Winston now experiences a seemingly endless spell of torture; he is beaten repeatedly, interrogated, and forced to confess. The aim of the Party is to break his will. Many Party officials berate and slap him. They torture him psychologically and physically. Winston now realizes that when O’Brien had said he would meet Winston at “the place where there is no darkness,” he (O’Brien) had actually meant the prison cells. Winston is then strapped to a device capable of inflicting increasing levels of pain.

O’Brien tells Winston that his aim is to cure him of his thoughts. He sheds light on the problems with Winston’s conception of truth, as the Party sees it. Winston, O’Brien maintains, holds on to an individual conception of truth, rather than trusting the Party. However, the only truth for the Party members, a truth that ought to be accepted by the subjects as well, is the Party’s version. If, according to the Party, two plus two equals five, then two plus two simply has to equal five. “It is intolerable to us,” O’Brien says, “that an erroneous thought should exist anywhere in the world, however secret and powerless it may be. Even in the instant of death we cannot permit any deviation.” Notably, O’Brien’s aim is to first cure him, convert him, and only then consider killing him. That is, he is to kill Winston if he can’t be converted.

Finally, O’Brien raises the pain levels on the machine to an intolerable degree. He holds up four fingers and asks Winston how many fingers he is holding up. Winstons says he can see five. At this moment, the reader realizes that Winston’s spirit is finally broken. Winston is now allowed to ask questions to the Party. He finds out that Julia has also been tortured. He asks O’Brien whether the Brotherhood actually exists, and O’Brien refuses to answer that question in any definitive manner.