这一章读下来给我印象最深的便是Winston十几年前的那种草木皆兵的状态,与他现在内心的蠢蠢欲动形成了鲜明对比。
Winston开始“付诸行动”——为O'Brien去写日记。这位O'Brien是被他想象出来的还是真实存在的,亦或已经消失?不然为什么Winston觉得这日记像是一封没人会读却又有特定接收对象的信。
It was like an interminable letter which no one would ever read, but which was addressed to a particular person and took its colour from that fact.
但不管怎样他鼓起勇气想要去捍卫那些真实的东西。
Truisms are true, hold on to that!
篡改历史、诬陷同志、洗脑灌输等党内行径,加之曾被他寄希望的群众的作为,都让Winston深刻地意识到:
Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.
我终于开始期待Winston的这本日记,他能否以此开始反击,还是很快将沦为牺牲品,现在还只有胡乱猜测。
此外,本章有两个有关群众的比喻也令我觉得震撼,因为不可思议。其一是对挣脱了羁绊却一盘散沙的群众神态的描述:
When he had reached the spot it was to see a mob of two or three hundred women crowding round the stalls of a street market, with faces as tragic as though they had been the doomed passengers on a sinking ship.
其二是对群众地位的对等形容:
Proles and animals are free.