The social criticism in george orwell'S 1984

Party are wrong. No matter how painful Winston he is, he convinces himself not 
to admit his crimes. He will confess, but not at this moment, perhaps later in the 
day when he has not long bear the torture of the Party. 
There were other times when he started out with the resolve of confessing 
nothing, when every word had to be forced out of him between gasps of 
pain, and there were times when he feebly tried to compromise, when he 
said to himself: ―I will confess, but not yet. I must hold out till the pain 
becomes unbearable. Three more kicks, two more kicks, and then I will tell 
them what they want‖ (Orwell, 1961:240-241). 
How many times he had been beaten, how long the beatings had continued, 
he could not remember. Always there were five or six men in black 
uniforms at him simultaneously. Sometimes it was fists, sometimes it was 
truncheons, sometimes it was steel rods, sometimes it was boots (Orwell, 
1961:240). 
There were times when he rolled about the floor, as shameless as an animal, 
writhing his body this way and that in an endless, hopeless effort to dodge 
the kicks, and simply inviting more and yet more kicks, in his ribs, in his 
belly, on his elbows, on his shins, in his groin, in his testicles, on the bone at 
the base of his spine (Orwell, 1961:240). 
When in the interrogation of approximately ten or twelve hours, any answer 
that is not in accordance with the wishes of the Party will get the punishment of 
torture. 

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The beatings grew less frequent, and became mainly a threat, a horror to 
which he could be sent back at any moment when his answers were 
unsatisfactory. His questioners now were not ruffians in black uniforms, but 
Party intellectuals, little rotund men with quick movements and flashing 
spectacles, who worked on him in relays over periods which lasted—he 
thought, he could not be sure__ten or twelve hours at a stretch (Orwell, 
1961:241). 
These other questioners saw to it that he was in constant slight pain, but it 
was not chiefly pain that they relied on. They slapped his face, wrung his 
ears, pulled his hair, made him stand on the leg, refused him leave to 
urinate, shone glaring lights in his face until his eyes ran with water; but the 
aim of this was simply to humiliate him and destroy his power of arguing 
and reasoning (Orwell, 1961: 241). 
Interrogation sessions are the hardest and most overwhelming thing that 
Winston had ever experienced. Every question he has to answer quickly, without 
lies, let alone doubt. 
Their real weapon was the merciless questioning that went on and on hour 
after hour, tripping him up, laying traps for him, twisting everything that he 
said, convicting him at every step of lies and self-contradiction, until he 
began weeping as much from shame as from nervous fatigue. Sometimes he 
would weep half a dozen times in a single session (Orwell, 1961:241-242). 
If you tell me any lies, or attempt to prevaricate in any way, or even fall 
below your usual level of intelligence. You will cry out with pain, instantly. 
―Yes,‖ said Winston (Orwell, 1961:245)
In this session, usually Winston will get an injection and current without a 
signal and even he does not make a mistake beyond the desire interrogator does to 
him. 
Without any warning except a slight movement of O‘Brien‘s hand, a wave 
of pain flooded his body. It was a frightening pain, because he could not see 

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65 
what was happening, and he had felt that some mortal injury was being done 
to him. He had not known whether the thing was really happening, or 
whether the effect was electrically produced, but his body was being 
wrenched out of shape, the joints were being slowly torn apart (Orwell, 
1961:244-245). 
At certain moments, Winston feels tired, screamed in pain and even cries 
when beaten by guards, but there are times when the guards spoke in a gentle tone 
to him even calling him a comrade. 
Most of the time they screamed abuse at him and threatened at every 
hesitation on delivering him over to the guards again; but sometimes they 
would suddenly change their tune, call him comrade, appeal to him in the 
name of Ingsoc and Big Brother, and ask him sorrowfully whether even now 
he had not enough loyalty to the Party left to make him wish to undo the 
evil he had done. When his nerves were in rags after hours of questioning, 
even this appeal could reduce him to snivelling tears (Orwell, 1961:242). 
But after that, in the end he will still be treated harshly. 
In the end the nagging voices broke him down more completely than the 
boots and fists of the guards. He became simply a mouth that uttered, a hand 
that signed whatever was demanded of him (Orwell, 1961:242). 
After experiencing how long the endless torture, amidst the pain of Winston 
consciously or not confessing his crime, saying all the things about himself in the 
form of names, occupations, offences committed, and other things that occurred in 
his thinking then. 
His sole concern was to find out what they wanted him to confess, and then 
confess it quickly, before the bullying started anew. He confessed to the 
assassination of eminent Party members, the distribution of seditious 
pamphlets, embezzlement of public funds, sale of military secrets, sabotage 

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66 
of every kind. He confessed that he had been a spy in the pay of the 
Eastasian government as far back as 1968. He confessed that he was a 
religious believer, an admirer of capitalism, and a sexual pervert. He 
confessed that he had murdered his wife, although he knew, and his 
questioners must have known, that his wife was still alive. He confessed that 
for years he had been in personal touch with Goldstein and had been a 
member of an underground organization which had included almost every 
human being he had ever known (Orwell, 1961:242). 
Until the time comes he acknowledges everything, all the abuses he does. 
Announce the crime that the interrogator already knows. 
He was confessing everything, even the things he had succeeded in holding 
back under the torture. He was relating the entire history of his life to an 
audience who knew it already (Orwell, 1961:243). 
During the Winston interrogation period, he does not really recognize who 
the figure who interrogator because of the condition of the room, where the lights 
highlight on Winston's face. But in the midst of his awareness he fells recognize 
the voice of his interrogation. 
All through his interrogation, although he had never seen him, he had had 
the feeling that O‘Brien at his elbow, just out of sight. It was O‘Brien who is 
directing everything. It was he who set the guards on to Winston and who 
prevented them from killing him (Orwell, 1961:243). 
Winston's allegation against the figure of the interrogator is actually 
O'Brien. It turns out O'Brien, whom he believes to be the one who is bringing the