How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #21
"If you are a man, Winston, you are the last man. Your kind is extinct; we are the inheritors. Do you understand that you are alone? You are outside history, you are non-existent." His manner changed and he said more harshly: "And you consider yourself morally superior to us, with our lies and our cruelty?" "Yes, I consider myself superior." (3.3.58-59, O’Brien and Winston)
Winston’s belief in his moral superiority to the Party’s lies and cruelty is indispensable to his rebellious spirit.
Quote #22
He obeyed the Party, but he still hated the Party. In the old days he had hidden a heretical mind beneath an appearance of conformity. Now he had retreated a step further: in the mind he had surrendered, but he had hoped to keep the inner heart inviolate. He knew that he was in the wrong, but he preferred to be in the wrong. (3.4.24)
After months of torture, Winston outwardly obeys the Party, but inwardly does not resign his rebellious spirit.
Quote #23
But the proles, if only they could somehow become conscious of their own strength, would have no need to conspire. (1.7.2)
Winston believes that any hope in overthrowing the Party lies in the proles – if only they were smart enough.
Quote #24
Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious. (1.7.4)
Having reached a metaphysical paradox, Winston concludes that which he does not wish to believe: the Proles will never gain the consciousness required for them to effectively rebel.
Thought 2: For the proles, consciousness is as necessary for rebellion as the latter is for consciousness. Unfortunately, that paradox is the proles’ futile plight.
Quote #25
The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labor […]. The social atmosphere is that of a besieged city, where the possession of a lump of horseflesh makes the difference between wealth and poverty. And at the same time the consciousness of being at war, and therefore in danger, makes the handing-over of all power to a small caste seem the natural, unavoidable condition of survival. (2.9.28, Goldstein’s Manifesto)
War is a necessary tool for the Party because it keeps the people peaceful, such that rebellion is far from their minds.
Quote #26
The cage was nearer; it was closing in. Winston heard a succession of shrill cries which appeared to be occurring in the air above his head. But he fought furiously against his panic. To think, to think, even with a split second left – to think was the only hope. Suddenly the foul musty odor of the brutes struck his nostrils. There was a violent convulsion of nausea inside him, and he almost lost consciousness. Everything had gone black. For an instant he was insane, a screaming animal. Yet he came out of the blackness clutching an idea. There was one and only one way to save himself. He must interpose another human being, the body of another human being, between himself and the rats. (3.5.21)
The Party does not merely employ physical torture on the captured rebels and criminals, but psychological torture as well. The Party capitalizes on fear very proficiently, and Winston finally breaks under the weight of psychological fear. Rebellion is not a match for psychological torture and fear.
Quote #27
"Can you think of a single degradation that has not happened to you?"
Winston had stopped weeping, though the tears were still oozing out of his eyes. He looked up at O'Brien.
"I have not betrayed Julia," he said […].
He had not stopped loving her; his feeling toward her had remained the same (3.3.77-81, O’Brien to Winston)
Despite prolonged torture, Winston’s final act of rebellion is to hold onto his private loyalty to Julia; he refuses to betray her.