Mind over Matter

In book three of 1984 Winston is taken hostage by the party and repeatedly tortured for his disobedience to the party. The means in which he is tortued varies; one way is physical torture, and another is mental torture. The physical torute easily breaks him, but he is relatively resilient to the mental torture conducted by O'Brien and by the fequent interogation. Winston's weakness to physical torture is seen when he says, "I will confess, but not yet. I must hold out till the pain becomes unbearable. Three more kicks, two more kicks, and then I will tell them what they want" (241). This was going through his head during one of the beatings, and it shows his weakness to physical pain. Although he is not blatantly giving in, he is acknowleding that he will give in. By thinking like this, he is admitting his weakness to the party and providing it with a way to break his rebellious spirit. During a torture spell, O'Brien is attempting to get rid of Winston's independant mind by holding up four fingers and asking Winston how many there are. O'Brien tells Winston there are five, but there are claerly four so Winston continues to say four despite the increasing pain. Winston's resilience to this sort of torture is seen when the author says, "He knew that the fingers were still there, and still four. All that mattered was somehow to stay alive until the spasm was over" (251). In this, Winston is staying true to what he believes despite what the party is telling him (represented by O'Brien). Winston's refusal to accept what the party tells him to be true sybolizes his rebellious spirit that is present troughout the entire book, and also shows his ability to use reason to prove something to be true.