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| ] lives in a '''Room 101''' at the beginning of the ] movie '']'' |
] lives in a '''Room 101''' at the beginning of the ] movie '']''. | ||
Revision as of 03:41, 20 November 2003
In the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, Room 101 is a torture chamber in which a prisoner is subjected to his worst nightmare. Such is the omniscience of the state in the totalitarian society of 1984 that even a citizen's nightmares are known to the authorities. In the novel, the protagonist's nightmare and therefore his threatened punishment is to have his face gnawed by rats. Winston Smith, who is the protagonist, saves himself by begging the authoritites to let his girlfriend, Julia, (he is married but has not seen his wife in years) have her face gnawed out by the ferocious rodents.
Room 101 is supposedly named after a conference room at BBC Broadcasting House where Orwell used to sit through tedious meetings.
Room 101 is also the name of British TV series in which celebrities are invited to discuss their (often whimsical) pet hates with the host, and if he is sympathetic to the argument, will consign the item to Room 101, a repository of everything bad and hateful, in a reference to the Orwellian meaning of the term. The series is currently hosted by Paul Merton, but in its original version was hosted by Nick Hancock.
Thomas Anderson (aka Neo) lives in a Room 101 at the beginning of the 1999 movie The Matrix.