1984 (1948), a book written by an author who hadn't had the happiest* boarding school experience, can be read as a story in which we skip the fast-forward (part I) to get to the story-within-a-story (part II) which asks a cliffhanger question:
> deeper than this lies the original motive, the never-questioned instinct that first led to the seizure of power and brought doublethink, the Thought Police, continuous warfare, and all the other necessary paraphernalia into existence afterwards. This motive really consists...
which is answered by O'Brien (in part III):
> ...How does a man assert his power over another, Winston?" Winston thought. "By making him suffer," he said.
* Such, Such Were the Joys (1952)
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