yeah, I was thinking that too... some of it was fake emotion (like when he smiled, it was usually just "being polite"), but sometimes there was this smugness ... and when he was arrested I thought there was actual emotion there (unless he was just acting, since it was an "act"). He really seemed like a sociopath to be honest; I'm not sure that he really needed to be taking his dose (if he even was). "Father" displayed some manner of emotion as well. So then I was wondering why the main character didn't "intuit" these things. Anyway, it disturbed the contrast of "no emotion" vs. "emotion," but it was a really hypocritical society. Maybe feelings like smugness and gratification after killing "sense offenders" weren't acknowledged as "emotion," because these things were "good" in the society, just like the "national spirit" was "good." Which was of course rather ironic, since what they had really done was obliterate everything actually "good" to get rid of violence and war, while retaining a sort of psychopathic (faintly emotional) appreciation for violence on a smaller scale. But that of course was the entire point; that it wasn't any better and in fact was worse.
I liked the similarities with 1984. :tongue: