was only
the odious scarlet sash, aggressive symbol of chastity.
The Hate rose to its climax. The voice of Goldstein had become an
actual sheep's bleat, and for an instant the face changed into that of a
sheep. Then the sheep-face melted into the figure of a Eurasian soldier who
seemed to be advancing, huge and terrible, his sub-machine gun roaring, and
seeming to spring out of the surface of the screen, so that some of the
people in the front row actually flinched backwards in their seats. But in
the same moment, drawing a deep sigh of relief from everybody, the hostile
figure melted into the face of Big Brother, black-haired, black-
moustachio'd, full of power and mysterious calm, and so vast that it almost
filled up the screen. Nobody heard what Big Brother was saying. It was
merely a few words of encouragement, the sort of words that are uttered in
the din of battle, not distinguishable individually but restoring
confidence by the fact of being spoken. Then the face of Big Brother faded
away again, and instead the three slogans of the Party stood out in bold
capitals:

WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

But the face of Big Brother seemed to persist for several seconds on
the screen, as though the impact that it had made on everyone's eyeballs
was too vivid to wear off immediately. The little sandy-haired woman had
flung herself forward over the back of the chair in front of her. With a
tremulous murmur that sounded like 'My Saviour!' she extended her arms
towards the screen. Then she buried her face in her hands. It was apparent
that she was uttering a prayer.
At this moment the entire group of people broke into a deep, slow,
rhythmical chant of 'B-B!....B-B!....' -- over and over again, very slowly,
with a long pause between the first 'B' and the second-a heavy, murmurous