The Last Words - 10.21.15

     My interpretation by the last statement in George Orwell’s novel 1984 is the very last lines where it says that Winston loves Big Brother, however, I was challenged by a fellow classmate into thinking that his official last words in the book were “We must meet again” (Orwell 170) when he was having a conversation with Julia. So this caused some confusion, but I am going to stick with my interpretation that Winston’s last statement is “He loved Big Brother” (Orwell 173)

     My response to Winston’s last statement relates to just how devastating I thought it was that Winston, Julia and the so called “Brotherhood” could not band together and take down the Party. It also made me feel that there was no hope left for Winston and the world of 1984, and just how crazy it is that the Party could manipulate literally everything, find out the ones against them, and brainwash them into loving the Party once again. If there were to be an alternate ending to this novel then I would have appreciated it so much more. For instance, if he were to have died as a martyr of the Brotherhood’s cause and not given in to giving up his “love” of Julia and his undying hatred of the party.

     Why would Orwell ever end the novel this way though? I think he ended it this way in order to leave the reader thinking about what will continue to happen in the future for Winston and the rest of Oceania. I also think he ends it this way, because as we talked in class about “Orwell versus Huxley” and how Orwell’s version was that what we hate will one day take over us and ruin the world. I believe that he is trying to prove that there is no way you can get behind a government that censors everything and is controlling of every little thing you do, no matter what. 

     In conclusion, I am entirely devastated by Winston’s final “words” in 1984, even if I misinterpreted what the actual last words were. I also believed that Orwell ended this novel just to let the reader think and contemplate about what would happen in the future after the ending of the book. Orwell had left me thinking and wondering if Winston was going to end up being killed by the party, and if he was going to still be “loyal” to Big Brother in the end.