You had to live--did live, from habit that became instinct--in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.

Constant surveillance has become a way of living. Habit hardened into instinct, so a person assumes each noise is heard and each gesture watched, with only darkness offering relief. The passage shows how being observed reshapes behaviour long before anyone actually intervenes.

Context reviewed 29 September 2026