In chapter 5, we are revealed that what is found in room 101, is what we fear the most. For Winston, it was rats. He betrays Julia after being exposed to the rats which convinces O’Brien that Winston “cured,” soon after he claimed his love for her in the previous chapter, which shows the dominance of physical control over physiological control.
In the last chapter, when Julia and Winston meet, Julia states, “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” (Orwell, 305).
The torture of the room 101 has changed both of them. They have both ended up being selfish, to save their own selves from the misery and torture. By this, we conclude that nothing is stronger than the physical torture of room 101. Physical control includes and provides us with the psychological control (these are themes of the novel). Do you agree? Why or why not?
Feel free to add anything else on the encounter between Julia and Winston, Room 101, and/or the themes found in the novel.
I completely agree that physical control includes psychological control when it comes to what the Party wants from its people. After Winston was captured, he underwent terrible physical torture, but never once let go of the one thing that he held as a weapon towards the Party. He didn't give up is love towards Julia, never betrayed her. It was as if the party could take away his life and body (physical), but never his dignity, his loyalty towards another person (psychological). That was until one day, he was introduced to Room 101. By finally betraying her, Winston finally surrendered towards the power that the Party had over him. I think that George Orwell is posing a warning that a society can prosper with an indefinite amount of physical control. Not only this, but that psychological control can be apparent too, causing society to loose themselves almost completely.
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