jaylar
O’Brien; Winston’s torturer, states:
‘I am taking trouble with you, Winston,’ he said, ‘because you are worth trouble… You are mentally deranged. You suffer from a defective memory. You are unable to remember real events and you persuade yourself that you remember other events which never happened. “
Having absolute control of Winston, O’Brien tells him that his problem is curable but Winston is clinging to his ‘disease’. As an example, O’Brien asks; “At this moment, which power is Oceania at war with?”
‘When I was arrested, Oceania was at war with Eastasia.’
‘With Eastasia. Good. And Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia, has it not?’
Winston was about to speak, but was afraid. He looked at the dial of the machine O’Brien used to torture him.
‘The truth, please, Winston. Your truth. Tell me what you think you remember.’
In honestly, Winston replies:
‘I remember that until only a week before I was arrested, we were not at war with Eastasia at all. We were in alliance with them. The war was against Eurasia. That had lasted for four years. Before that –‘
O’Brien stopped him.
Such a masterpiece, I had to read 1984 and studied it. A classic novel.
I read it many years ago, and now again, slowly and savouring. It is prob. my favourite book of all time and the most enlightening.