Literature Entry Week 9
Orwell Creative Writing
This week, I wrote a short piece of creative writing, from O’Brian’s perspective shortly before the interrogation of Winston takes place. I tried to show what I thought the purpose of the interrogation to be, and the place of language in this section of the novel.
O’Brian understood the complexities of the situation. He knew that this torture was dangerous, he knew the outcomes, all the possibilities and yet he remained afraid. He could not let Winston die, could not let him tell his story…Winston could not become a martyr, nor would O’Brian allow that to happen. Big Brother, the system, all he lived for stood on a cliff edge; stray but a little and it will fall. To him it did not matter if the wars were real, or if Newspeak was the perfect language, or the pols inferior, or even if Big Brother existed. It was not important because he believed and it was that belief that set him free. He needed to make Winston believe. But how to break a man who has nothing to lose? The woman, Julia, if Winston betrayed her, he betrayed himself. And if he betrayed himself, he would no longer trust himself and then O’Brian can take that place. If you trust another man more yourself, surely you will trust everything that man says to be law, to be nothing but unbridled truth. O’Brian would not fail Big Brother by allowing Winston to martyr, but Winston would fail all those out there that believed in his foolish sentiments. He would lose sight of his beliefs and break. A burnt out shell of a man, he will eek out an involuntary existence as a symbol of fear to all those that felt the same as he. For O’Brian understood the greatest power was language; those that controlled the language, wielded the power. Forget the violence and mayhem of the wars of the early part of the century; those weapons were obsolete compared to the power of words. Words that Big Brother used to control and manipulate the emotions, thoughts and actions of an otherwise unruly populous. Words that O’Brian too, would use as a lethal weapon, not too change something as vast and abstract as history, (like Big Brother would) but to change and corrupt something far more personal, far more individual, the memories of a simple man named Winston.
This week, I wrote a short piece of creative writing, from O’Brian’s perspective shortly before the interrogation of Winston takes place. I tried to show what I thought the purpose of the interrogation to be, and the place of language in this section of the novel.
O’Brian understood the complexities of the situation. He knew that this torture was dangerous, he knew the outcomes, all the possibilities and yet he remained afraid. He could not let Winston die, could not let him tell his story…Winston could not become a martyr, nor would O’Brian allow that to happen. Big Brother, the system, all he lived for stood on a cliff edge; stray but a little and it will fall. To him it did not matter if the wars were real, or if Newspeak was the perfect language, or the pols inferior, or even if Big Brother existed. It was not important because he believed and it was that belief that set him free. He needed to make Winston believe. But how to break a man who has nothing to lose? The woman, Julia, if Winston betrayed her, he betrayed himself. And if he betrayed himself, he would no longer trust himself and then O’Brian can take that place. If you trust another man more yourself, surely you will trust everything that man says to be law, to be nothing but unbridled truth. O’Brian would not fail Big Brother by allowing Winston to martyr, but Winston would fail all those out there that believed in his foolish sentiments. He would lose sight of his beliefs and break. A burnt out shell of a man, he will eek out an involuntary existence as a symbol of fear to all those that felt the same as he. For O’Brian understood the greatest power was language; those that controlled the language, wielded the power. Forget the violence and mayhem of the wars of the early part of the century; those weapons were obsolete compared to the power of words. Words that Big Brother used to control and manipulate the emotions, thoughts and actions of an otherwise unruly populous. Words that O’Brian too, would use as a lethal weapon, not too change something as vast and abstract as history, (like Big Brother would) but to change and corrupt something far more personal, far more individual, the memories of a simple man named Winston.