The idea of forced confessions is terrifying to me. The person being forced to confess is trapped. He can either be tortured indefinitely or he can confess to something he hasn't done and face punishments for it. Everybody knows that he's not telling the truth, but still they act as if he is telling the truth. This practice is so obviously something that is done to benefit the Party, but there is nothing anybody can do about.When this keeps going on for long periods of time, eventually the victim forgets what really happened and starts to believe his own confessions.
In the novel Winston knew that he would be unable to resist telling the Party what they wanted because of the physical and mental harm they were causing him. Still, he held out for as long as he could manage in order to hold on to some dignity. As the torture continued the lines began to blur between reality and what the Party wanted him to think. He slowly began to agree with the party more and more, not really accepting it on the inside but knowing he had to pretend to in order to save himself. The Party finally took complete control over him by threatening him with his greatest fear - rats.
No comments:
Post a Comment