Rats Winston learns the meaning of Room 101 when O Brien tortures him with rats. Room 101 represents a person s worst fear and Winston s worst fear is rats. So on one level rats represent fear. On another level, however, rats represent depravity. Throughout history, humans have associated rats with squalor and pestilence.
Rats carry disease and thrive on human garbage.
Winston s universe is filled with humans who act like and are treated like beasts. In essence, Winston and his fellow citizens become rats, trapped in Big Brother s cage. If people allow forces such as those represented by Big Brother to rule, then they will become no better than mindless, multiplying rats. Winston hears propaganda music created by the Party and sung by a Prole and finds it oddly beautiful. He also hears a bird singing in a meadow and finds himself awake and hopeful for the first time.