1984 - Planet eBook

weep half a dozen times in a single session. Most of the timethey screamed abuse at him and threatened at every hesitationto deliver him over to the guards again; but sometimesthey would suddenly change their tune, call him comrade,appeal to him in the name of Ingsoc and Big Brother, andask him sorrowfully whether even now he had not enoughloyalty to the Party left to make him wish to undo the evilhe had done. When his nerves were in rags after hours ofquestioning, even this appeal could reduce him to snivellingtears. In the end the nagging voices broke him downmore completely than the boots and fists of the guards. Hebecame simply a mouth that uttered, a hand that signed,whatever was demanded of him. His sole concern was tofind out what they wanted him to confess, and then confessit quickly, before the bullying started anew. He confessedto the assassination of eminent Party members, the distributionof seditious pamphlets, embezzlement of publicfunds, sale of military secrets, sabotage of every kind. Heconfessed that he had been a spy in the pay of the Eastasiangovernment as far back as 1968. He confessed that hewas a religious believer, an admirer of capitalism, and a sexualpervert. He confessed that he had murdered his wife,although he knew, and his questioners must have known,that his wife was still alive. He confessed that for years hehad been in personal touch with Goldstein and had beena member of an underground organization which had includedalmost every human being he had ever known. Itwas easier to confess everything and implicate everybody.Besides, in a sense it was all true. It was true that he had