1984

For the moment it was too difficult to go on. He shut (закрыл) hiseyes and pressed his fingers against them, trying to squeeze(выдавить) out the vision that kept recurring (повторяющийся). He had an almost overwhelming(непреодолимый) temptation (искушение) to shout a string (ряд) of filthy (грязный) words at thetop (весь) of his voice. Or to bang (стукнуть) his head against the wall, to kickover (опрокинуть) the table, and hurl (швырнуть) the inkpot (чернильница) through the window – to do any violent or noisy or painful (шумный) thing that might black out (затемнить) the memory that was tormenting (мучивший) him.

Your worst (злейший) enemy, he reflected, was your own nervous system. At any moment the tension (напряжение) inside you was liable to translate (вылиться) itself into some visible (видимый) symptom. He thought of a man whom he had passed (прошел) in the street a few weeks back; a quite ordinary-looking man, a Party member, aged thirty-five to forty, tallish (высокий) and thin (худощавый), carrying a brief-case (портфель). They were a few metres apart (в стороне) when the left side of the man’s face was suddenly contorted by a sort of spasm (спазм). It happened again just as they were passing one another: it was only a twitch (подергивание), a quiver (дрожь), rapid (быстрый) as the clicking (щелчок) of a camera shutter (фотоаппарат), but obviously (явно) habitual (привычный). He remembered thinking at the time: That poor devil is done for. And what was frightening (пугащий) was that the action was quite possibly unconscious. The most deadly (смертельный) danger of all was talking in your sleep. There was no way (никакого способа) of guarding (защититься) against that, so far as he could see (насколько он мог видеть). 38

He drew (перевел) his breath (дыхание) and went on writing:

I went with her through the doorway and across a backyard (задний двор) into a basement (подвальный) kitchen. There was a bed against the wall, and a lamp on the table, turned down (повернутый) very low. She —

His teeth were set on edge. He would have liked to spit (плюнуть). Simultaneously (одновременно) with the woman in the basement kitchen he thought of Katharine, his wife. Winston was married – had been married, at any rate (во всяком случае): probably he still was married, so far as he knew his wife was not dead. He seemed to breathe (вдохнуть) again the warm stuffy (душный) odour (запах) of the basement kitchen, an odour (аромат) compounded (смешанный) of bugs (клопы) and dirty clothes and villainous (гнусный) cheap scent (запах), but nevertheless (тем не менее) alluring (манящий), because no woman of the Party ever used scent, or could be imagined as doing so. Only the proles used scent (запах). In his mind the smell (запах) of it was inextricably (неразрывно) mixed up with fornication (прелюбодеяние). 39

When he had gone with that woman it had been his first lapse (промах) in two years or thereabouts (около того). Consorting (общение) with prostitutes was forbidden (запрещен), of course, but it was one of those rules that you could occasionally (иногда) nerve (смелость, наглость) yourself to break (нарушить). It was dangerous, but it was not a life-and-death matter. To be caught (пойманный) with a prostitute might mean five years in a forcedlabour (исправительно-трудовой) camp: not more, if you had committed (совершил) no other offence (правонарушение). And it was easy enough, provided that you could avoid being caught in the act. The poorer (бедный) quarters (кварталы) swarmed (кишел) with women who were ready to sell themselves. Some could even be purchased (мог быть куплен) for a bottle of gin, which the proles were not supposed (не предполагается) to drink. Tacitly (негласно) the Party was even inclined (склонен) to encourage (поощрять) prostitution, as an outlet (выход) for instincts which could not be altogether (полностью) suppressed (подавить). Mere (простой) debauchery (разврат) did not matter very much, so long as (пока) it was furtive (тайный) and joyless and only involved (касался) the women of a submerged (низший) and despised (презираемый) class. The unforgivable (непростительный) crime was promiscuity (распущенность) between Party members. But though this was one of the crimes that the accused (обвиняемый) in the great purges (чистки) invariably confessed (признавался) to it was difficult to imagine any such thing actually happening. 40

The aim of the Party was not merely to prevent men and women from forming loyalties (лояльность) which it might not be able to control. Its real, undeclared purpose was to remove (лишить) all pleasure (удовольствие) from the sexual act. Not love so much (столько) as eroticism was the enemy, inside marriage as well as outside it. All marriages between Party members had (должен) to be approved (одобрен) by a committee appointed (назначенный) for the purpose, and though the principle was never clearly stated permission (разрешение) was always refused if the couple (пара) concerned (заинтересованный) gave (производил) the impression of being physically attracted (влечение) to one another (друг к другу). The only recognized purpose of marriage was to beget (зачать) children for the service of the Party. Sexual intercourse (половой акт) was to be looked on as a slightly (слегка) disgusting (отвратительный) minor (мелкий) operation, like having an enema (клизма). This again was never put (выражался) into plain (прямой) words, but in an indirect way it was rubbed (внушался) into every Party member from childhood onwards (вперед). There were even organizations such as the Junior Anti-Sex League, which advocated (выступавший) complete celibacy (безбрачие) for both sexes. All children were to be begotten (зачат) by artificial (искусственный) insemination (оплодотворение) (ARTSEM, it was called in Newspeak) and brought up (воспитываться) in public institutions. This, Winston was aware (понимал), was not meant (иметь ввиду) altogether (вообще) seriously, but somehow (каким-то образом) it fitted (соответствовал) in with the general ideology of the Party. The Party was trying to kill the sex instinct, or, if it could not be killed, then to distort (извратить) it and dirty (запачкать) it. He did not know why this was so, but it seemed natural that it should be so. And as far as the women were concerned (имел отношение), the Party’s efforts were largely successful.

He thought again of Katharine. It must be nine, ten nearly eleven years since they had parted (расстался). It was curious (любопытно) how seldom he thought of her. For days at a time he was capable of forgetting that he had ever been married. They had only been together for about fifteen months. The Party did not permit (разрешал) divorce (развод), but it rather encouraged (поощрял) separation in cases (случай) where there were no children.

Katharine was a tall (высокий), fair-haired (светловолосый) girl, very straight (прямой), with splendid (великолепный) movements. She had a bold (смелый), aquiline (орлиный) face, a face that one might have called noble (благородный) until one discovered that there was as nearly as possible nothing behind it (за ним почти ничего не скрывалось). Very early in her married life he had decided – though perhaps it was only that he knew her more intimately (близко) than he knew most people – that she had without exception (исключение) the most stupid, vulgar, empty mind that he had ever encountered (встречал). She had not a thought in her head that was not a slogan, and there was no imbecility (дурь), absolutely none that she was not capable of swallowing (глотание) if the Party handed (вручил) it out to her. «The human sound-track’ he nicknamed her in his own mind. Yet (все же) he could have endured (вынес) living with her if it had not been for just (только) one thing – sex.

As soon as (как только) he touched her she seemed to wince (вздрогнуть) and stiffen (напрячься). To embrace (обнять) her was like embracing a jointed (сочлененный) wooden (деревянный) image (статуя). And what was strange (странный) was that even when she was clasping (прижимал) him against her he had the feeling that she was simultaneously (одновременно) pushing (отталкивает) him away with all her strength (сила). The rigidlty (скованность) of her muscles managed to convey (передать) that impression. She would lie there with shut eyes, neither resisting (сопротивляясь) nor co-operating but SUBMITTING (ПОДЧИНЯЯСЬ). It was extraordinarily embarrassing, and, after a while, horrible. But even then he could have borne (рожденный?) living with her if it had been agreed that they should remain (оставаться, хранить) celibate (целомудрие). But curiously enough it was Katharine who refused this. They must, she said, produce a child if they could. So the performance continued to happen, once (раз) a week quite regularily, whenever it was not impossible. She even used to remind him of it in the morning, as something which had to be done that evening and which must not be forgotten. She had two names for it. One was «making a baby’, and the other was «our duty to the Party’ (yes, she had actually used that phrase). Quite soon he grew to have a feeling of positive dread (страх) when the appointed (назначенный) day came round (наступил). But luckily (к счастью) no child appeared, and in the end she agreed to give up trying (бросить попытки), and soon afterwards they parted (расстался).

Winston sighed (вздохнул) inaudibly (невнятно). He picked up (взял) his pen again and wrote:

She threw herself down on the bed, and at once (тотчас), without any kind of preliminary (подготовительное мероприятие) in the most coarse (грубый), horrible way you can imagine, pulled up (задрала) her skirt (юбка). I —

He saw himself standing there in the dim (тусклый) lamplight, with the smell (запах) of bugs (жуки) and cheap scent (духи) in his nostrils (ноздри), and in his heart a feeling of defeat (поражение) and resentment (обида) which even at that moment was mixed up with the thought of Katharine’s white body, frozen (застывший) for ever by the hypnotic power of the Party. Why did it always have to be like this? Why could he not have a woman of his own instead of these filthy (грязный) scuffles (потасовка) at intervals of years? But a real love affair (связь) was an almost unthinkable event. The women of the Party were all alike (одинаковый). Chastity (целомудрие) was as deep ingrained (укоренено) in them as Party loyalty. By careful (тщательным) early conditioning (воспитание), by games and cold water, by the rubbish (вздор) that was dinned (вбивал) into them at school and in the Spies and the Youth League, by lectures, parades, songs, slogans, and martial (боевой) music, the natural feeling had been driven out (вытеснен) of them. His reason (разум) told him that there must be exceptions (исключения), but his heart did not believe it. They were all impregnable (неприступный), as the Party intended (предполагал) that they should be. And what he wanted, more even than to be loved, was to break down that wall of virtue (добродетель), even if it were only once in his whole life. The sexual act, successfully performed (выполненный), was rebellion (бунт). Desire (желание) was thoughtcrime. Even to have awakened (разбуженный) Katharine, if he could have achieved it, would have been like a seduction (соблазнение), although she was his wife.

But the rest of the story had got to be written down. He wrote:

I turned up the lamp. When I saw her in the light —

After the darkness the feeble (слабый) light of the paraffin lamp had seemed very bright. For the first time he could see the woman properly (должным образом). He had taken a step towards her and then halted, full of lust (вожделение) and terror. He was painfully (болезненно) conscious of the risk he had taken in coming here. It was perfectly possible that the patrols would catch (поймают) him on the way out (на выходе): for that matter (если уж на то пошло) they might be waiting outside the door at this moment. If he went away without even doing what he had come here to do —!

It had got to be written down, it had got to be confessed (это нужно было признать). What he had suddenly seen in the lamplight was that the woman was OLD. The paint was plastered (оштукатурил) so thick (толстый) on her face that it looked as though it might crack (треснет) like a cardboard mask. There were streaks (пряди) of white in her hair; but the truly (по-настоящему) dreadful (ужасный) detail was that her mouth had fallen (приоткрылся) a little open, revealing (открывая) nothing except a cavernous (кавернозный) blackness. She had no teeth (зубы) at all.

He wrote hurriedly (торопливо), in scrabbling (корявый) handwriting (почерк):

When I saw her in the light she was quite an old woman, fifty years old at least. But I went ahead (вперед) and did it just the same.

He pressed his fingers against his eyelids (веки) again. He had written it down at last (наконец), but it made no difference. The therapy (терапия) had not worked. The urge (желание) to shout filthy (грязный) words at the top of his voice (во весь голос) was as strong as ever.

Chapter 7

«If there is hope,» wrote Winston, «it lies in the proles (пролетариат – по Дж. Оруэллу).»

If there was hope, it MUST lie in the proles, because only there in those swarming (роящийся) disregarded (заброшенный) masses, 85 per cent of the population of Oceania, could the force to destroy the Party ever be generated (зародиться). The Party could not be overthrown (свергнуть) from within (изнутри). Its enemies, if it had any enemies, had no way of coming together or even of identifying one another. Even if the legendary Brotherhood existed, as just possibly it might, it was inconceivable (немыслимый) that its members could ever assemble in larger numbers than twos and threes. Rebellion meant a look in the eyes, an inflexion (интонация) of the voice, at the most, an occasional whispered (прошептанный) word. But the proles, if only they could somehow become conscious of their own strength. would have no need to conspire (заговор). They needed only to rise up and shake themselves like a horse shaking off flies (мухи). If they chose (выбрал) they could blow (взорвать) the Party to pieces (куски) tomorrow morning. Surely (конечно) sooner (раньше) or later it must occur (прийти в голову) to them to do it? And yet —!

He remembered how once he had been walking down a crowded street when a tremendous shout of hundreds of voices women’s voices – had burst (взрыв) from a side-street (переулок) a little way ahead (впереди). It was a great formidable (громадный) cry of anger (гнев) and despair (отчаяние), a deep, loud (громкий) «Oh-o-o-o-oh!» that went humming (гудеть) on like the reverberation (реверберация) of a bell. His heart had leapt (подпрыгнуть). It’s start ed! he had thought. A riot (бунт)! The proles are breaking loose (вырвались на свободу) at last! When he had reached the spot (место) it was to see a mob (толпа) of two or three hundred women crowding round the stalls (киоски) of a street market, with faces as tragic as though they had been the doomed (обреченный) passengers on a sinking (тонущий) ship. But at this moment the general despair (отчаяние) broke down into a multitude (множество) of individual quarrels (ссора). It appeared (оказался) that one of the stalls had been selling tin (жестяной) saucepans (кастрюли). They were wretched (жалкий), flimsy (хлипкий) things, but cooking-pots (кастрюли) of any kind were always difficult to get. Now the supply (запас) had unexpectedly (неожиданно) given out (закончился). The successful women, bumped (наталкиваемый) and jostled (теснимый) by the rest (остальные), were trying to make off (удрать) with their saucepans (кастрюли) while dozens of others clamoured (шумел) round the stall, accusing (обвиняя) the stall-keeper (продавец) of favouritism and of having more saucepans (кастрюли) somewhere in reserve (запас). There was a fresh (новый) outburst (взрыв) of yells (крики). Two bloated (обрюзгший) women, one of them with her hair coming down, had got hold (схватился) of the same saucepan and were trying to tear (вырвать) it out of one another’s hands. For a moment they were both tugging (дергал), and then the handle (ручка) came off (оторвался). Winston watched them disgustedly (с отвращением). And yet, just for a moment, what almost frightening (пугающий) power (сила) had sounded in that cry from only a few hundred throats (глотки)! Why was it that they could never shout like that about anything that mattered (о чем-то важном)?

He wrote:

Until (пока) they become conscious they will never rebel (бунтовать), and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.

That, he reflected, might almost have been a transcription from one of the Party textbooks. The Party claimed (утверждал), ofcourse, to have liberated the proles from bondage (кабала). Beforethe Revolution they had been hideously (жестоко) oppressed (притеснял) by thecapitalists, they had been starved (морил голодом) and flogged (порол), women hadbeen forced (заставлял) to work in the coal mines (шахты) (women still did workin the coal mines, as a matter of fact) (в самом деле), children had beensold into the factories at the age of six. But simultaneously (в то же время), true to the Principles of doublethink, the Party taught (учил) that the proles were natural inferiors (низшие) who must be kept in subjection (подчинение), like animals, by the application (с помощью) of a few simple rules. In reality very little was known about the proles. It was not necessary to know much. So long as (пока) they continued to work and breed (размножаться), their other activities were without importance. Left to themselves (предоставленные сами себе), like cattle (скот) turned loose (выброшенный на волю) upon the plains (равнины) of Argentina, they had reverted (вернулся) to a style of life that appeared to be natural to them, a sort of ancestral (род) pattern (предок). They were born, they grew up in the gutters (трущобы), theywent to work at twelve, they passed through a brief (краткий) blossoming-period (период расцвета) of beauty and sexual desire, they married at twenty, they were middle-aged at thirty, they died, for the most part, at sixty. Heavy physical work, the care of homeand children, petty (мелкий) (ссоры) with neighbours, films, football, beer, and above all, gambling (азартные игры), filled up (заполнил) the horizon of their minds. To keep them in control was not difficult. A few agents of the Thought Police moved always among them, spreading (распространяя) false (ложный) rumours (слухи) and marking down (отмечая) and eliminating (устраняя) the few individuals who were judged (считался) capable of becoming dangerous; but no attempt was made to indoctrinate (внушить) them with the ideology of the Party. It was not desirable (нежелательно) that the proles should have strong political feelings. All that was required (требовался) of them was a primitive patriotism which could be appealed (обратиться) to whenever it was necessary to make them accept (согласиться) longer (более) working-hours or shorter rations (пайки). And even when they became discontented (недовольный), as they sometimes did, their discontent led nowhere (никуда не вело), because being without general ideas, they could only focus it on petty (мелкий) specific grievances (обиды). The larger evils (беды) invariably escaped (ускользал) their notice (внимание). The great majority of proles did not even have telescreens in their homes. Even the civil police interfered (мешал) with them very little. There was a vast amount (количество) of criminality in London, a whole world-within-a-world of thieves (воры), bandits, prostitutes, drug-peddlers (торговцы наркотиками), and racketeers of every description (сорт); but since it all happened among the proles themselves, it wasof no importance. In all questions of morals they were allowed (разрешался) to follow their ancestral (родовой) code (кодекс). The sexual Puritanism of the Party was not imposed (навязывался) upon them. Promiscuity (промискуитет) went unpunished (безнаказанный), divorce (развод) was permitted (разрешался). For that matter (если на то пошло), even religious worship (поклонение) would have been permitted (разрешен) if the proles had shown any sign of needing or wanting it. They were beneath (вне) suspicion (подозрение). As the Party slogan put it (гласил): «Proles and animals are free.» Winston reached down (наклонился) and cautiously scratched (почесал) hisvaricose (варикозная) ulcer (язва). It had begun itching (чесаться) again. The thing you invariably came back to was the impossibility of knowing what life before the Revolution had really been like. He took out (достал) of the drawer (ящик стола) a copy of a children’s history textbookwhich he had borrowed (позаимствовал) from Mrs Parsons, and began copying (переписывать) a passage (отрывок) into the diary:

   (   In the old days (it ran), before the glorious Revolution, London was not the beautiful city that we know today. It was a dark, dirty, miserable (убогий) place where hardly anybody had enough to eat and where hundreds and thousands of poor people had no boots on their feet and not even a roof (крыша) to sleep under. Children no older than you had to work twelve hours a day for cruel (жестокий) masters (хозяева) who flogged (стегал) them with whips кнут) if they worked too slowly and fed (кормил) them on nothing but stale (черствый) breadcrusts (корки) and water. But in among all this terrible poverty there were just (всего) a few great big beautiful houses that were lived in by rich men who had as many as thirty servants to look after them. These rich men were called capitalists. They were fat (толстый), ugly men with wicked (злой) faces, like the one in the picture on the opposite page. You can see that he is dressed in a long black coat which was called a frock coat (сюртук), and a queer (странный), shiny (блестящий) hat (шляпа) shaped (одет) like a stovepipe (дымоход), which was called a top hat (цилиндр). This was the uniform of the capitalists, and no one else was allowed (разрешался) to wear (носить) it. The capitalists owned everything in the world, and everyone else was their slave. They owned all the land, all the houses, all the factories, and all the money. If anyone disobeyed (подчинялся) them they could throw them into prison, or they could take his job away (лишить) and starve (уморить) him to death. When any ordinary person spoke to a capitalist he had to cringe (съеживаться) and bow (кланяться) to him, and take off his cap and address him as «Sir’. The chief of all the capitalists was called the King, and —

But he knew the rest (остальная часть) of the catalogue. There would be mention (будут упомянут) of the bishops (епископы) in their lawn (батистовый) sleeves (рукава), the judges (судьи) in their ermine (горностаевый) robes (мантии), the pillory (позорный столб), the stocks (колодки), the treadmill (беговая дорожка), the cat-o’-nine tails (девятихвостая кошка), the Lord Mayor’s Banquet (банкет), and the practice of kissing the Pope’s toe (палец ноги). There was also something called the JUS PRIMAE NOCTIS (право первой ночи), which would probably not be mentioned (упомянут) in a textbook for children. It was the law by which every capitalist had the right to sleep with any woman working in one of his factories.

How could you tell how much of it was lies (ложь)? It MIGHT be true that the average (средний) human being was better off now than he had been before the Revolution. The only evidence (свидетельство) to the contrary (обратный) was the mute (немой) protest in your own bones (кости), the instinctive feeling that the conditions you lived in were intolerable (невыносимый) and that at some other time they must have been different. It struck (пришло в голову) him that the truly (действительно) characteristic thing (черта) about modern life was not its cruelty (жестокость) and insecurity (ненадежность), but simply its bareness (нагота), its dinginess (вялость), its listlessness (вялость). Life, if you looked about you, bore no resemblance (не имел ничего общего) not only to the lies that streamed (лился) out of the telescreens, but even to the ideals that the Party was trying to achieve. Great areas of it, even for a Party member, were neutral and non-political, a matter of slogging (это было связано) through dreary (утомительный) jobs, fighting for a place on the Tube (метро), darning (штопка) a worn-out (изношенный) sock, (носок) cadging (вымогание) a saccharine tablet, saving a cigarette end. The ideal set up (установленный) by the Party was something huge, terrible, and glittering (блестящий) – a world of steel and concrete (бетон), of monstrous machines and terrifying weapons – a nation of warriors (воины) and fanatics, marching forward in perfect unity, all thinking the same thoughts and shouting the same slogans, perpetually working, fighting, triumphing, persecuting (преследующий) – three hundred million people all with the same face. The reality was decaying (разлагающийся), dingy (грязный) cities at where underfed (недокормленный) people shuffled (шаркал) to and fro (туда-сюда) in leaky (дырявый) shoes, in patched-up (залатанный) nineteenth-century houses that smelt (пахло) always of cabbage and bad lavatories (туалеты). He seemed (казалось) to see (представить) a vision (видение) of London, vast and ruinous (разрушенный), city of a million dustbins (мусорные баки), and mixed up with it was a picture of Mrs Parsons, a woman with lined (морщинистый) face and wispy (редкий) hair, fiddling (возившийся) helplessly with a blocked waste-pipe (канализационная труба).