winston and Julia that no moral conviction or emotional loyalty is strong enough to withstand torture.