Orwell, George — Nineteen eighty-four [248]

Was it possible that they could swallow that, after only twenty-four hours? Yes, they swallowed it. Parsons swallowed it easily, with the stupidity of an animal. The eyeless creature at the other table swallowed it fanatically, passionately, with a furious desire to track down, denounce and vaporize anyone who should suggest that last week the ration had been thirty grammes. Syme, too — in some more complex way, involving doublethink — Syme swallowed it. Was he, then, alone in the possession of a memory? — Orwell, George, Nineteen eighty-four, 248

Note

The escalating ‘swallowed it’ refrain — animal stupidity, fanatical passion, ‘in some more complex way, involving doublethink’ — maps a spectrum of belief in the face of a 24-hour contradiction. The final question, ‘alone in the possession of a memory,’ isolates the reader’s proxy as the only keeper of time.