In order to convincingly evaluate the communist emphasis on the furthest extent of rationality and the objective compulsion to action, Koestler employs the stylistic device of extremely thorough rational thinking. In other words, he uses the party's own game in order to attack its policy. Rubashov is such an effective voice for the argument of the novel because he follows rationality to its extreme, finds it to be absurd, and is left only with the irrational "grammatical fiction."
In this way, the first two hearings can be understood as an exhaustion of the calm and composed rational process with results, in the form of Rubashov's confession, that seem to make sense. But, as Gletkin and his methods reveal, Rubashov has not gone far enough. Rational thinking leads him directly into the next hearing,.....
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