An Anticlimatic Ending

In these chapters, we see Winston's "re-education" briefly relapse after the torture lessens, causing him to suddenly proclaim his love for Julia and that he hates Big Brother. Even though Winston knows that saying these things will surely get him sent to Room 101 or executed, once the physical torture subsides, he chooses to voice his true thoughts to O'Brien and let the party know what he really thinks about them. 

It seems that throughout the entire novel, Winston has had a fatalistic mentality and engages in sedition knowing that he will be killed by the party sooner or later. The scene in Room 101 is something of an anticlimax, as the rats cause Winston to completely lose all sense of himself and what he truly believes in. It seems that after this point, Winston has become a truly brainwashed subject of the state, with no will to resist and content with his place in society despite once having seditious desires. 

This ending seems to contrast to the one of Brave New World. John kills himself out of his own shame after succumbing to the norms of the World State. While we don't know what will happen to Winston (yet), it's hinted that he has a good chance of being executed even after his brainwashing. Unlike John, who has been allowed to live with his own lifestyle in isolation, Winston effectively has no power over what happens to him next.

What will the ending of 1984 look like? Will there be any glimmer of hope even after Winston has now been brainwashed into a loyal subject of the party? 

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