well what is the matter with you. You
have known it for years, though you have fought against the knowledge. You
are mentally deranged. You suffer from a defective memory. You are unable
to remember real events and you persuade yourself that you remember other
events which never happened. Fortunately it is curable. You have never
cured yourself of it, because you did not choose to. There was a small
effort of the will that you were not ready to make. Even now, I am well
aware, you are clinging to your disease under the impression that it is a
virtue. Now we will take an example. At this moment, which power is Oceania
at war with?'
'When I was arrested, Oceania was at war with Eastasia.'
'With Eastasia. Good. And Oceania has always been at war with
Eastasia, has it not?'
Winston drew in his breath. He opened his mouth to speak and then did
not speak. He could not take his eyes away from the dial.
'The truth, please, Winston. Your truth. Tell me what you think you
remember.'
'I remember that until only a week before I was arrested, we were not
at war with Eastasia at all. We were in alliance with them. The war was
against Eurasia. That had lasted for four years. Before that--'
O'Brien stopped him with a movement of the hand.
'Another example,' he said. 'Some years ago you had a very serious
delusion indeed. You believed that three men, three one-time Party members
named Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford men who were executed for treachery
and sabotage after making the fullest possible confession -- were not
guilty of the crimes they were charged with. You believed that you had seen
unmistakable documentary evidence proving that their confessions were
false. There was a certain photograph about which you had a hallucination.
You believed that you had actually held it in your hands. It was a
photograph something like this.'
An oblong slip