"Ingsoc in Relation to Chess": Reversible Opposites in Orwell's 1984

Author(s): Graham Good

Source: NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Autumn, 1984), pp. 50-63
Published by: Duke University Press
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toChess":Reversible
inRelation
"Ingsoc
inOrwell's
Opposites
1984.
GRAHAM GOOD
The usual interpretation
of 1984 is thatit shows us a bold but doomed reassertion
of human values in the face of an inhuman tyranny.Among these values are
sexual love, privacy,and memoryof the personal and collectivepast: all of them
are associated with the love affairbetween Winston and Julia.Although some
disturbingfeaturesin the book are often noted, such as Winston's reverence
for O'Brien even afterthe revelationthathe is workingfor the Thought Police,
and such as the "inhuman" oath Winston and Julia are willing to take to join
the supposed rebel conspiracycalled the Brotherhood,the basic interpretation
remainsin place, qualifiedby a certainuneasiness.
My contentionis that this basic or "manifest"reading is contradictedby an
of oppositesis a cardinalprinciple
oppositebut "latent" reading.The reversibility
of Ingsoc, the reigningideology of Oceania, and is announced by slogans like
"War is Peace" and "Freedomis Slavery" (curiously,the thirdslogan,"Ignorance
is Strength,"is not exactlyan opposition).My argumentwill be thatthisprinciple
is not confinedto Ingsoc,but applies to 1984 as a whole. The novel is structured
around a set of oppositions, like the Party vs. the Brotherhood,which are
symmetricaland interchangeable.Emotional and political allegiances can be
switched instantaneously:from the start of the novel, Winston's loathing of
Big Brothercan change suddenlyinto adoration1and he feels that it does not
matterwhetherO'Brien is a friendor enemy (p. 24). This principlein the novel
of the roles of the main characters:
is shown in the reversibleinterpretations
Winston takes Juliato be a spy at first,then accepts her as a fellow rebel; with
O'Brien, he assumes unorthodoxyfirstand later has to reversethe assumption;
and the same principleapplies to Winston's own behavior. Thematically,the
principleis shown in two relatedmotifs:the game of chess, and the patternof
of
black and white imagerywhich persists throughout.The interchangeability
as
and
in
as
the
black and white,as sides in the game, colors
symbols
pattern
of any pair of opposites,lies at the heart of Orwell's own thinking,not merely
of theideologyof Ingsoc.
I
"Ingsoc in relation to chess" is the title of a lecture that Winston has to sit
throughat his CommunityCentreon the day when Juliapasses him her "I love
forhim,since he wants to be alone to think
you" note; the lectureis frustrating
about this dramaticevent. The title,of course, is a wry joke at the expense of
an ideologylike Marxismwhichclaims to be universallyapplicable,but although
Winston "writhedwith boredom," the topic may have been betterthan many,
1 1984, (London: Penguin, 1973), p. 15.

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GRAHAM

GOOD

INGSOC/CHESS

51

since chess does turnout to be one of Winston'sinterests.At any rate,the lecture

must have had some effecton him, because when he is finallyalone, he takes
from chess a metaphor to describe the situation he faces. He is preoccupied
with the urgencyof his desire for Julia. "A kind of fever seized him at the
thoughtthat he mightlose her, the white youthfulbody mightslip away from
him... But the physicaldifficultyof meetingwas enormous.It was like trying
to make a move at chess when you were already mated" (90).
In this image, sex and chess are closely interlinked,and we are remindedof
the traditionof lovers as chess playerswhich appears, forexample,at the end of
The Tempestwhen Ferdinandand Miranda are "discovered" at chess. But here
the image only makes sense if Juliais more a piece to be taken (as so oftenthe
language of sport,like the word itself,is also sexual) ratherthan the opposing
player,which is presumablythe Thought Police or the Party. Her white body
is a pawn, perhaps offeredas a sacrificeleading to a trap. Winston is tempted
into playing,but he is already "mated." Given the associations already created,
this could be a sublimatedpun: "mate" means simultaneouslywinningJuliaand
losing the game. The actual phrase is passive ("already mated") and this corresponds well to Winston's sexual passivity(Juliainitiatesand essentiallymanages
theaffair),as well as creatinga strongassociationof desireand defeat.Obviously,
even to think about the problem of respondingto a checkmate,you have to
believe thatyou are not mated while you tryout the possible moves, and this is
exactlywhat Winston does. He knows he is going to lose, in the sense that the
ThoughtPolice will eventuallycaptureand punishhim,but he suspends,at least
the idea thathe has already lost beforehe even starts.He is drawn
intellectually,
into a matchrightat the end when the outcomeis a foregoneconclusionand his
moves are meaningless.At a deeper level, though,thisimage of being mated not
eventually,but already,stays withhim and surfacesagain in the last part of the
book.
Whether she is a pawn or a player,Julia's whitenessis repeatedlystressed:
her white face, set offby dark hair and lips, is practicallya leitmotif,and when
she flingsaside her overalls,"her body gleamed white in the sun" (103). This
mythicalgestureof self-exposurehauntsWinston's imagination:to him it seems
to symbolicallyannihilatethe whole systemof the Party's tyranny.Yet in the
black and white patternof the novel, white is very clearly the colour of the
Party. Afterall, "White always mates" (232). Invariably,white means power,
fromthe "glitteringwhite concrete" (7) of the Ministryof Truth glimpsed at
thebeginningof the novel, to the "glitteringwhiteporcelain" (181) of the rooms
in the Ministryof Love, "the place wherethereis no darkness,"and where"men
in white coats" supervise Winston's tortureunder the constant "white light."
The finalvictoryof Oceania is shown on the telescreensat the end of the novel
as "the whitearrowtearingacross the tail of theblack" (238). ThematicallyJulia
is a creatureof whiteness,light and exposure; her sexual power is associated
with the political power of the Party,even though superficiallythe two seem
opposed.
Winston is equally stronglyassociated with darkness and blackness. As a

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52

NOVELIFALL

1984

dissident,his survivaldepends on hiding:hidinghis thoughts,his face, his body.

Symbolically,he is associated with private spaces such as the alcove in his
apartment,or the roomover the shop. Both these spaces are also dark and dirty,
and Winston's body reflectsthese qualities. Justas he fears being seen by the
police for political reasons, he fears being seen by Julia for sexual reasons. At
the "Golden Country" meeting,"the May sunshine had made him feel dirty
and etiolated,a creatureof indoors,with the sooty dust of London in the pores
of his skin. It occurredto him that till now she had probably never seen him
in broad daylightin the open" (98). As the affairprogresses,Winston gradually
overcomeshis physicalshame and eventuallygets used to being naked in Julia's
he is naked at the timeof the arrest:sexual exposurehas
presence.Significantly,
become political. What follows now, still associated with white,is purification.
FinallyWinstonfantasizes"walking down the white-tiledcorridor,"about to be
shot, "but with everythingforgiven,his soul as white as snow" (239). Power,
purityand death become one, all ways beyond the darkness of self, steps on
the way to love of power. Winstonmoves throughlove of Julia,throughlove of
O'Brien, to love of Big Brother,like a novice movingfromlove of lower to love
of higherthings.
Julia leads Winston fromthe darkness into the light, fromhiding into the
open, fromfilthto cleanliness.The room over the shop is usually taken as the
antithesisof Room 101, but actually it is an antechamberwhich prepares for
Room 101: Winston's bed of love with Juliaprepares for his bed of pain with
O'Brien. Whether deliberatelyor not, Julia's interventionin Winston's life
objectivelyhastens his discovery,punishmentand atonement.Julia "leads him
on," throughthe experienceof sex, towards reconciliationwith the Party-or
in religious terms,throughsin to salvation. Winston himselfat a deep level
desires exposure and confession,despite his fear and his passive inabilityto
initiate.His desire forprivacywith Juliais a counter-theme,
but ultimatelyit is
weaker. At times the lovers talk longinglyof theirneed to be alone together.
The room is meant as a hiding place i deux, and comes to symbolize the lost
world of bourgeois domesticity.2Winston even wishes once that they didn't
have to make love each time they met, and could enjoy a maritalas well as a
sexual intimacy(114). But at a deeper level Winston wants to "go public" with
Julia.Does he, at that level, somehow "know" the police are listeningin on the
lovemakingin the room? What attractshim to Juliais not her potential"wifeliness," but her "whorishness." Their first attempt at sex is a failure, and
Winston only becomes aroused the second time by the assurance that she has
slept with Partymembers"scores of times." This actuallygladdens him as well
as excitinghim: he doesn't want a "private,"exclusive,domesticrelationshipas
much as a flagrantly"public" one. Impersonalsex is morepotentpoliticallythan
personal love: "Not merelythe love of one person but the animal instinct,the
desire: that was the force that would tear the Party to
simple undifferentiated
It
is
the
"public" nature of Julia's body-the other men, the
pieces" (103).
2

See David Kubal, "Freud, Orwell and the Bourgeois Interior," Yale Review, 67 (1978), 389-403.

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GRAHAM

GOOD

IINGSOC/CHESS

53

gloriousgesturewith which she flingsher overalls aside-which enthrallshim.

She is transformedfromvirgininto whore (and back again at the end of the
book, where she is sexually frigid), but never approaches the wife which
Winston's ideas about privatedomesticityought to lead him to want. The Party
has suppressed both marital and extra-maritalsex, but it is the second kind
Winstonlongs for:open, flagrant,promiscuous.
It could be argued,in fact,thatJulia'scomplicitywith the Partyis not merely
symbolic.3There is some evidence forWinston's originalhypothesisabout why
she is followinghim: she is workingfor the Thought Police, or more appropriately,forthe Ministryof Love. Winstondismissestoo easily "the possibilitythat
she mightbe laying some kind of trap for him" (83), which is one of his first
reactions.She seems suspiciouslyfamiliarwith his life story:"He began telling
her the storyof his marriedlife, but curiouslyenough she appeared to know
the essential parts of it already" (108). Like Charrington,she agrees "with
unexpected readiness" (114) to the reckless idea of rentingthe room. Like
O'Brien, she shows an immediateintimacywith Winston's secret thoughtsand
feelings,and, given the way she is associated with O'Brien in Winston's mind,
it makes one suspect they are workingtogether.She leads Winston directlyto
the exact landscape of his Golden Country dream, which can hardly be a
coincidence-either Winston's dream is pre-cognitiveor Julia knows that the
imagehas somehowbeen implantedin him.The "scores" of Outer Partymembers
she claims to have seduced may have been dissidentslike Winston. It is hard
to believe that she was so overwhelmedby desire forhim that she followedhim
formiles into the distantquarterwhere the shop is, and having done so, did not
communicatewith him. Why, then,is she punishedwhen the arrestcomes? We
see her punchedin the stomachwhen the police enterthe bedroom (though that
could be to leave Winston his illusion about her), and at the end of the book
she shows obvious signs of tortureand brainwashingwhich supporther account
of them.Perhaps she became too involved with Winston and actually came to
have divided loyalties.Perhaps the Partycame to feel that she was derivingtoo
much enjoyment from seducing dissidents, or had simply become, in that
menacingOrwellianword,"unreliable."
Julia's role, then,and even her body-image,are radically ambivalent.She is
sexless or oversexed: the chastitygirdleshe wears, the scarletsash of the Junior
Anti-Sex League, actually increases her appeal to Winston by emphasizingher
hips (12). Winston's affairwith her is framedby his firstimpressionof her as
"young and prettyand sexless" (16) and his last impressionof her "thickened,
stiffenedbody" (235) which makes no response to his touch. During the affair
she is seen as boyish or womanly: when she puts on makeup and scent,
Winston finds her "far more feminine.Her short hair and boyish overalls
merelyadded to the effect" (117). Here the 1940's show through the novel's
1980's in Julia'sdesire to stop being a wartimewoman in "masculine" overalls
and go for a "feminine"New Look: "I'm going to get hold of a real woman's
S This suggestion is also made by Patrick Parrinder in "Updating

Orwell?" Encounter, 56, (January 1981), 48.

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54

NOVEL

IFALL

1984

frock fromsomewhereand wear it instead of these bloody trousers.I'll wear

silk stockingsand high-heeledshoes: In this room I'm going to be a woman,
not a Partycomrade" (117). She is unorthodoxor orthodox:she describesParty
propaganda, with the accent of a boarding school prefectbeing naughty,as
"bloody rubbish" or "bloody rot," and yet "she only questioned the teachings
of the Partywhen theyin some way touchedupon her own life" (125). Winston's
joke that she is only a rebel fromthe waist down may be truerthan he realizes,
and her findingit "brilliantlywitty"may concede this. She is a hybrid:Whore/
Virgin,Rebel/Spy. She is the agent of Winston's sexual liberationand hence,
of his exposureas a criminal.Winstoncould,apparently,
wittinglyor unwittingly,
have kepthis thoughtcrime
hiddenfora while longer:it is the step into sexcrime
thatbringsabout his discovery.

II
The same question now has to be raised about Winston's role as about Julia's:
how deep, how genuine,how consistentis his rebellionagainst the Party? His
consciousattitudetowardsthePartyis usuallydefiant,and he has certainconcrete
acts of defianceto be proud of. Yet forthe most part these have come about in
response to promptingsand suggestionsthat seem, often in mysteriousways,
to come fromoutside himself.And thereare hints,in his emotionsmostly,that
his rash defianceis simplya way to hasten the punishmentand forgivenesshe
subconsciouslydesires.
betweensurface(desireto rebel) and depth (desire
This "spatial" contradiction
for atonement) in Winston's psychology,corresponds to a temporal one in
termsof the novel's plot betweenthe prospect(as you read) of Winston's rebellion and the retrospect(as you look back later) not of its defeatmerely,but of
its invalidation.The "depth" readingunderliesand reversesthe "surface" one,
and is not usually fully carried
but this reversalis only possible retroactively,
continuesto hide much of the
out: formost readersthe "surface" interpretation
depth. We should look at the turningpoint of the novel, where it begins
potentiallyto reverse its "sense": the moment when Julia and Winston are
surprisedin the room above the shop, and the voice fromthe telescreenwith
grimplayfulnesscompletesthe "Oranges and Lemons" rhymewith"Here comes
thechopperto chop offyourhead."
Up to the point of the arrest,Winston has grounds for a limitedoptimism
about the opposition culturein AirstripOne. He believes in the existenceof a
widespreadthoughdecentralizedconspiracyagainst the authorities,which has a
leader (Goldstein),a sacred text (the leader's book), and a membershipof which
he has met a highly placed representative(O'Brien). He believes that this
conspiracywill eventuallybe able to mobilize the proletariatand overthrowthe
Party. The sense of optimismdoes not extend to his own fate, however. He
knows he is doomed to be caught,punished and killed. Even so, he has already
to some extent validated his life and therebyauthenticatedthe oppositional
culturethroughcertainpersonal experiencesforbiddenby the party.He has had

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GRAHAM

GOOD

INGSOC/CHESS

55

a passionately sexual affair.He has eaten real food, and drunk real coffee and
wine, instead of ersatz products for usual mass consumption.Thanks to Mr.
Charrington,the old shopkeeper,he has owned a real object (the glass paperweight), and writtenon real paper with a real pen. Even if only for short
periods, he has had a room of his own, in which to read, make love, and eat
meals. Despite takingenormousrisks,he has successfullyevaded police detection
for several months.All of this is behind at the momentof arrest: memorable,
undeniable experienceswhich defy Party ideology. Whatever happens afterthe
arrest,this experienceseems safely accomplished: it has happened, and this in
itselfconstitutesa kind of victory.
Then follows a series of shocks. The room, a symbol of a long-forgotten
personal privacy,turns out to have been kept under telescreenobservation all
along. EverythingWinston and Juliahave said and done therehas probablybeen
heard and recorded. Mr. Charrington,the kindly old shopkeeper-a brilliant
feat of impersonation-is simplya 35-year-oldmemberof the Thought Police.
The whole episode of the shop, thoughWinston himselfnever fullyreinterprets
it in this light,must have been an elaborate trap, set especially for him, which
he firstenteredwhen he bought his diary there.Soon after,the conspiracytoo
turnsout to be a sham: O'Brien is on the other side. Later, it is revealed that
even Winston's diary has been read withouthis knowledge: the police carefully
replaced the speck of dust which he put on the cornerof the cover. Like all the
other precautions taken by Winston and Julia, it was completelyineffectual;
theirmovementswere followedthewhole time.
These surprises all have the same effect: to reveal to the reader and the
hero that the Party has in fact immeasurablygreaterpowers of control and
surveillance than had previously been supposed. The putative freedom of
Winston's experiences is retrospectivelyinvalidated. The events are not what
they seemed when theywere takingplace: theywere all permitted,even supervised, by the police. Winston has actually been under police surveillancesince
1977. 1984 is the culminatingyear in a seven yearperiod; the figureis mentioned
several times. "He knew now that for seven years the Thought Police had
watched him like a beetle under a magnifyingglass. There was no physical act,
no word spoken aloud, that theyhad not noticed,no trainof thoughtthey had
not been able to infer" (222). It is not clear whether or not Winston had
attractedpolice attentionpriorto 1977, but he had certainlycommittedthoughtcrimebeforethe beginningof the seven year programme:1973, the year of his
marriageand of his temptationto murderhis wife, was also the year in which
he brieflyheld in his hand the photographof Jones,Aaronson and Rutherford:
documentaryevidence of the falsityof Partypropaganda. Whetherthis was an
accident or a police plant, the incidentis a mere prelude to the full-scale programmewhichbegins in 1977.
Surveillance is only the outer part of the program.At its heart is thought
control,exercisednot at the rational,but at the imaginativeand emotionallevel.
The process begins with the insertion of a particular phrase into a dream.
Winstonmuses in his firstdiaryentryin 1984:

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56

NOVELIFALL

1984

Years ago-how long was it? Seven years it mustbe-he had dreamedthathe
was walking througha pitch-darkroom. And someone sittingto one side of
him had said as he passed: "We shall meet in the place where there is no
darkness."(23)
Later,when Winston triesto interpretthe saying,he assumes it anticipatesthe
timeafterthe eventualoverthrowof the Party(86). During the visitto O'Brien's
flat,he quotes the phrase in this sense, and his host seems to understandand
recognise the allusion (145). Afterhis arrest,Winston realizes that the place
referredto is the Ministryof Love, where thereare no windows and the lights
never go out (184). Finally the originalvoice speaks to him again:
"Don't worry,Winston;you are in my keeping.For seven yearsI have watched
over you. Now the turningpoint has come. I shall save you, I shall make you
perfect."He was not sure whetherit was O'Brien's voice; but it was the same
voice that had said to him, "We shall meet in the place where there is no
darkness,"in thatotherdream,sevenyearsago. (196)
This leitmotifmoves throughsuccessive interpretationsand successive states
(dream and waking, obscurityand clarityof reference),and finallyproduces a
even rightness.The phrase,withits religiousand prophetic
sense of inevitability,
associations, gives Winston a feeling of not being alone, of being guided by
some higheragency.His only surpriseis that the voice of salvation comes from
the Party and not the Brotherhood,but even this is soon replaced by a deeper
sense of fulfilledexpectation.Winston assents when O'Brien says to him,at the
point when O'Brien's appearance in the Ministryof Love reveals him as a Party
agent, "You knew this, Winston. Don't deceive yourself. You have always
known it" (192). What is strikinghere is the backdating of the awareness.
Winstonhas no new realizations,only clarificationsof what he has dimlysensed
all along.
UnderlyingWinston's fear and suspense is a deeper sense of resignation,a
sense of being embarkedon a closed sequence of events,not one of which can
be omittedor abbreviated.His rebellion,far fromgivinghim a sense of freedom
as one mightexpect,actuallyproducesa heightenedsense of destiny,of moving
througha set seriesof experiencestowardsan appointedend. In the middleof the
book, afterreceivingO'Brien's summons,Winstonmuses:
What was happeningwas only the workingout of a process that had started
years ago. The firststep had been a secret,involuntarythought,the second
had been the openingof thediary.He had moved fromthoughtsto words,and
now fromwords to actions. The last step was somethingthat would happen
in the Ministryof Love. He had accepted it. The end was contained in the
beginning.(130)
This passage is one of a series distributedthroughoutthe book which emphasize

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GRAHAM GOOD INGSOC/CHESS

57

Winston's foreknowledgeof his punishmentand death. During his firstdiary

entry:
He was alreadydead, he reflected.It seemed to himthatit was only now, when
he had begunto be able to formulatehis thoughts,thathe had takenthedecisive
step. The consequences of everyact are included in the act itself.He wrote:
IS death.(26)
Thoughtcrimedoes not entaildeath: thoughtcrime
At the end of the book also, O'Brien repeatedlyremindshim of this idea. For
instance when he has shown Winston the appalling condition of his body,
O'Brien tells him, "It was all containedin that firstact. Nothing has happened
thatyou did not foresee"(219).
At issue here is far more than the mere logistical certaintyof being caught
and executedin the end. The entiresequence of eventsis pre-experienced,
so that
on the emotional-intuitive
level, the whole is virtuallypresentat the beginning
and at everysubsequent stage. It has been painstakinglypreparedfor Winston,
and he for it. O'Brien, presumablythe planner of the operation,acts as a kind
of Prospero,staging a series of scenes for an actor who is only subconsciously
aware of being controlled.The fact that Winston's room in VictoryMansions
has an alcove out of view of the telescreen-this peculiarityfirstgives him the
idea of writinga diary-may be part of the design. Charringtonand his shop
are explicitlyso: the scenario was, one mightsay, customizedfor Winston, and
thereare clear suggestionsof thoughtcontrolin the way he is led thereabsentmindedly,particularlythe second time:
It had been a sufficiently
rash act to buy the book therein the beginning,and
he had sworn never to come near the place again. And yet the instantthat he
allowed his thoughtsto wander, his feet had broughthim back here of their
own accord. (78)
Even in the rebelliousgesturethatopens the novel, Winston's startinghis diary,
he is not acting freelyat all, as he soon intuits:"He was writingthe diary to
O'Brien, forO'Brien" (68). O'Brien's fascinationforWinston is, again fromthe
beginning,independentof what side O'Brien is on; the uncertaintydoes not
affectWinston'sdesireto confide.
Winston had never been able to feel sure-even afterthis morning'sflash of
the eyes it was impossible to be sure-whether O'Brien was a friendor an
enemy. Nor did it even seem to mattergreatly.There was a link of understandingbetweenthem,moreimportantthanaffectionor partisanship.(24)
At the end, duringthe torturesequence, the degree of mental interpenetration
between the two is such that O'Brien seems to know, immediatelyand without
words,what Winstonis thinking,and can articulateit forhim.

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NOVEL IFALL 1984

There was no idea that he had ever had, or could have, that O'Brien had not
long ago known,examined,and rejected.His mind containedWinston's mind.
(205)
Winston's intellectualprocesses seem to be as foreknownas his experiences.
Orwell makes O'Brien literallya master-mind,reversingthe usual expectation
thattherebelis moreintelligentthan the ruler,and therebyagain givingevidence
thatWinston'smindis underthoughtcontrol.Winston cannotproduce anything
new, original,or unexpected; his rebellion seems to happen within O'Brien's
mind.
This realizationinvalidatesWinston'srebellion:not only its realisticfeasibility
(never great) but also its symbolic significance.Winston's goal, we must
remember,is "not to stay alive, but to stay human" (136). As he puts it to
Julia,"If you can feel that stayinghuman is worth while, even when it can't
have any resultwhatever,you've beaten them." In otherwords the actual loser
of the life and death game can neverthelesswin a moral victory.Winston here
offersa tragic-humanistinterpretationof his objective, which is to die with
dignity,thus assertinghuman worthin a moral victoryamidst an actual defeat
and death.The affirmation
whichdeath cannotdestroy,
of a humanindividuality,
and in fact enhances,ceases to be possible when that individualitycan be completelydestroyed.For Orwell,thatpointhad been reachedin his own period,which
he saw as a Counter-Renaissance,movingback fromindividualisminto a "total
order" like that of medieval Christendom,only infinitelymore powerful.
Orwell's original title for 1984 was "The Last Man in Europe"; perhaps one
reason for the change was that Winston could not fullylive up to this role. If
the novel is post-tragic,then in a sense Winston is already post-human,at the
beginningof the book, not just at the end. The struggleis already over: man is
already dead. "Staying human" is a delusion which the Thought Police fosters
only to destroy. According to O'Brien there will be endless "last men" to
providematerialfortheParty'sendlesstriumphs:
Goldsteinand his heresieswill live forever.Everyday, at everymoment,they
will be defeated,discredited,ridiculed,spat upon-and yet they will always
survive. This drama that I have played out with you duringseven years will
be played out over and over again, generationafter generation,always in
subtlerforms.(215)
In the Christianuniverse God allows evil to exist, foreknowingbut not foreordainingit: the Partyseems to take the furtherstep of foreordainingit as well.
"Humanity" is an illness which the Party causes and cures, a stain it traces
and wipes away.
For Winston is denied the smallestvestige of even a symbolicvictory,however far he pursues his fantasyof the "tiniestpossible flaw": if perfectionis at
stake (and it is a favouriteword of O'Brien's), it mustbe complete,both spatially
and temporally.The Party, Winston believes, has near-totalcontrol of space,

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GRAHAM GOOD IINGSOC/CHESS

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but thereare safe, closed, privateareas still available: the alcove in his flat, the
roomabove the shop, the small clearingin the woods in the Golden Country.But
more importantis the inner space of the self, deep inside the body. "Nothing
was your own except the few cubic centimetresinside your skull" (25). That
space remainsprivate,like the "mute protestin one's bones" (62), or the inner
feelingsof the heart.They are safe fromexposureor invasion,Winstonbelieves:
"They could lay bare in the utmostdetail everythingyou had done or said or
thought;but the innerheart,whose workingswere mysteriouseven to yourself,
remained impregnable" (136). That "impregnable" fortress is taken when
in Room 101, screams"Do it to Julia!"
Winston,facingthe rat-torture
Thus the tiniest possible space of resistance is eliminated. The temporal
equivalentis "the last possible moment."Winston's extraordinaryfantasyafter
his brain-washing,when only the rat-torturestill awaits him, is that for a
few seconds just beforehe is shot he can revive his hatred of the Party. Then
the smallest space (the inner self) for the shortesttime (as the bullet is on its
way) will defythe Party,and will always defythem,since they cannot reclaim
thatinstantof freedom.For Winston,totalitywith the tiniestpossible flaw is no
longer totality.He believes he will be shot from behind, in the back of the
the only thinghe feels to be inevitablethat doesn't happen).
head (interestingly,
The bang of the bullet and the bang of his explosion of hatredwould be almost
simultaneous.But those seconds of hatredwould always exist: "They would have
blown a hole in theirown perfection.To die hating them,that was freedom"
(226). But we never see this "ten seconds hate" in the novel, and in any case,
the whole idea seems to be derivedfromthe Two Minutes Hate, which is already
part of the system.Winston is defeated both actually and morally-even the
smallest possible space and the shortestpossible time are conquered by the
Party.Its victoryis total,in symbolas well as reality.4
III
In a sense, we can say thatthis is a "black and white" novel. Usually the phrase
is used as a criticism,implyingthat the heroes and villains are too sharply
distinguished,and that the moral patternomits the shades of grey in real life.
This is apparentlytrue of 1984, where at least the evil is "totally" evil, utterly
withoutredeemingfeatures.But it is preciselythis extremism,this "black and
white" clarity,that makes for the symmetryand equivalence of opposites, and
hence theirreversibility.The patternstays the same; only the values or allegiances need change, as Oceania's enemy changes fromEastasia to Eurasia in
mid-sentence,leaving the restof the discourseunaltered.It is a black and white
novel in which Black and White are instantaneouslyinterchangeable,like the
drawingdiscussed by Wittgensteinwhich can be "read" as a duck or a rabbit,
depending on the interpretationuppermost in the viewer's mind.5 But you
and Androcentrism in Orwell's 1984," PMLA, 97 (1982), 856-870, also
Daphne Patai, "Gamesmanship
suggests that Winston's dreams may have been implanted and the shop set up especially for him. This, and
her discussion of the chess theme, are directed to a critique of the book as an example of gamesmanship,

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60

NOVEL

IFALL

1984

cannot read it both ways simultaneously:the two interpretationsare equally

possible but mutuallyexclusive. Orwell's novel, as a whole and in its major
features,is like this. Julia is a Virgin/Whore,O'Brien is a Friend/Enemyand
Winston is a Rebel/Penitentin the same way as Wittgenstein'sfigure is a
Duck/Rabbit.
The reversibilityof opposites is in fact a cardinal principle of Ingsoc, as
Goldsteinexplainsin "The Book":
The key word here is blackwhite.Like so many Newspeak words, this word
has two mutuallycontradictorymeanings.Applied to an opponent it means
the habit of impudentlyclaimingthat black is white, in contradictionof the
plain facts.Applied to a Partymemberit means a loyal willingnessto say that
black is white when Party discipline demands this. But it also means the
abilityto believe that black is white,and more,to know that black is white,
and to forgetthatone has everbelievedthecontrary.(169)
Which are the two meanings?Actuallythe phrase "it means" occurs threetimes.
The firsttwo, although they are probably the two intended,with the third as
an afterthought,
are different
applicationsof the word,one disapprovingand the
otherapproving-the meaningis essentiallythe same in eithercase. The major
shift is from saying (or applying the concept, favorably or unfavorably) to
uses of a contradictory
believing.The firsttwo are contradictory
concept: contradictionis bad (if an enemyis doing it) but contradictionis good (if a party
memberis doing it). Blackwhiteis goodbad, we mightsay (Orwell, of course,
coined the phrase "good bad poetry"). But the last sentence is the hardest,
movingfromsaying to believingthat black is white,and then to knowingthat
black is white,and forgettingthat one ever believed the contrary.What is the
contraryof Black=White?Here it must be Black=Black.Winston fails to believe
throughmost of the book that Black is White. Instead he clings stubbornlyto
truismslike 2+2=4. He refuses the equation of opposites that is the central
feature of Party propaganda ("Freedom is Slavery") and asserts counterequations in which the termsare the same instead of opposite: "Truisms are
true" (68).
But Winston does finallyachieve blackwhiteby shiftinghis allegiance from
Black, the losing side in his game of chess, to White, the inevitablevictor.And
the chess themerecurs,focussingthe black and whiteimageryinto
significantly,
a finalpowerfulimage. Near theend of thebook we see Winstonin the Chestnut
an "essentially masculine ideology (of dominance, violence and aggression)"
transcend.

(p. 868) which Orwell fails to

5 See Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, tr. G.E.M. Anscombe (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1953), p. 194, and E.H. Gombrich, Art and Illusion, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969),
p. 5. The interchangeability of opposites is a random operation in Wittgenstein's Duck/Rabbit example,
but in Oceania the Party would decide between the two interpretations and then keep changing arbitrarily
from one to the other, with no reason and no warning. The populace would be expected to change its
view accordingly. Opposites are interchangeable, but the Party says which is correct and when. Black is
of
White and White is Black, but Black always loses and White always mates. The "undecidability"
interchangeable opposites opens the way to the arbitrariness of the deciding power.

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GRAHAM GOOD

INGSOC/CHESS

61

Tree Caf6,wherehe had earlierseen Rutherford,

Jonesand Aaronson sittingby a
chessboard "with the pieces set out, but no game started" (65). Winston is
seated at his regular cornertable, where "the chessboard was always waiting
forhim":
He examined the chess problem and set out the pieces. It was a tricky
ending,involvinga couple of knights.'Whiteto play and mate in two moves.'
Winston looked up at the portraitof Big Brother.White always mates, he
thought,with a sort of cloudy mysticism.Always, withoutexception,it is so
arranged.In no chess problemsince the beginningof the world has black ever
won. Did it not symbolizethe eternal,unvaryingtriumphof Good over Evil?
The huge face gazed back at him,fullof calm power.Whitealways mates.(232)
Our finalimage of Winston's dramais less like a game of chess, even one he has
lost, than it is like a chess "problem." The "problem" differsfromthe game in
several respects. First,its outcome is known in advance: the inventorof the
puzzle has thoughtout all of the possible counter-moves;this correspondsto
Winston's sense of inevitability.Second, the invented "game" is only a few
moves away from checkmate: this correspondsto Winston's sense of being
"already mated" at the outset. Thirdly,there is only one "player," unless we
count the inventorof the problem.The "player" has to imagine the moves of
both sides, and this Winston now does. Black is his old, evil, defeated self,
White the new, victoriousand pure. Thus when White wins, it is for Winston
"a victoryover himself."But all of this takes place withinthe overridingdesign
of the inventorof the problem,whose mind foreknowsall the possible moves
and in a sense "contains" the player's in the same way as O'Brien's mind
"contains" Winston's. We might define "Ingsoc in relation to chess" as
preciselythelaw that"White always mates."
The chess scene offersa final analogy: the novel itself appears in prospect
to be a chess game in which, despite the tremendousunfairnessof the odds,
eitherside can win, at least symbolically.But in retrospectit is a chess problem:
the design of the novel contains the mind of the reader,as the Thought Police
do Winston's, and as the problem's inventordoes the solver's. This shift from
"open game" to "closed problem" is accompaniedby the realizationthat black
and white are equivalent,opposite,and interchangeablewithina higherdesign.
The novel, which is usually taken as "black and white" (i.e. manifestlyantitotalitarian)is at a deeper level "blackwhite" (i.e. reversible). Reversed, the
novel comes out as a religious poem, the struggleof the obdurate sinner to
surrenderto Omnipotenceand Purity.This reading is as valid as the opposite
one, and the two belong to each otherlike all the opposites withinthe novel.
Orwell's Black/Whiteis like Wittgenstein'sDuck/Rabbit: each readingexcludes
the otherbut easily shiftsinto it. The verylast sentence("He loved Big Brother")
has two meanings: the "black" meaning is the bitterestsarcasm, the "white"
meaningis the deepestacceptance.
There are parallels to this in Orwell's earlier fiction,especially Keep the

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62

NOVELJFALL

1984

AspidistraFlying,his last novel before1984. Criticshave complainedabout the

complete ambiguityof the end, when Gordon gives up his poor and isolated
existence as a would-be poet and goes back to his old job at an advertising
agency.As in 1984 the agent of the hero's reabsorptionis a woman, and sex is
the way back into the system.Gordon feels he has to supportthe child he has
begottenand this leads him back into the serviceof the Money-God (who is to
Capitalism in this novel what Big Brotheris to Ingsoc in 1984). This prefigures
Julia's double redemption of Winston, first from his sexual isolation and
second fromhis politicaldissidence,even thoughin her case the relationof the
two aspects is superficiallycontradictory.
The ending of the earliernovel, with
Gordon throwingaway his poem and buying an aspidistra,the then symbol of
lower-middle-classrespectability,can be interpretedequally well as (1) a
shamefulcapitulation(2) a reassertionof healthynormality.
of 1984 and the usual one is essenThe differencebetweenmy interpretation
tially a move from"Winston and Julia rebel against but are defeated by the
Party" to "Winston's rebellionas well as his defeat are engineeredby the Party
throughJulia." Traditionallythe novel has been taken as validating the courageous struggleof two isolated individuals against the horrifyingpower of
totalitarianism.Their defeat is read as an affirmationof humanisticvalues, as
well as a warningagainstthe typeof societythatdestroysthem: IrvingHowe for
example calls Winston's and Julia's affair"an experimentin the rediscoveryof
must depend on the authenticityof Winston's
the human." 6 This interpretation
contrast
in
order
the autonomyof his thoughtsand actions
to
originalrebellion,
beforehis arrestwiththeirunfreedomafterwards.But this does not take account
of the retrospectiveinvalidationof Winston's imagined autonomy,of the fact
that the love affair,the room over the shop, and all of the key experiences,
are an experimentcarriedout by theThoughtPolice. The usual "tragic" interpretation cannot allow for this, since it must posit Winston's freedomas a reality
in order to give meaning to its suppression. It must thereforesuspend the
textualevidence thatWinstonis under thoughtcontrolfromthe beginning,and
also underplaythe love aspect of Winston's ambivalentlove-hate relationship
to O'Brien, Big Brotherand the Party.In this way totalitarianismbecomes less
than total: it leaves room for forces that could change the system.But in the
novel the idea that "no opposition is viable" overlays the even more radical
thesisthat"no oppositionis meaningful"or even "no opposition,even symbolic,
is possible."
This "total" hopelessness underlies and is partly concealed by the more
limitedpessimismof the tragic-humanist
readingwhich sees values affirmedin
their defeat. The theme of freedomis on the surface level of narration,and
depends on suspense and surprise; the theme of control is at a deeper level,
and depends on anticipationand fulfillmentthroughleitmotiv.The hero and
the reader experiencean apparentlyopen series of events which in retrospect
turnsout to have been closed fromthe beginning.Yet because of suspense, the
dread of what is coming,this task of revaluationis not fullyperformed,and in
a Politics and the Novel, (New York: Fawcett, 1967), p. 241.

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GRAHAM GOOD IINGSOC/CHESS

63

thisway the textprotectsitselfby invitinga partial,superficialreadingof itself.

The novel strategicallycovers its weariness with individualism,its deep emotional desire to give up the futilestruggleand reach atonement,mergewith the
totality:a union whose accompanyingsense of relief is only enhanced by a
precedingresistance.
We mightdescribe Winston's consciousness as the temporaryvehicle of the
necessary self-negationof the Party Mind. And the reader's consciousness in
the novel plays a similar role: it entertainsthe delusion of humanityas free
agency in order to overcomethe novelisticproblem of demonstratinga totalitarian society. To have a plot at all there must be some kind of conflictor
dissent to generateevents. But if thereis a conflict,then the totalitarianismis
less than total. Orwell's solutionis to show somethingthat appears (both to the
participantsand to the novel readers)to be a rebellionat the timeit is happening,
but laterturnsout to have been under controlall along. Thus Winston's illusion
is the reader's illusion, and perhaps even partlythe author's: the illusion that
the Party's dominationis less than total combinesuneasily with the fear that it
is total. In the novel, we mightsay, totalityshows itselfby creatingand then
abolishing the illusion of its own imperfection.Yet for many readers, and
possibly for Orwell too, much of the illusion is left,at least on the surface. It
is too hard to accept that the apparent "tragic humanism" of Winston's revolt
is nothingbut a cruelgame played by theThoughtPolice.
Plainly, Orwell is "against" totalitarianism:his works have been a symbol
of thisoppositionforthe entirepost-wargeneration,and to suggestany ambiguity in this stance sounds like a perversionof his meaning. Yet Orwell was
clearly intriguedand attractedby the notion of "totality" depicted through a
pseudo-oppositionwhich turns out to be part of the system.The reversibility
of opposites is a central theme in the novel, and a similar reversal may be
of the novel as a whole, as a tendentious
needed to completethe interpretation
text whose depth and greatnessis created by "going back on itself" at a basic
level.

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