I was
wondering about the given situations regarding the attempts to extract
information from Prisoners. Take Number 6 for example, a total of 8 times they
tried to extract information from him, and I was wondering if any of those ways
had been tried before? As with the time at the beginning of ‘Dance of The
Dead,‘ when the doctor was attempting to extract information by using Dutton as
a communications medium. Perhaps if used on a lesser man, one less so
determined not to talk, it might have worked. Or perhaps if a plan like that
failed, perhaps it was forgotten, never to be repeated but replaced with an
even more elaborate one. They say the simple plans are the best, least can go
wrong. The doctor-Number 40 knew ways of extracting information, the only
trouble with him was he didn’t know when to stop, as in the case of poor Roland
Walter Dutton. But it might be imagined that many inmates of The Village are
not trained to resist interrogation techniques. Dutton only lasted as long as
he did because he had no further information to tell.
It must be difficult to keep coming up with so many
different and varied plans, each one more elaborate than the one before. But
perhaps that’s because Number 6 had to be handled in a much different way, that
none of the usual measures used against others could be used against Number 6. Well
they didn’t want to end up with a man of fragments, or to damage the brain
tissue. They wanted him with a whole heart, body and soul.
I have never understood what made knowing the Prisoner’s
resignation so important to them. Why did they need to know why he resigned?
The only reason I can think of is that the information behind the Prisoner’s
resignation would be added to make his personal file complete. After all the
reason behind the Prisoner’s resignation appeared to be the only thing they
didn’t have in his file. It strikes me that’s the only reason why they wanted
to know why the Prisoner resigned!
Be seeing you
Hello David,
ReplyDeleteto me this question why The Prisoner resigned seems to something like the blind spot of the Village. They know everything, they computed his whole life, there is no fact they can not retrieve. Except for that tiny little part of information they just can't get. That's why they can't stand it. I'd like to imagine the Village like an all-seeing eye. But even this eye has its blind spot, where the nerves are. And for the Village this happens to be Number 6 / Number 1. Or Ones self.
Best wishes and Happy New Year!
Jana
BCNU
Hello Jana,
DeleteA very happy New Year to you.
Yours is an interesting comment. And you are perfecty correct, the reason behind the Prisoner's resignaton is the one piece of information they cannot retrieve. I've always thought that because they like to know everything, they needed that one piece of information to complete his personal file. And then again perhaps if they could get him to tell them why he resigned, then all the other information would quickly follow.
At the weekend we shall be continuing our deliberations into the Prisoner.
So I'll be emailing you.
Best wishes
David
BCNU