At the end of 1984 by George Orwell...

[IBlackKiteI]

In the end, everybody in 1984 is already dead. They just don't realize it yet.

You hear quotes like that all time, but this is first time I've heard it in a context where it actually makes sense.

Yeah, Winston is no longer himself, therefore he's essentially dead in every sense besides the fact he's still living.

 

[Tharwen]

Huh? I thought that at the end he was sitting in a cafe or something praising Big Brother. Or am I remembering it wrong?

[A telescreen in the cafe has just announced a major military victory and everyone around is celebrating]

'The voice from the telescreen was still pouring forth its tale of prisoners and booty and slaughter, but the shouting outside had died down a little. The waiters were turning back to their work. One of them approached with the gin bottle. Winston, sitting in a blissful dream, paid no attention as his glass was filled up. He was not running or cheering any longer He was back in the Ministry of Love, with everything forgiven, his soul white as snow. He was in the public dock, confessing everything, implicating everybody. He was walking down the white-tiled corridor, with the feeling of walking in sunlight, and an armed guard at his back. The long-hoped-for bullet was entering his brain.

He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.'

That second-to-last paragraph is him exploring his own memory, since he isn't literally in the Ministry of Love at that point. The bullet is a figurative one, revealing that the death that O'Brien promised was in fact mental, killing off the old Winston and turning over all his remaining will to the Party.

 

[rabidmidget]

No, but it was implied that he would eventually "disappear".

 

[Hero in a half shell]

I can't remember the last paragraph that well, but when I read it I never even considered that he actually physically died at the end of it, just that his freewill finally broke and he accepted Big Brother, so he was no longer a threat, and from that point on whatever happened to him didn't matter, whether he was allowed to live, tried as a traitor or killed in secret, he was already dead. But it was quite a while since I read the book. Smashing book though.

 

[HerbertTheHamster]

Didn't the thought police just kill people while they were asleep? He was already dead anyway

Never did think so much about 1984, it's so fucking naïve it makes me want to slap Orwell for actually believing such a future was possible

 

[Outright Villainy]

He almost certainly died, but not at the end of the book, after the book. Whether that was seconds, days or years, it doesn't really matter. What matters is the book ended at the exact moment he broke, and submitted to big brother. That's far more scary than the real death that would follow. Also, he's still conscious, how would you explain a literal death out of that? Peeps be silly.

 

[rhodriharris]

Didn't the thought police just kill people while they were asleep? He was already dead anyway

Never did think so much about 1984, it's so fucking naïve it makes me want to slap Orwell for actually believing such a future was possible

I get the feeling you missed the point somewhat. Most of Oceanic society is based off the U.S.S.R under Stalin for example the Two Minutes Hate portrayal of Emmanuel Goldstein (Trotsky) and anyone who spoke out against The Party. The Subjugation of the masses is influenced by the time he spent fighting in the Spanish Civil War and the tendency for the groups fighting for the people to forget the peoples needs. In short the setting was more ingrained in the present than the future and the novel was more about the dangers of nationalism, sexual repression, censorship, surveillance and the danger inherent in surrendering our freedoms as all these things do.

 

[Altorin]

the whole point of 1984 is that they don't NEED to kill ANYONE. They can just destroy their sense of identity and self. Killing Winston would have been a complete waste when compared to destroying his ability to resist the government and strengthen his resolve to work for the betterment of Big Brother.

There isn't a need to kill him, he's already dead.

 

[BabyRaptor]

They didn't want to kill him while he was a dissident because that would make him a martyr. So they broke him down and made him love Big Brother. Then they literally executed him. He died two deaths, a mental and a physical.

This was my understanding.

 

[Jekken6]

He was broken down mentally and from what I remember, it was implied that he would eventually be killed.