1984 Journal Part 3

Has Big Brother won? Why/Why not? Propose a way that the One State can be brought down. What do you think happens to Winston Smith at the end of the novel? Support your answer with analysis of specific quotes from the text.

• I think that Big Brother has succeeded in overcoming Winston's rebellion against the Party because Winston no longer feels the urge to think rebellious thoughts or try to deceive the Party. At the end, Winston finally realized that "he loved Big Brother." This was the goal that O'Brien said they were trying to reach. They would make Winston love Big Brother, but they would kill him anyway.
• The One State can be brought down by people refusing to believe the Party. Everyone in this society acts so dependent on Big Brother and they all act as if they cannot think for themselves, which they don't. If people bagan to be more independent, then they would realize how horrible they are being treated by the Party and they would start to take action.
• At the end of the novel, I think that Winston had been released from his torturing in the Ministry of Love for learning how to control his rebellious thoughts. He had been allowed to continue his life normally because he could be trusted enough. However, he wasn't going to be ignored completely. It was inevitable that he was going to be killed. O'Brien had told him that "We do not merely destroy our enemies, we change them." Their goal was to make Winston see how he was wrong, but they would still have to terminate him regardless, because he had once intended to overthrow the Party. They decided to kill him at the end of the novel because he had finally realized that he loved Big Brother.