jaylar
Winston sat at ‘his’ table at the Chestnut Tree Bar, with the Chessboard before him. He took up the white knight and moved it, but was thinking of the current ‘war’ raging in Africa.
In his mind, he could see the enemy then, Oceania’s troops assembled, cutting the enemy’s communications by land and sea.
Winston felt that by willing it he was making it happen.
Considering the battle Winston envisioned the enemy could get control of the whole of Africa, if they had airfields and submarine bases at the Cape, it would cut Oceania in two.
It might mean anything: defeat, breakdown, the re-division of the world, the destruction of the Party!
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What stands out in this chapter is Winston’s interest in political events. Previously, he knew it was rubbish. He knew, instinctively, that all of the battles and losses and victories were simply lies, inventions, something to rally the population. Something to take their minds off their horrible lives. Aware of this, Winston never wasted a brain cell thinking about the so-called ‘war’.
Now, after the torture he is immersed in what he had known was delusion.
