Part 3: Chapter 2

1) Make a list of the things to which Winston confesses.

Winston confesses both true and imaginary crimes to the interrogators, such as murdering a Party member, distributing propaganda against the Party, and sabotage. He also confessed he was religious, and that he had been a Eastasian spy, admired capitalism, murdered his own wife, and was a sexual pervert.

2) What does O’brien say is wrong with Winston?

O'Brien is telling Winston that he is insane, that he is a flaw, and that the Party doesn't care for his crimes, but rather are trying to cure him of his illness. 

3) On p. 259, Winston thinks:  That was doublethink.  To what is he referring.

When Winston thinks that, he is referring to the way O'Brien had been holding a real, solid photograph, then placed it into the memory hole, and claimed it had never existed. This is doublethink because O'Brien is saying that something absolutely real that was in his hand a moment ago, had never existed.

4) What is O’brien’s view of reality which he describes to Winston?

O'Brien gets Winston to state one of the Party slogans,“Who controls the present controls the past”, and he questions Winston's beliefs as to whether the past exists or not.  According to O'Brien the past only exists if the Party wants it to.

5) Open the following site:  Ivan Pavlov  In a short paragraph, discuss how Ivan Pavlov’s research is similar to O’brien’s methods with Winston.

Ivan Pavlov's research was similar to how O'Brien worked on getting in Winston's head because they both used stimuli to draw out a certain reflex. Pavlov got his dogs to drool at the sound of a bell or the sight of a lab coat, and O'Brien gets Winston to confess and agree with him through the less humane stimulus of torture.
 
6) According to O’brien, why has Winston been brought to the Ministry of Love?

Winston has been brought to the Ministry of Love because he needs to be cured, according to O'Brien. He states that Winston is having delusions and that the Party is simply trying to fix him.

7) On page 266 O’brien says “And above all we do not allow the dead to rise up against us.”  What does he mean by this? (This is an interesting question that deserves your time – read from the bottom of 265 and all of 266 for the answer.)


 O'Brien is making references to famous cases of martyrdom and torture to those who do not agree with the ruling party. Each of these examples are famous cases which O'Brien says the Party had learned from to not make executions public, and to beat the criminals into believing what they had done was wrong.

8) When Winston asks why he s being tortured (p267), O’brien says, “But we make the brain perfect before we blow it out.”  In a short paragraph, explain what he means by this. (Read all of 267-268 to provide your answer.)


O'Brien means by this that the Party doesn't want thoughtcrime anywhere, even in the most powerless state of death. He believes that thoughtcrime cannot exist even in the last moment of life. A criminal needs to die believing that he/ she was wrong.
 
9) Choose one or two lines that attracted your attention.  Discuss why.

"He had never loved him so deeply as at this moment, and not only because he had stoppped the pain. The old feeling, that at bottom it did not matter whether O'Brien was a friend or enemy, had come back. O'Brien was a person who could be talked to,"
I found this part to be very strange, that Winston still had such admiration and faith that O'Brien was saving him, even though he was being tortured.