1984 - Planet eBook

could walk three kilometres, measured by pacing the cell,and his bowed shoulders were growing straighter. He attemptedmore elaborate exercises, and was astonished andhumiliated to find what things he could not do. He couldnot move out of a walk, he could not hold his stool out atarm’s length, he could not stand on one leg without fallingover. He squatted down on his heels, and found that withagonizing pains in thigh and calf he could just lift himselfto a standing position. He lay flat on his belly and tried tolift his weight by his hands. It was hopeless, he could notraise himself a centimetre. But after a few more days—a fewmore mealtimes—even that feat was accomplished. A timecame when he could do it six times running. He began togrow actually proud of his body, and to cherish an intermittentbelief that his face also was growing back to normal.Only when he chanced to put his hand on his bald scalp didhe remember the seamed, ruined face that had looked backat him out of the mirror.His mind grew more active. He sat down on the plankbed, his back against the wall and the slate on his knees,and set to work deliberately at the task of re-educating himself.He had capitulated, that was agreed. In reality, as he sawnow, he had been ready to capitulate long before he hadtaken the decision. From the moment when he was insidethe Ministry of Love—and yes, even during those minuteswhen he and Julia had stood helpless while the iron voicefrom the telescreen told them what to do—he had graspedthe frivolity, the shallowness of his attempt to set himself