Posted by Tim Cratchit on June 20, 2002 at 00:36:49:
In Reply to: No he don't die... posted by Mike on June 19, 2002 at 18:40:50:
This was just a dream: about the end of his misery. Also, that's how the 're-educated' people usualy ended - the party promenaded them for a while, to have them arouns, as example of a 'non-person'. Eventually, they re-arrested them, tortured them again and used them as false witnesses in some staged trial. Than they would kill them (and they would die loving Big Brother and the party).
Also, O'Brian was too subtle in his sadism and power-worship to kill Winston right away. He just enjoyed toying with Winston, for W. was an inteligent and fairly straight man. O'Brian was guessing his thoughts, observing him and setting him up, right from the beginning of W. emancipation many years back. It was probably O'Brian, who had chosen for him a non-typical appartment that had one corner without the telescreen surveillance. O'Brian had sent him 'accidentaly' the subversive old newspaper clipping, etc. Winston was his favorite project, W. was like under magnifying glass, observed all along and behaving as predicted. W. was a case study for O'Brian on how the typical 'oldthinker' develops into the enemy of the party. You can notice that O'Brian was even somewhat sad to have him arrested, after W. joined the set-up 'resistance' group: O'Brian would love to play with him longer.
You see, the party officials did all this to assert their power: just to kill an enemy would not be satisfactory enough. The enemy would have to be destroyed, fully converted, then played with for some more, then eventually he could be killed after becomming useless and uniteresting.
But in case of W., the liver cirrhosis might get him sooner - and it would not matter: he was ruined completely.