I shudder every time I think of that part of the book.
I’m thinking that somebody could do a “Life of Winston” to augment Big Brother Barry’s “Life of Julia.” Could be equally instructive.
In "1984" we see what human nature is, and we see why the founding fathers (who could have never foreseen that work) worked towards the end they did, because even though they couldn't see the end of that road, they knew it went somewhere black.
When I read "1984", I invariably think of this passage from Churchill's speech:
Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.
From "1984": "...There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always — do not forget this, Winston — always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever."
Liberals cannot believe that humans, even without so called "root causes" to justify behavior, have this in them. They still believe there are ways to stamp out these characteristics of human nature.
Conservatives, and the founding fathers, understood that evil just exists, and we need to account for it. It is why the Constitution was constructed the way it is.