At the end of 1984 by George Orwell...

[onewheeled]

...Does Winston Smith literally die?

I'm in a debate with two of my friends about this topic. They both think that the book directly states that he was literally shot in the back of the head in the Ministry of Love. However, the way I see it, said bullet (which is mentioned in the second-to-last paragraph of the book) is just symbolic, that it represents the death of him psychologically, nothing more. That by losing all free thought and will, he died as a human being, leaving only an empty shell of a man, seen in the last chapter of the book. I believe that they do kill him eventually, but that is at the end of the story, not the end of the novel. I don't want this to become a huge wall of text, so I'll just end it here before I start to go overboard.

So, Escapists, what do you think happened at the end of the novel? Did the character of Winston Smith actually get shot in the back of the head, or is his death simply symbolic?

 

[KingCrInuYasha]

It could be both. At one point, The Party mentions that even if they decided to let Winston live out the rest of his natural life, they would take measures to ensure that he would be unable to psychologically escape from them. The point is not to kill the individual, but to break them.

While it's highly likely that they eventually kill him, the book just shows the symbolic part.

 

[LiberalSquirrel]

I took it as a symbolic death. But then again, I find symbolism in everything.

 

[EasySt17]

They say earlier on that people who admit to crimes against the state eventually "disappear"...not that it matters. The government in 1984 is more concerned with breaking the freewill of all people...not just killing dissidents

 

[BrailleOperatic]

Any academic will tell he did not literally die. It's a metaphor for the death of the self as he realise that everything that once made him unique is gone and his but one more of drones in the Oceanian society. Winston is gone, died, and in his place his the model citizen everyone was conditioned to be. The most telling evidence is that his train of thought keeps going after 'the long awaited bullet entered his brain'.

 

[Exile714]

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.

 

[GodofCider]

...literally shot in the back of the head in the Ministry of Love...losing all free thought and will...leaving only an empty shell of a man.

There really isn't a vast difference between the two here.

 

[FalloutJack]

Well, if the perceived war of 1984 is a falsey to keep people in line, merits of control, then he could have been broken to end his actions and secure the system, then put to death to fuel martyrism and redouble the patriotism towards the war effort. In the end, everybody in 1984 is already dead. They just don't realize it yet.

 

[bl4ckh4wk64]

Damn, I went here hoping to astound you with a wall of text explaining how it was a symbolic death of his psychological being. It seems like I'm not the only one who thinks this and all of my arguments have already been stated....

The most telling evidence is that his train of thought keeps going after 'the long awaited bullet enter his brain'.

I never noticed this one, very nice catch.

 

[infohippie]

I don't believe Winston was killed, which I found surprising when I read it. I was certainly expecting him to be killed. I think the Party broke him, made him really love Big Brother, and let him live out the rest of his life like that.

 

[Berethond]

...literally shot in the back of the head in the Ministry of Love...losing all free thought and will...leaving only an empty shell of a man.

There really isn't a vast difference between the two here.

Sort of my thoughts. It doesn't really matter whether he literally died or not, he's still effectively dead.

 

[Cenequus]

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.

I'm sorry to cut the phlosophical debate that may ensue(a good one even),but this guy tells it as it is.There is not a second metaphorical interpretation if not to the book,but as for the story itself he gets shot dead.

 

[android88]

That's what I thought when I first read it. The goal not being to kill him but to force him to conform, which in retrospect is worse than death because you have lost your individuality.

Looking at it even closer, you could look at the book as not just an alternate reality in Britain if communium took over but also a look at the struggle for acceptance. There was an interesting point in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig where Kazundo Gota had written an essay on our brains desire for collectivisum while sacrificing individuality.

In the first part of 1984, Winston was unsetteled and trying to find his place in the world and by the end of the book he had conformed but in a way found peace which was depicted with Winston sheading a tear and the final line saying that he loved Big Brother.

Sorry, gone off on one there. Basically, Winston didn't die in a physhical sense.

 

[bigwon]

google the word 'depersonalization'

 

[Svenparty]

It was symbolic: the person he is dies and he becomes a complete conformist. It's much more disturbing that he dies of old age loving Big Brother than just shot in the back of the head.

 

[Viral_Lola]

It could be both but in the end Winston died. Whether it was a physical death or a mental death, he is dead.

 

[Cowabungaa]

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

Regardless, I always thought the Party managed to break him and transform him into one of the mindless sheep.

 

[Fraught]

Yeah, depersonalized, so to say, and made to love Big Brother is pretty surely the interpretation Orwell wanted here (and, in some ways, reminds me of Animal Farm and its pigs, though that ending was way, waaaay more confusing), and I wholeheartedly agree with Svenparty on the point that him living on without ANY of his previous personality left intact, blindly outright loving that which we've made to hate throughout the book.

I think it was much more shocking and disturbing an ending. Really got under my skin. While, having been shot to death, I think I'd readily look at it as him sort of "escaping" it all anyway.