The clocks weren't malfunctioning at all. He had to be back at work by fourteen-thirty. "Military time" is the US term for the 24-hour clock, and the "thirteen" is the opening sentence does refer to the 24-hour clock, as anyone who bothered to continue reading for a few pages would realize: Plausible, eh? Except that it's complete rubbish. In this way, Orwell subtly alerts the reader that statements of truth in this fictional society should be called into question.
In this world, the clocks striking thirteen is not an aberration, but a normal way of life. Put another way, the thirteenth stroke of the clock calls into question not only the credibility of itself but of the previous twelve.īut notice in this opening line that it isn't just one clock malfunctioning, but the clocks. References to a thirteenth stroke of the clock indicate that some event or discovery calls into question everything previously believed. The thirteenth stroke here doesn't refer to military time but to an old saying. It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. George Orwell's well-known dystopian novel, Nineteen Eighty-four, opens with the following statement that should seem out of the ordinary: Here's another example I found a while ago (my boldface): This thread was inspired by a discussion in the "What Are You Listening To?" thread about Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray ( post 1388956 et seq.), where it was revealed that the Cliffs Notes study guide to the book repeated the common myth that the portrait was kept in an attic. View previous topic | View next topic Textual misrepresentation
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