Room 101

This page is about the room in Nineteen Eighty-Four; for information about the TV and radio series of the same name, see Room 101 (TV series) and Room 101 (Radio series) respectively.

Room 101 is a place introduced in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell.

"You asked me once, what was in Room 101. I told you that you knew the answer already. Everyone knows it. The thing that is in Room 101 is the worst thing in the world." said O'Brien

Room 101 is a torture chamber in the Ministry of Love in which a prisoner is subjected to his or her own worst nightmare. Such is the omniscience of the state in the society of Nineteen Eighty-Four that even a citizen's nightmares are known to the authorities. The nightmare — and therefore the threatened punishment — of the protagonist Winston Smith is to be attacked by rats. Smith saves himself by begging the authorities to let his lover, Julia, have her face gnawed out by the ferocious rodents instead. The torture – and what Winston does to escape it – breaks his last promise to himself and to Julia; never to betray her emotionally. The book suggests that Julia is likewise subjected to her own worst fear, when she and Winston later meet up in a park, he notices the scars on her cheeks. The original intent of threatening Winston with the rats was not necessarily to go through with the act, but to force him into betraying the only person he loved and therefore break his spirit.

Cultural impact

The novel's popularity has resulted in the term "Room 101" being referenced in many fictional works and use as a term to refer to a place where unpleasant things are kept. The TV show Room 101 interviews celebrities and asks them to list their pet hates, which are then condemned to the room at the discretion of the host.

References in popular culture include a locked room in the computer game Half Life 2 and multiple areas of this name in The Matrix. In the 2005 series of Big Brother (UK), a housemate was required to enter a Room 101 to complete tedious and unpleasant tasks, including sorting different colours of maggots. 101 is also the number of Bill's apartment in the final scene of the film Kill Bill: Vol. 2.

According to 2007 BBC drama 'Consenting Adults' (writer Julian Mitchell) about the 1957 Wolfenden Report (which paved the way for the subsequent decriminalisation of homosexuality in England 10 years later), the committee met in a Room 101 (at the Home Office, perhaps?) — a fact remarked upon by one of the film's characters.