Chris' thoughts on 1984, Part 1

I have several thought on 1984, and I am going to post them severally, so that people can make specific thoughts about specific items. But I will warn you ahead of time, my thoughts start out at the conclusion of the book and are tied to the final paragraph, so if you have not finished the book, please come back and review at least this first post later.

Okay, having said that, I pose the question: Did they kill Winston at the end of the book? The wording is very vague, but does suggest that he was shot. During the interrogation O’Brien told Winston that eventually he would be killed, and Winston himself even mused about the fact that one day when he didn’t expect it he would be shot in the back of the head. The last paragraph says, “…the struggle was finished.” And the next to last paragraph says “He was walking down the white-tiled corridor [in the Ministry of Love]…an armed guard at his back…The long hoped-for bullet was entering his brain.” Was he only reliving the events of the inquisition, or was the bullet real?
And if the bullet was real, what does that say about his ‘rehabilitation’ and about the Party itself? I understand that O’Brien didn’t want to kill him until he believed in the party and Big Brother, because by doing so he was martyred. Or could it be that the whole set of events that came after his release had been a dream? His meeting with Julia, the time spent in the Chestnut, his new job, did any of it really happen? Or did it all take place in his mind in the Ministry, ending with that long awaited bullet?
I realize that I am posting more questions than I am answering, but it is a hard ending to decipher. Orwell’s purposely vague wording makes interpretation difficult. I could have Googled someone else’s thoughts on the matter before posting, but decided not to. If you want me to give my opinion to the questions posted, here they are:

I don’t think that Winston was killed at the end of the book. O’Brien explained to him that once the conversion was complete that Winston would not be capable of feeling anymore. And if that is the case then there is no reason to kill him. But it doesn’t answer the question as to why all thought criminals Winston dwells on are killed and Winston is spared. I don’t have an explanation for that.

In regard to his rehabilitation and the Party, I don’t think that the Party successfully reached its goals. The Party may have broken him and rendered him useless for rebellion, but his conversion was not real. His change of thinking came not from a real change of heart, but from a fear for himself and those he loved. If a man is to truly convert he must convert because he wants to, not because he is forced, by whatever means.