Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1991. British and American Philologycal Studies (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 20)
József Hruby: Two "Last Men in Europe": A. Koestler's Darkness at Noon and G. Ornwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four
65 name brings into one's mind events a decade before. His name evokes somebody who alongside with the victims of the Moscow Trials, fell victim to Stalin's broom, Leon Trotsky (Bronstein). Goldstein is the scapegoat enemy of the state public enemy N°1 and official hate image. The two minutes hate helps to sublimate sexual energies, and it also has the purpose of uniting the people around Big Brother and the Party. It is from Goldstein's book that Winston learns the "how". However, he is more than curious to find out the "why 7' as well. Both Winston and Julia are rebels. Julia only rebels with her body, hers is the rebellion of the flesh against the suppression of natural instincts. Winston's rebellion is, however more concious. In his case the soul also participates in the rebellion. For him sexuality is the source of energy to carry on with his rebellion. Eventually he falls in love with Julia. The difference between their sorts of rebellion is clearly illustrated by the scene when Winston reads out excerpts from Goldstein's book, and then Julia falls asleep... They both believe in the existence of a sphere wich is entirely private. "They cannot get inside you"^ - Julia says. This assumption is, however, easily refuted by the Party. After Winston and Julia's being captured, their "reeducation" begins. The idea is that they should unlearn their previous values and learn new ones. The inculcation of the new values takes place in the brightly lit torture chambers of the Ministry of Love ("The place where there is no darkness"). The ultimate dissident mind to the absolute, the embodiment of the State: Big Brother. The process of reintegration takes place in several stages: learning, understanding, accepting. Totalitarianism does not only want to break the victim, but wants to turn him inside out. It seeks the entire destruction of the sphere where the individual can (possibly) withdraw. The system does not punish its deviant subject in the conventional sense of the term but exposes them to a kind of "therapeutic treatment". This "cure" means the complete destruction of the human self, ensures the surrender of the individual to the collective. The I becomes We. O'Brien does not want Winston to become a martyr, he ants no false confession, he wants him to believe what the says. In Darkness at Noon Rubashov's confession in only a "tactical move", he does not really believe what he says at the trial. Winston, however, comes to believe everything by the
