Your Monday mote

A literary echo

I’m curious to know the piece of writing that speaks to you?

I’m talking about the passage that had such an impact, for whatever reason, that you could write it verbatim without having to look it up.

There are a few for me but the one that always springs to mind is from George Orwell’s 1984, when Winston is being tortured in Room 101, by O’Brien.

“Never, for any reason on earth, could you wish for an increase of pain. Of pain you could only wish for one thing: that it should stop. Nothing in the world was so bad as physical pain. In the face of pain there are no heroes, no heroes, he thought over and over and he writhed on the floor, clutching uselessly at his disabled left arm.” - 1984, George Orwell.

I read that passage while I was recovering from major spinal surgery, and it’s seared into my brain.

I was in hospital for a month, and one memorable night, the pain was so bad I sobbed into the arms of a helpless nurse, before they managed to find a consultant who could administer morphine. Despite it happening thirty years ago, I remember it like it was this morning. Pain pulls focus in the worst possible way.

I still live with varying degrees of physical pain on a daily basis and I think that’s part of the reason why the quote runs through my veins, like the words inside a stick of rock.

The second passage I can always recall comes from Little Women, by Louisa M Alcott, when Jo March returns to the house having cut off her hair to raise money for the family.

I read the book as a very young girl and I was shocked - SHOCKED - at this extreme act of defiance. I wasn’t in Famous Five territory anymore. This was something entirely new and it took a while to process.

I can’t be sure but I was almost certainly reading the book by torchlight under the covers, when I should have been asleep.

I would keep biscuits in a small pouch made out of the side of my bed sheet so I could snack and read. I was so proud of myself, thinking that my parents had no idea how I was gaming the system.

Years later mum said to me, “Of course we knew. Who do you think changed your bedding?”

CLUNK. *giant penny drops*

Jo’s sacrificial act was really the first time I was aware of a young woman having the power to not just make a difference, but the power to have the courage of her convictions.

Back then my biscuit eating and reading after dark was my act of defiance.

“‘No, it's mine honestly. I didn't beg, borrow, or steal it. I earned it, and I don't think you'll blame me, for I only sold what was my own.’ As she spoke, Jo took off her bonnet, and a general outcry arose, for all her abundant hair was cut short.” - Little Women, Louise M. Alcott.

There are others, of course but I’d love to know what yours are, and why?

Lisa

Above, Winona Ryder, as Jo March, in the 1994 movie of Little Women. More recently, in 2019, the role of Jo was played by Saoirse Ronan, and by June Allyson, in the much-loved 1949 version, which also starred Elizabeth Taylor, as Amy.