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Rereading Nineteen EightyFour – Part II Chap 9 (22)

In the last few paragraphs of Chapter 9, Goldstein gives the parameters of a ‘Party Member’  who:

“…lives from birth to death under the eye of the Thought Police… can never be sure that he is alone. .. his friendships, his relaxations, behaviour towards his wife and children, the expression of his face when he is alone, the words he mutters in sleep, even the characteristic movements of his body, are all jealously scrutinized.”

This, of course, creates paranoia and an internal ‘police’.

” On the other hand his actions are not regulated by law or…any clearly formulated code of behaviour. In Oceania there is no law. Thoughts and actions which, when detected, mean certain death are not formally forbidden, and the endless purges, arrests, tortures, imprisonments, and vaporizations are not inflicted as punishment for crimes which have actually been committed, but are merely the wiping-out of persons who might perhaps commit a crime at some time in the future.”

This chapter ends;  “Many of the beliefs and attitudes demanded of him are neve….”

It ends mid-word.

Just like that.

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Written by jaylar

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