Chapter 11 - The Twentieth Century

Summary

When Slow Learner appeared in April 1984, readers understood Pynchon’s title in light of the introductory essay’s self-deprecation, his sense that the stories are amateurish. Yet it also pointed to a climactic scene of Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. Winston Smith has been arrested for a “Thoughtcrime,” for falling in love, a banned affect because it steals dedication owed to the total state. Love contradicts “Hate Week,” when Big Brother gins up solidarity and outrage against the state’s enemies. Smith’s reeducation to this core logic of domination is the task of his torturer, O’Brien, who demands that when he holds up four fingers Winston shall see five, because “the Party says” he must. Smith repeatedly tries, fails, and pleads – “How can I help seeing what’s in front of my eyes?” Each time Smith refuses to relinquish empirical truth O’Brien dials the voltage nearer the fatal mark. This Pavlovian “reeducation” finally prevails. Smith “sees” five fingers and O’Brien taunts him: “You are a slow learner, Winston” (SL xiv).