As long as men can think, they are free. I believe that that is the hidden message behind this book. You can take away everything, say everything is illegal, make everything in the world hate and pain, take away all hope of a brighter tomorrow, do everything in your power, but as long as man has a mind of his own, nothing can sever the freedom that comes with it. One of the greatest powers that the mind posses is memory. It is something that is reachable only by the one person who's mind it resides in. No one can even touch it, except that one person. Memory can keep us strong through the worst of times. The thought of a happy moment from the past, or knowing, by the look they had in thier eye, that someone loves you can be one of the most powerful shields. With that one memory to keep you holding on to what you believe in, you can withstand anything. In Braveheart, even as William Wallace was being torchered, he kept remembering what he was fighting for, what he believed in and that love he had for his wife. In those last seconds before he was exicuted, he didn't think of death, but of his wife. He believed so hard that he saw her walking through the crowd to him. It kept him strong, even when in the face of death. This was why the party and Big Brother was trying to eliminate all feeling, emotion, and memory. They wanted to distroy it for the strangth it brings. Since the only one who can touch those thoughts, feelings, and memories is the individual, the party tries to corrupt them. They eventually force them to make themselfs believe what they want them to believe. They make the person distroy there own memories and poison thier own thoughts. It is the only way to tough that part of the human and mold them to your will. Once all individual thoughts, emotions, and feelings are distroyed, there is nothing that can protest you. We are in control of our own destiny, and it is our own thoughts that do that. To corrupt the mind is to corrupt destiny.