Part 3 Chapter 1: Winston finds himself imprisoned in the Ministry of Love. Orwell introduces readers to the horrific but efficient conditions of the prison where telescreens is Winston's cell monitor his every move. Winston meets several strange characters in jail including a fat old woman who acts as if she could be his mother, and an old colleague, Ampleforth. Dazed and confused Ampleforth and Winston discuss their situation until guards take Ampleforth to Room 101. After Ampleforth leaves the cell, Parsons, Winston's former neighbor moves in. Vaguely proud, Parsons tells Winston that his young daughter turned him over to the Thought Police. Guards take Parsons to Room 101 and send in a frail, emaciated man to share Winston's cell. Winston tries to give the frail man a piece of bread but when the man accepts the food, the telescreens command him to drop the bread. Promptly, a guard approaches to take the man to Room 101. The man cries, "You've been starving me for weeks. Finish it off and let me die. Shoot me. Hang me. Sentence me to twenty-five years. Is there somebody else you want me to give away? Just say who it is and I'll tell you anything you want. I don't care who it is or what you do to them. I've got a wife and three children. The biggest of them isn't six years old. You can take the whol lot of them and cut their throats in front of my eyes, and I'll stand by and watch it. But not room 101!" (p. 240) Winston momentarily believes that O'Brien will save him but soon realizes that he has been deceived. O'Brien, who had never been a member of the Brotherhood, enters Winston's cell and orders a guard to beat him.
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1984 Nineteen Eighty-Four: Novel Summary: Part 3 Chapter 1-Part 3 Chapter 2
Part 3 Chapter 2: Winston's brutal torture begins. At the hands of O'Brien, Winston endures constant beatings, electric shock treatment, and psychological abuse. Winston fights valiantly to endure the excruciating pain but he is powerless. Slowly, as he administers increasingly painful shocks, O'Brien reveals that he had watched Winston for seven years and that he was taking special care to re-train Winston. Winston hates and loves O'Brien at the same time. The process of loving his torturer is part of his conversion to INGSOC. Like a tutor preparing a pupil for a test, O'Brien quizzes Winston on the history of Oceania and the meaning of subjective reality. He tries to force Winston to believe that two plus two equals five because that is what the Party says. As the intensity of the electric shocks increase, Winston begins to lose his mind. Slowly, he begins to concede that O'Brien could be holding up five fingers when, in fact, he only held up four fingers. As the brainwashing torture overcomes Winston, O'Brien continues to educate his pupil on the myth and power of Big Brother. Winston asks O'Brien to tell him about Room 101. O'Brien responds, "You know what is in Room 101, Winston. Everyone knows what is in Room 101" (p. 263).
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