1984: Corrupt To The Bones (Spoiler Alert)

I was reading 1984 during my lunch break yesterday and hit a speed bump of the mind.

The protagonist, Winston, meets a girl, a dark haired girl who had seen before, thought to be a member of the Thought Police and wanted to violently rape before crushing her skull in with a cobblestone (pretty graphic, huh?) but the girl gave him a note that said she loved him.

This changes EVERYTHING and eventually they find a hide out and make love.

He asked her if she had done it before. Scores of times, she replies. She even says that it might be hundreds of times, with other people. He was glad.

Says Winston: “I hate purity. I hate goodness. I don’t want any virtue to exist anywhere. I want everyone to be corrupt to the bones.” He later went on to say “The more men you’ve had, the more I love you.”

This is completely unlike anything else I’ve EVER read where the standard is so standard that my brain had never even thought of something different. The fact that they were in love meant nothing when it came to this because there’s more than just love here, this is a revolution. A protest. And while you could say you’re protesting something by sleeping with someone will you ever try to build a relationship on such a foundation? It is so against everything I’ve ever been told that it blew my mind. It’s something that needed to be meditated on. This whole book is something that needs to be read slowly so you catch everything and really think about it since (I swear) it seems like it’s so close.