1984 - Planet eBook

a question of losing Central Africa: for the first time in thewhole war, the territory of Oceania itself was menaced.A violent emotion, not fear exactly but a sort of undifferentiatedexcitement, flared up in him, then faded again.He stopped thinking about the war. In these days he couldnever fix his mind on any one subject for more than a fewmoments at a time. He picked up his glass and drained itat a gulp. As always, the gin made him shudder and evenretch slightly. The stuff was horrible. The cloves and saccharine,themselves disgusting enough in their sickly way,could not disguise the flat oily smell; and what was worstof all was that the smell of gin, which dwelt with him nightand day, was inextricably mixed up in his mind with thesmell of those——He never named them, even in his thoughts, and sofar as it was possible he never visualized them. They weresomething that he was half-aware of, hovering close to hisface, a smell that clung to his nostrils. As the gin rose inhim he belched through purple lips. He had grown fattersince they released him, and had regained his old colour—indeed, more than regained it. His features had thickened,the skin on nose and cheekbones was coarsely red, eventhe bald scalp was too deep a pink. A waiter, again unbidden,brought the chessboard and the current issue of ‘TheTimes’, with the page turned down at the chess problem.Then, seeing that Winston’s glass was empty, he brought thegin bottle and filled it. There was no need to give orders.They knew his habits. The chessboard was always waitingfor him, his corner table was always reserved; even when