The pain flowed into Winston's body. The needle must be at seventy,
seventy-five. He had shut his eyes this time. He knew that the fingers were
still there, and still four. All that mattered was somehow to stay alive
until the spasm was over. He had ceased to notice whether he was crying out
or not. The pain lessened again. He opened his eyes. O'Brien had drawn back
the lever.
'How many fingers, Winston?'
'Four. I suppose there are four. I would see five if I could. I am
trying to see five.'
'Which do you wish: to persuade me that you see five, or really to see
them?'
'Really to see them.'
'Again,' said O'Brien.
Perhaps the needle was eighty -- ninety. Winston could not
intermittently remember why the pain was happening. Behind his screwed-up
eyelids a forest of fingers seemed to be moving in a sort of dance, weaving
in and out, disappearing behind one another and reappearing again. He was
trying to count them, he could not remember why. He knew only that it was
impossible to count them, and that this was somehow due to the mysterious
identity between five and four. The pain died down again. When he opened
his eyes it was to find that he was still seeing the same thing.
Innumerable fingers, like moving trees, were still streaming past i