That's Absurd!

[Quiller]

In response to Alasdair who was responding to my "comic" comment--perhaps comic is not the right word, rather "absurdist". I don't say this with purely negative connotations. Certainly the sudden appearance of two of Winston's co-workers, then O'Brien (whom Winston perceives as the third guilty party, until his inanity and lack of perception is pointed out to him) is incongruous, given only one disappearance from Winston's workplace occurs prior to this point (correct me if I'm wrong, it's been a while). Without putting words into the author's mouth, this absurdity is intentional, and indeed, the remaining chapters of the novel are equally absurd. Does it work? Not all the way for me. Perhaps this is Orwell venting the last of his energy (literally, he died shortly after completion), especially apt after the slogging journey through Chapter 17.