1984 Section Three, Part II Summary (pp. 239-260)
by George Orwell

Winston awakes strapped to a bed in a room with O'Brien and a medical attendant, and he recalls the events after being struck on the elbow. He was beaten repeatedly by men in black uniforms and forced to confess to a list of crimes he didn't commit. The beatings subsided for the most part and the black-uniformed interrogators were replaced by Party intellectuals, who tortured him psychologically, and through this process Winston came to identify O'Brien not only as the source of his suffering, but also his only salvation.

After remembering those events, Winston is tortured directly by O'Brien, who tries to convince him he is deranged. Using a pain-inducing device, O'Brien forces Winston to use "doublethink" to cure himself of his mental problems and to believe only what the Party says is true. O'Brien tells Winston he will ultimately be "cured" of his insanity, he will be no martyr, and that he will " 'be lifted clean out of the stream of history' " (254).

After torturing Winston, O'Brien asks him if he has any questions, which leads the men into a discussion of the nature of reality. His last question is "What is in Room 101?", to which O'Brien answers, "Everyone knows what is in Room 101" (260).