room 101 - an homage to 1984

By: Collin Wang

In George Orwell’s 1984, main character Winston Smith is arrested for rebelling against the authoritarian government and is taken to the Ministry of Love, where he is tortured into submission. In Room 101, prisoners are confronted with their deepest fear; for Winston, that fear is rats.

the cage rolls in

a christening present

for a sacrilegious traitor.

steel mesh sings

as it swings toward him.

Big Brother speaks of epanorthosis,

being restored to an upright position, like

Father trying to administer pills

that a child cannot swallow.

the mask feels like

Mother tucking a scarf

into the folds of her son’s body

before the cold

drains into his flesh.

learning, tracing,

the contour of his skin

scratching, scratching,

the tongue's desire.

he counts backwards

from an unchosen number

to recall the earlier shape of his mouth.

the room stills, holds its breath

the walls tilt and listen for

what he is willing to trade for

another hour in his flesh.

a name rises in the back of his throat,

as smoke does from the jaws of a chimney,

the forgotten memory of fire.

he does not think of her visage

nor the sweet valley of her collar bones

into which for so many weary weeks

his head had rested.

he thinks of teeth-only of teeth,

how close they might be.

do it to her instead.

one sentence, and the squeaks are hushed

as if they, too, understand

the timbre of a man rendered inhuman.

years later, at the chestnut table

the gin has unhinged his throat,

drawn from his glass, only to realize

he cannot remember her fear; only his own

wearing her face.

Glossary

Epanorthosis - epanorthosis is a figure of speech that signifies emphatic word replacement. "correcting, revision" "restore, rebuild"

9.13.2026