1984 - the Chestnut Tree Café

[kev67]

What is the purpose of letting reformed thought-criminals be seen in the Chestnut Tree Café? In Vol 1 Ch 7, Winston remembers watching Jones, Aaronson and Rutherford, former leaders of the revolution, sitting at a table. They were sitting in silence, drinking gin with a chessboard beside them. Later on, Winston says, they were re-arrested and executed. This does not sound good for Winston. Presumably they will want his table before too long. He doesn't seem to serve any other purpose than to be observed there. It seems as though relatively few thought-criminals are given a table at Chestnut Tree. Neither Julia, Symes nor Parsons ended up there. Jones, Aaronson and Rutherford were high profile thought-criminals. Is Winston notorious criminal by the end of the book?

[Volya]

In Oceania I don't think there is such a thing as a high-profile criminal...

[kev67]

The party has spent an enormous amount of time and effort in reforming Winston, when they could more easily have just shot him. O'Brien insists that it is not enough for the party to execute its enemies: they must cure them before executing them. But surely it is plain to observers that Winston is not so much cured as broken. Was it actually worth the party's time and effort? A lot things the Party did seemed to be out of pure cynicism.

And why are they plying him with so much gin? Does the party intend him to drink himself to death? Do they want him to be constantly befuddled in a drunken haze? That might suggest the Party does not have confidence that Winston's re-programming will work forever. Or is it part of the impression they want him to portray, that he is a broken man.

I think one of the earlier chapters said that the Chestnut Tree Café was an ill-omened place. One of the reasons Winston thinks his colleague, Symes, will not last long is that he frequents the café too often. Is the Chestnut Tree Café a place that thought-criminals gravitate to?