to that question is Yes or No. 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. He still
had not asked the question that had come into his mind the first. He had
got to ask it, and yet it was as though his tongue would not utter it.
There was a trace of amusement in O'Brien's face. Even his spectacles
seemed to wear an ironical gleam. He knows, thought Winston suddenly, he
knows what I am going to ask! At the thought the words burst out of him:
'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. 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. He sank almost instantly
into deep sleep.



III

'There are three stages in your reintegration,' said O'Brien. 'There
is learning, there is understanding, and there is acceptance. It is time
for you to enter upon the second stage.'
As always, Winston was lying flat on his back. But of late his bonds
were looser. They still held him to the bed, but he could move his knees a
little and could turn his head from side to side and raise his arms from
the elbow. The dial, also, had grown to be less of a terror. He could evade
its pangs if he was quick-witted enough: it was chiefly when he showed
stupidity that O'Brien pulled the lever. Sometimes they got through a whole
session without use of the dial. He could not remember how many sessions
there had been. The whole process seemed to stretch out over a