Jack Gordon
College English
8/14/13
Room 101
"You asked me once, what was in Room 101. I told you that you knew the answer already. Everyone knows it. The thing that is in Room 101 is the worst thing in the world." A devastating omen for 1984's protagonist Winston Smith, as he begins to truly grasp the unfathomable misery that awaits within the confines of the horrifyingly enigmatic Room 101. Upon Winston's arrival to Room 101, 1984, George Orwell's prophetic nightmare of a hellish dystopia, climaxes. Exposed to his worst fear, Winston is subdued into allegiance to a totalitarian Party he despises, is transmogrified into a shell of a once nihilistic and hopeful man, and now meanders through life with no real thought of his own. Through the outcome of Winston's time in Room 101, the true functionality and representation of Room 101 are finally imparted to the readers.
Room 101's function: to communicate the monumental and irrepressible power of the Party through exhaustive torture and sheer agony; its representation: freedom.
Critical to understanding the function and symbolism of Room 101 is Orwell's domineering Party, a totalitarian dictatorship who "governs" its people through rigorous surveillance and constant misinformation; a fact that our protagonist, Winston Smith, hopes desperately to expose to anybody. After years of working mindlessly at the Ministry of Truth, a government body in charge of indulging the public with propaganda, as well as fabricating the past, Winston achieves self-actualization, and thus begins to understand the irony of his job. Winston has, for years, manipulated documents for re-release, and incinerated the originals: but why? As Winston's confusion grows, so does his hatred of the Party. "DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER" he finds himself scrawling upon his journal, over and over again as he quietly ponders the authority...