You tell me

I was browsing through a list of recommended books this evening and came across this quote from "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold." :

"And suddenly, with the terrible clarity of a man too long deceived, Leamas understood the whole ghastly truth."

Now, why would this quote stop me dead in my tracks, and cause me to reach for pen and paper? In the Catholic Identity classes I took years ago (yes, that's right, I participated in those weekend classes for three years! I'm not really as anti-establishment as some may think!) we always were supposed to be on the lookout for phrases or lines that jumped out at us. Those phrases were then used as catalyists for the "Let your experience teach" papers we would write.

You tell me why that phrase should be the subject of a paper for me.