Part III: [My thoughts on my first post didn't change after reading 1984]
"Torture of a person who is a threat to our country's freedom is acceptable as long as the person does not die."
The right to torture a person, whether they are a threat or not, shouldn’t be allowed in any case or within any society. Torture is a string of consistent pain that could result in one’s death. Torture is equal, if not worse, than death.
In 1984, Winston had his fair share of torture when O’Brien interrogated him and “turned up the dial” to increase the amount of pain he received. After many questions and answers, O’Brien suppresses Winston’s contradicting thoughts of the Party so that he would become another one of those brainwashed, Big Brother supporters. By the end of the book, we discover the newly transformed Winston who now, faithfully loves Big Brother. But, he still hopes for the impending bullet to his head because DEEP down, he remains defiant, although free from any form of expression. So, if this was what torture caused him to become, death would have been a better path to take.
Winston was considered a threat to Oceania’s freedom and for that, he had to suffer. Although there was a small possibility for Winston to succeed and overthrow the Party, it would have been more acceptable to see Winston die for his thoughts than to have to witness the horrendous phase of torture that Winston goes through to become someone he never wanted to be.
3 comments:
I agree with you. Winston would rather die than to get tortured. He would rather die and keep his beliefs than stay living as a worthless empty shell controlled by the Party.
There is NO freedom in Oceania. And the only person who tries to obtain freedom gets tortured.
- Melissa Wong
I like a lot of what you're saying. Torture is ineffective in gleaning truthful confessions, and in truth it would be more humane to just kill the people straight rather than torture them. But I disagree with you about the implications of the bullet. It's interesting that you took it to be Winston's last bit of defiance, because I saw it as a symbol of his finally succumbing to the Party's will. He always said that if he died hating Big Brother, everything would be okay, but by the time the "bullet" comes, he loves Big Brother unconditionally. It was like he had lost his last bit of humanity and free will by finally succumbing. This, I think, is worse than death. I would much rather die than be altered so much by torture as to not even recognise myself mentally or physically. But it still coincides with your point about death being a better option than torture.
~Audrey Musselman-Brown
I agree with what Audrey said, in that in someways torture can ruin a person worse than death. The example in 1984 would be Winston, who was convinced in the end that 2+2=5. From my point of view, however, I thought he gave up when he finally completely betrayed Julia. She was his last hope and although he had given away information about her all throughout the torture, it wasn't until the end that he wished she was there getting punished instead of him. To reach that stage of torture isn't acceptable for any person whether they are a threat to our country's freedom or not.
-Laura West
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