Darkness at Noon

by

Arthur Koestler

Gletkin Character Analysis

In many ways Gletkin, who is first Ivanov’s subordinate and then replaces him as Rubashov’s interrogator, serves a foil to Ivanov. Where Ivanov is pragmatic and ironic, Gletkin is earnest and grave. For Gletkin, it’s not enough to perform a confession: each party must fully believe it. There’s also no difference to Gletkin between one’s actions and one’s thoughts, both of which make someone equally guilty. Gletkin is of peasant origin, and he didn’t learn to read, write, or tell time until he was almost an adult. He bears the marks of this heritage in the difficulty he has reading, but he also possesses a unique glimpse into the psychology of the masses and how the Party can ensure their loyalty. Gletkin is the epitome of the new guard: around 37 years old, he is too young to remember the Revolution or to have fought in the Civil War, so he has little sense of the dramatic changes that have taken place, or of the irony that those now being tried and executed for treason were some of the nation’s heroes.

Gletkin Quotes in Darkness at Noon

The Darkness at Noon quotes below are all either spoken by Gletkin or refer to Gletkin. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Ideology and Contradiction Theme Icon
).
The Third Hearing: 3 Quotes

Gletkin read straight on, stiffly and with deadly monotony. Did he really believe what he was reading? Was he not aware of the grotesque absurdity of the text?

Related Characters: Nicholas Salmanovitch Rubashov (speaker), Gletkin
Page Number: 191-192
Explanation and Analysis:
The Third Hearing: 4 Quotes

“If one told the people in my village,” said Gletkin, “that they were still slow and backward in spite of the Revolution and the factories, it would have no effect on them. If one tells them that they are heroes of work, more efficient than the Americans, and that all evil only comes from devils and saboteurs, it has at least some effect. Truth is what is useful to humanity, falsehood what is harmful.”

Related Characters: Gletkin (speaker)
Page Number: 232
Explanation and Analysis:
The Third Hearing: 6 Quotes

“The policy of the opposition is wrong. Your task is therefore to make the opposition contemptible; to make the masses understand that opposition is a crime and that the leaders of the opposition are criminals. That is the simple language which the masses understand. If you begin to talk of your complicated motives, you will only create confusion amongst them.”

Related Characters: Gletkin (speaker), Nicholas Salmanovitch Rubashov
Page Number: 243
Explanation and Analysis:
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Gletkin Quotes in Darkness at Noon

The Darkness at Noon quotes below are all either spoken by Gletkin or refer to Gletkin. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Ideology and Contradiction Theme Icon
).
The Third Hearing: 3 Quotes

Gletkin read straight on, stiffly and with deadly monotony. Did he really believe what he was reading? Was he not aware of the grotesque absurdity of the text?

Related Characters: Nicholas Salmanovitch Rubashov (speaker), Gletkin
Page Number: 191-192
Explanation and Analysis:
The Third Hearing: 4 Quotes

“If one told the people in my village,” said Gletkin, “that they were still slow and backward in spite of the Revolution and the factories, it would have no effect on them. If one tells them that they are heroes of work, more efficient than the Americans, and that all evil only comes from devils and saboteurs, it has at least some effect. Truth is what is useful to humanity, falsehood what is harmful.”

Related Characters: Gletkin (speaker)
Page Number: 232
Explanation and Analysis:
The Third Hearing: 6 Quotes

“The policy of the opposition is wrong. Your task is therefore to make the opposition contemptible; to make the masses understand that opposition is a crime and that the leaders of the opposition are criminals. That is the simple language which the masses understand. If you begin to talk of your complicated motives, you will only create confusion amongst them.”

Related Characters: Gletkin (speaker), Nicholas Salmanovitch Rubashov
Page Number: 243
Explanation and Analysis: