1984 - Planet eBook

They had given him a white slate with a stump of penciltied to the corner. At first he made no use of it. Even whenhe was awake he was completely torpid. Often he would liefrom one meal to the next almost without stirring, sometimesasleep, sometimes waking into vague reveries in whichit was too much trouble to open his eyes. He had long grownused to sleeping with a strong light on his face. It seemedto make no difference, except that one’s dreams were morecoherent. He dreamed a great deal all through this time,and they were always happy dreams. He was in the GoldenCountry, or he was sitting among enormous glorious, sunlitruins, with his mother, with Julia, with O’Brien—not doinganything, merely sitting in the sun, talking of peacefulthings. Such thoughts as he had when he was awake weremostly about his dreams. He seemed to have lost the powerof intellectual effort, now that the stimulus of pain had beenremoved. He was not bored, he had no desire for conversationor distraction. Merely to be alone, not to be beaten orquestioned, to have enough to eat, and to be clean all over,was completely satisfying.By degrees he came to spend less time in sleep, but he stillfelt no impulse to get off the bed. All he cared for was to liequiet and feel the strength gathering in his body. He wouldfinger himself here and there, trying to make sure that itwas not an illusion that his muscles were growing rounderand his skin tauter. Finally it was established beyond adoubt that he was growing fatter; his thighs were now definitelythicker than his knees. After that, reluctantly at first,he began exercising himself regularly. In a little while he