Winston’s Capture

Begin page 23, paragraph 2.

            “You’re a traitor!” yelled the boy. “You’re a thought-criminal! You’re a Eurasian spy! I’ll shoot you, I’ll vaporize you, I’ll send you to the salt mines!”

            The little girl joined in yelling “Traitor! I’ll turn you in!”

            Suddenly a deep gravely voice groaned from the telescreen. “There will be no need. The Thought Police are on their way.”

            Winston began to panic. He knew he couldn’t run, there was no use, but if he stayed here than he would be caught and tortured for sure. He had heard stories about what they do to thought criminals and it wasn’t pretty. His eyes began to flitter between the children, Mrs. Parsons, and the door.

            He moved towards Mrs. Parsons. As he did the children started to claw at him, looking to keep him there as long as possible. Winston brushed them off, there was no need to keep his feelings hidden anymore, he had been caught. He walked right by Mrs. Parsons and found the window. The Thought Police couldn’t be more than seconds away now, and if they made it inside

 then he would be taken for sure. Just the thought made his mouth feel like it was full of cotton. I just have to make it to the forest. Once I am there then I will be safe.

            Winston hauled himself to the windowsill and smashed the glass with his elbow. The blood started to pour out, but it was all worth it if he could just resist the Thought Police. Before he jumped he turned to look at the room he was leaving. The life he had just seconds earlier was gone, he was a thought criminal, just like O’Brien or Goldstein.

            On the wall he saw the telescreen showing a picture of Big Brother. Immediately his feeling switched from sorrow to full on hatred. Big Brother had destroyed his life, and for that he must pay. His hatred for Big Brother had never been so large. He really had become a thought criminal.

            One of the children dug their fingernails into Winston’s ankle, snapping him back to reality. It is time to go, he could not make Big Brother pay for all his actions if he was locked away in prison. The time to act was now.

            He turned back and looked out the window to the street below. Then he stepped out and fell to the street below.

…

            Winston woke up a few minutes later with a searing pain in his right leg. The sharp pain that seemed to consume his right leg made him believe it was broken, but how? What on earth was he doing on the ground? And why was his elbow cut and bleeding?

            He turned around and saw the Thought Police at the end of the block. Everything began to come back, his encounter with the children, his decision, and the fall. He pushed himself up with his right arm onto his left leg and began to walk towards the other side of town that was much closer to the trees.

            He limped down a sidewalk, right past the Ministry of Peace. Not even 10 steps later he felt a cold feeling come over him, he was so sure that his heart just dropped. A hand reached up and grabbed his shoulder, and immediately Winston knew he was done. He reached back for his papers but they grabbed his hand.

            “You can come with me.” he said.

            Winston started to be dragged away, but his thoughts had already turned to something new. He began to wonder how O’Brien and Goldstein kept getting away with it. He would be strong, he must be. Big Brother just stole his life for something he hadn’t done. 

By: Eric Holt