Venusian

I just finished 1984. I thought it was a pretty good book but the ending confused me. Did he get released and realized he loved Big Brother, or was he dreaming the last few pages and he was always in prison?

Venusian

okay, so has noone read this book?

Linoge

Haven't read this in years, but if I remember correctly, I had the impression he realized he could never make a difference and gave in to Big Brother.

Jepthah

At the end, Winston's will has been totally broken by O'Brien and the Ministry of Love.

And as O'Brien says, now that he loves Big Brother, he can then be killed. It happens at the very end. It's arguably the darkest and most depressing end to a book I've ever read.

renaldow

He was basically broken by the system. It was of course not going to be a story about one man's triumph over Big Brother, or anything like that, the ending basically showed the futility or 'now way out,' if you will, of it all.

darkside

The dark ending is why this book is one of my favorites. Orwell refuses to give you the ending you want, but instead makes you face the reality of the situation. When Winston is faced with the rat cage he chooses saving himself over love. At that point Big Brother has won. She also makes the same choice as you can tell when he meets her at the end of the story. Big Brother broke them both and they just gave up to the futility of the system. Orwell ends the book this way IMO to show us all the dangers of this type of government. Its a warning to all to never let the government have this kind of power over us.

1984 is one of the best books ever written.