1984 - Planet eBook

of the range of his vision. O’Brien was a being in all wayslarger than himself. There was no idea that he had ever had,or could have, that O’Brien had not long ago known, examined,and rejected. His mind CONTAINED Winston’smind. But in that case how could it be true that O’Brien wasmad? It must be he, Winston, who was mad. O’Brien haltedand looked down at him. His voice had grown stern again.‘Do not imagine that you will save yourself, Winston,however completely you surrender to us. No one who hasonce gone astray is ever spared. And even if we chose to letyou live out the natural term of your life, still you wouldnever escape from us. What happens to you here is for ever.Understand that in advance. We shall crush you down tothe point from which there is no coming back. Things willhappen to you from which you could not recover, if youlived a thousand years. Never again will you be capable ofordinary human feeling. Everything will be dead insideyou. Never again will you be capable of love, or friendship,or joy of living, or laughter, or curiosity, or courage, or integrity.You will be hollow. We shall squeeze you empty, andthen we shall fill you with ourselves.’He paused and signed to the man in the white coat.Winston was aware of some heavy piece of apparatus beingpushed into place behind his head. O’Brien had sat downbeside the bed, so that his face was almost on a level withWinston’s.‘Three thousand,’ he said, speaking over Winston’s headto the man in the white coat.Two soft pads, which felt slightly moist, clamped them-