Part three, Chapter 2 (4)

He also remembered Eurasia and Eastasia; but who was at war with whom he did not know. In fact he had not been aware that there was any war. De hecho, no se había dado cuenta de que había guerra.

‘I don't remember.'

‘Oceania is at war with Eastasia. Do you remember that now?' ‘Yes.'

‘Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia. Since the beginning of your life, since the beginning of the Party, since the beginning of history, the war has continued without a break, always the same war. Do you remember that?'

‘Yes.'

‘Eleven years ago you created a legend about three men who had been condemned to death for treachery. You pretended that you had seen a piece of paper which proved them innocent. No such piece of paper ever existed. You invented it, and later you grew to believe in it. You remember now the very moment at which you first invented it. Recuerda ahora el mismo momento en que lo inventó por primera vez. Зараз ви пам'ятаєте той самий момент, коли ви його винайшли. Do you remember that?'

‘Yes.'

‘Just now I held up the fingers of my hand to you. —Ahora te levanté los dedos de la mano. You saw five fingers. Do you remember that?'

‘Yes.'

O'Brien held up the fingers of his left hand, with the thumb concealed.

‘There are five fingers there. Do you see five fingers?' ‘Yes.'

And he did see them, for a fleeting instant, before the scenery of his mind changed. Y los vio, por un instante fugaz, antes de que el escenario de su mente cambiara. І він справді побачив їх на мить, перш ніж пейзаж його свідомості змінився. He saw five fingers, and there was no deformity. Vio cinco dedos y no había ninguna deformidad. Then everything was normal again, and the old fear, the hatred, and the bewilderment came crowding back again. But there had been a moment — he did not know how long, thirty seconds, perhaps — of luminous certainty, when each new suggestion of O'Brien's had filled up a patch of emptiness and become absolute truth, and when two and two could have been three as easily as five, if that were what was needed. Pero había habido un momento, no sabía cuánto tiempo, treinta segundos, tal vez, de certeza luminosa, en el que cada nueva sugerencia de O'Brien había llenado un trozo de vacío y se había convertido en la verdad absoluta, y cuando dos y dos podrían haberlo hecho. haber sido tres tan fácilmente como cinco, si eso era lo que se necesitaba. It had faded but before O'Brien had dropped his hand; but though he could not recapture it, he could remember it, as one remembers a vivid experience at some period of one's life when one was in effect a different person. Se había desvanecido, pero antes de que O'Brien soltara la mano; pero aunque no pudo recuperarlo, sí pudo recordarlo, como se recuerda una experiencia vívida en algún período de la vida cuando uno era en realidad una persona diferente. Воно зникло, але до того, як О'Браєн опустив руку; але хоча він не міг відновити це, він міг згадати це, як людина пам’ятає яскравий досвід у певний період свого життя, коли він фактично був іншою людиною.

‘You see now,' said O'Brien, ‘that it is at any rate possible.' ‘Yes,' said Winston.

O'Brien stood up with a satisfied air. О'Браєн підвівся із задоволеним виглядом. Over to his left Winston saw the man in the white coat break an ampoule and draw back the plunger of a syringe. A su izquierda, Winston vio al hombre de la bata blanca romper una ampolla y retirar el émbolo de una jeringa. O'Brien turned to Winston with a smile. In almost the old manner he resettled his spectacles on his nose. Casi de la manera antigua, volvió a colocarse las gafas en la nariz.

‘Do you remember writing in your diary,' he said, ‘that it did not matter whether I was a friend or an enemy, since I was at least a person who understood you and could be talked to? '¿Recuerdas haber escrito en tu diario', dijo, 'que no importaba si yo era un amigo o un enemigo, ya que al menos era una persona que te entendía y con quien se podía hablar? You were right. I enjoy talking to you. Your mind appeals to me. Tu mente me atrae. Твій розум приваблює мене. It resembles my own mind except that you happen to be insane. Se parece a mi propia mente, excepto que estás loco. Before we bring the session to an end you can ask me a few questions, if you choose.' Antes de que terminemos la sesión, si lo desea, puede hacerme algunas preguntas.

‘Any question I like?'

‘Anything.' He saw that Winston's eyes were upon the dial. ‘It is switched off. Está apagado. What is your first question?'

‘What have you done with Julia?' said Winston.

O'Brien smiled again. ‘She betrayed you, Winston. Immediately — unreservedly. I have seldom seen anyone come over to us so promptly. You would hardly recognize her if you saw her. Difícilmente la reconocerías si la vieras. All her rebelliousness, her deceit, her folly, her dirty- mindedness — everything has been burned out of her. Toda su rebeldía, su engaño, su locura, su mente sucia, todo le ha sido quemado. It was a perfect conversion, a textbook case.' Fue una conversión perfecta, un caso de libro de texto '.

‘You tortured her?'

O'Brien left this unanswered. ‘Next question,' he said. ‘Does Big Brother exist?' '¿Existe el Gran Hermano?'

‘Of course he exists. The Party exists. Big Brother is the embodiment of the Party.'

‘Does he exist in the same way as I exist?' ‘You do not exist,' said O'Brien.

Once again the sense of helplessness assailed him. He knew, or he could imagine, the arguments which proved his own nonexistence; but they were nonsense, they were only a play on words. Did not the statement, ‘You do not exist', contain a logical absurdity? ¿No contenía la afirmación «no existes» un absurdo lógico? But what use was it to say so? Pero, ¿de qué servía decirlo? His mind shrivelled as he thought of the unanswerable, mad arguments with which O'Brien would demolish him. Його розум зіщулився, коли він подумав про безпідставні, божевільні аргументи, якими О'Браєн знищить його.

‘I think I exist,' he said wearily. ‘I am conscious of my own identity. I was born and I shall die. Nací y moriré. I have arms and legs. I occupy a particular point in space. No other solid object can occupy the same point simultaneously. In that sense, does Big Brother exist?'

‘It is of no importance. «Це не має значення. He exists.' ‘Will Big Brother ever die?' ¿Morirá el Gran Hermano alguna vez?

‘Of course not. How could he die? Next question.' ‘Does the Brotherhood exist?'

‘That, Winston, you will never know. If we choose to set you free when we have finished with you, and if you live to be ninety years old, still you will never learn whether the answer to that question is Yes or No. Якщо ми вирішимо звільнити вас, коли покінчимо з вами, і якщо ви доживете до дев’яноста років, ви все одно ніколи не дізнаєтеся, чи буде відповідь на це питання так чи ні. As long as you live it will be an unsolved riddle in your mind.'

Winston lay silent. His breast rose and fell a little faster. Su pecho subía y bajaba un poco más rápido. He still had not asked the question that had come into his mind the first. Todavía no había hecho la pregunta que se le había ocurrido la primera vez. He had got to ask it, and yet it was as though his tongue would not utter it. Tenía que preguntarlo y, sin embargo, era como si su lengua no lo pronunciara. There was a trace of amusement in O'Brien's face. Había un rastro de diversión en el rostro de O'Brien. На обличчі О’Браєна з’явилася якась веселість. Even his spectacles seemed to wear an ironical gleam. Incluso sus gafas parecían tener un brillo irónico. He knows, thought Winston suddenly, he knows what I am going to ask! At the thought the words burst out of him: Al pensarlo, las palabras salieron de él:

‘What is in Room 101?'

The expression on O'Brien's face did not change. He answered drily:

‘You know what is in Room 101, Winston. —Sabes lo que hay en la habitación 101, Winston. Everyone knows what is in Room 101.'

He raised a finger to the man in the white coat. Evidently the session was at an end. A needle jerked into Winston's arm. Una aguja se clavó en el brazo de Winston. He sank almost instantly into deep sleep.