Ink Brush, 40.9 x 30.7 inches. Private collection

Winston Smith is spied on by the party soldier and undercover “thought policeman" O' Brien and finally arrested together with Winston's girlfriend Julia. He had previously trusted O' Brien, who now proves to be an ideologue as intelligent as he is cynical. As part of a lasting ordeal, Winston's deep-rooted fears and traumas are used to break down his resistance. Even his love for Julia, who together with him undertook the small, personal revolt against the overpowering state apparatus, falls victim to torture as his tormentor O' Brien urges him to betray her. 

Orwell probably didn't write "1984" so that another high-tech dystopia would entertain us and send pleasant shivers down our spines. Rather, "1984" shows the nature and mechanism of a technocratically sophisticated surveillance apparatus and what makes us susceptible to submitting to it. Orwell makes it abundantly clear what should make us prick our ears and take action before it becomes very difficult to resist an already established surveillance machinery.