We Repression Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Record.Paragraph)

Quote #1

"How could a government, even a primitive government, permit people to live without anything like our Tables—without compulsory walks, without precise regulation of the time to eat, for instance?" (3.8)

This is a sign of the extent of the State's repression: it's so deep that the citizens actually are afraid of being free.

Quote #2

"What difficulties our predecessors had in making music! They were able to compose only by bringing themselves to attacks of inspiration, an extinct form of epilepsy." (4.6)

Again, creativity and inspiration have been so thoroughly beaten out of people that they're considered types of mental illness. Now that's repression.

Quote #3

"Then suddenly a tear appeared in her blue eyes, then another, and a third fell straight on the open page." (4.16)

Repressed is not the same thing as nonexistent, of course, and as the book progresses, we see more and more signs of hidden emotions springing up. It's most apparent in O-90, whose desire to be a mother—the most natural desire in the world—ultimately wins out against a lifetime of State training.