Avilan
December 26th 07, 12:23 AM
will defeat us?'
'I don't know. The spirit of Man.'
'And do you consider yourself a man?.'
'Yes.'
'If you are a man, Winston, you are the last man. Your kind is
extinct; we are the inheritors. Do you understand that you are alone? You
are outside history, you are non-existent.' His manner changed and he said
more harshly: 'And you consider yourself morally superior to us, with our
lies and our cruelty?'
'Yes, I consider myself superior.'
O'Brien did not speak. Two other voices were speaking. After a moment
Winston recognized one of them as his own. It was a sound-track of the
conversation he had had with O'Brien, on the night when he had enrolled
himself in the Brotherhood. He heard himself promising to lie, to steal, to
forge, to murder, to encourage drug-taking and prostitution, to disseminate
venereal diseases, to throw vitriol in a child's face. O'Brien made a small
impatient gesture, as though to say that the demonstration was hardly worth
making. Then he turned a switch and the voices stopped.
'Get up from that bed,' he said.
The bonds had loosened themselves. Winston lowered himself to the
floor and stood up unsteadily.
'You are the last man,' said O'Brien. 'You are the guardian of the
human spirit. You shall see yourself as you are. Take off your clothes.'
Winston undid the bit of string that hel
'I don't know. The spirit of Man.'
'And do you consider yourself a man?.'
'Yes.'
'If you are a man, Winston, you are the last man. Your kind is
extinct; we are the inheritors. Do you understand that you are alone? You
are outside history, you are non-existent.' His manner changed and he said
more harshly: 'And you consider yourself morally superior to us, with our
lies and our cruelty?'
'Yes, I consider myself superior.'
O'Brien did not speak. Two other voices were speaking. After a moment
Winston recognized one of them as his own. It was a sound-track of the
conversation he had had with O'Brien, on the night when he had enrolled
himself in the Brotherhood. He heard himself promising to lie, to steal, to
forge, to murder, to encourage drug-taking and prostitution, to disseminate
venereal diseases, to throw vitriol in a child's face. O'Brien made a small
impatient gesture, as though to say that the demonstration was hardly worth
making. Then he turned a switch and the voices stopped.
'Get up from that bed,' he said.
The bonds had loosened themselves. Winston lowered himself to the
floor and stood up unsteadily.
'You are the last man,' said O'Brien. 'You are the guardian of the
human spirit. You shall see yourself as you are. Take off your clothes.'
Winston undid the bit of string that hel