English Literature books summary

some way or another‹though they know that they will never commit even the

only feasible act among these options, which is suicide.

They talk about rebelling against the Party in a vague way; Winston

tells her about his unspoken bond with O'Brien, which does not strike her

as at all strange. Though Julia takes it for granted that everyone harbors

hatred for the Party, she does not believe in an organized underground; in

fact, she thinks that Goldstein and the tales about him were invented by

the Party for their own ends.

Julia's intelligence is also shown by her casually offered opinion

that the war with Eurasia is not actually happening‹that the government of

Oceania was dropping the bombs on its own people for the purposes of

keeping the population scared and emotionally subjected to the Party.

Winston has never even thought of this possibility. But for the most part,

Julia does not question Party doctrine unless it touches her own life in

some way; she believes much of the false history she has been taught in

school, and it doesn't seem important to her that this is untrue. Winston

is shocked by this, as well as by the fact that she doesn't seem to recall

that only four years ago Eastasia, and not Eurasia, was Oceania's enemy in

war.

Julia also does not seem to grasp the importance of Winston's story of

the photograph clearing Jones, Aaronson and Rutherford of wrongdoing. In

general she is not interested when Winston starts to delve into the

problems the Party presents. He realizes that people like Julia, who accept

what they are taught because they don't fully understand it, are in a fair

way to remain more sane than persons like himself.

Chapter 6

Summary:

Winston, walking down the long corridor where he had first spoken to

Julia, encounters O'Brien, who addresses him cordially regarding Newspeak

and what he considers Winston's elegant use of it. O'Brien obliquely refers

to Syme as someone who shares this opinion, to whom he had spoken recently;

Winston takes this as some sort of signal.

O'Brien says that he had noticed that Winston had recently used two

words now obsolete in the forthcoming Tenth Edition of the Newspeak

Dictionary, which has not been issued yet but of which O'Brien has an

advance copy. He offers Winston to visit him at his flat to take a look at

the Dictionary; through this device he gives Winston his address.

This whole exchange‹which has taken place under the watchful eye of a

telescreen‹takes only a couple of minutes, but it has sparked in Winston

both a cautious joy in the existence of the conspiracy he had hoped for,

and a dreadful certainty that it is the beginning of the end for him.

Chapter 7

Summary:

Winston awakens from a dream crying. The dream took place inside the

glass paperweight and somehow was about a protective gesture made by his

mother 30 years ago, and repeated in the film he wrote about in his diary

(where a helpless Jewish mother ineffectually tries to protect her child

from the bullets that are about to be fired at them). Within a few seconds

of waking, the memories surrounding this gesture flood back to Winston.

He had been a young boy, and London was a disaster area of starvation,

violence and unrest. His father disappeared, taking his mother's spirit

with him so that she moved through daily life waiting for her own

disappearance. She, Winston, and his baby sister lived in poor quarters and

had not enough to eat; despite his knowledge that the mother and sister

were starving, Winston would demand more food even though his mother would

automatically give him the biggest portion. One day there was a chocolate

ration, and Winston, though he knew the chocolate should be equally divided

between the three of them, found himself demanding the whole piece. After

long argument, his mother gave him 3/4 of the piece and the rest to his

sister. But Winston grabbed the piece from his sister and dashed for the

door, where he stopped at his mother's cry to come back. She looked at him;

the baby wailed; and she drew the baby closer to her, in some way that told

Winston the child was dying. He fled. When he came back a few hours later,

they both had disappeared.

This dream reminds him of the one he had had two months ago, where he

saw his mother and sister sinking away from him. He wants to talk about his

mother to Julia, but she is drifting in and out of sleep. Winston thinks

about love, about the novelty of the past, where people would make an

ineffectual gesture or act knowing that it was ineffectual but doing it

just the same; this indicates to him that they acted of their own accord,

out of their own private loyalties and standards. It strikes him that the

proles had remained like this‹had remained human. For the first time in his

life he feels no contempt or indifference toward the proles, but a strange

sort of respect for them for remaining who they are.

Julia has awakened again, and they talk about their inevitable

parting. Though they know they will be forced to confess and not be able to

help one another, Winston says that the only important thing is that they

should never betray one another, in the sense of being made to stop loving

the other person. Julia considers this and opines that this would be

impossible because they would never be able to get inside you and change

what you think. Winston takes some hope from this, believing in Julia-esque

fashion that you could beat them in the end because they couldn't change

your feelings.

Chapter 8

Summary:

Winston and Julia arrive together at O'Brien's flat. The neighborhood

of Inner Party residences is a whole new world of wealth, cleanliness and

luxury with which neither Winston nor Julia is familiar. O'Brien's servant

Martin takes them in to O'Brien's office or drawing-room, where O'Brien is

working. Winston, already afraid, feels suddenly embarrassed‹what if he has

made a mistake and O'Brien is not sympathetic?

As O'Brien approaches, he astonishes the couple by shutting off the

telescreen, which, he explains, is an Inner Party privilege. He stands

sternly before them, waiting for a short while, before his face relaxes and

he breaks the silence.

Winston explains that they are there because they believe that O'Brien

works for an underground organization which they wish to belong to. Martin

enters, but O'Brien says he is one of them, so they all sit down with a

glass of wine (which neither Winston nor Julia has ever tasted) and talk

about the Brotherhood. O'Brien asks a series of questions to test how far

Winston and Julia will go to further the goals of the Brotherhood; when he

asks whether they are willing to separate from one another, they both reply

in the negative. O'Brien asks Julia whether she understands that even if

Winston survives, he would be substantially altered both in physique and

identity; she nods, pale.

O'Brien dismisses Martin, telling him to look carefully at Winston and

Julia before he goes. Martin gives them a long look without any

friendliness or emotion in it whatsoever, then leaves. O'Brien explains

that the Brotherhood is unusual because each agent works alone, with no

support, minimal information, and no link to one another except the common

ideal they hold for the destruction of the Party. Matter-of-factly, he

outlines their lives: they will work for a while, then be caught, forced to

confess and executed. "We are the dead," he says, echoing Winston's words

to Julia a couple of chapters ago.

O'Brien dismisses Julia, then settles some details with Winston about

getting him a copy of the book, i.e. Goldstein's heretical text exposing

the true nature of the current world and the methods by which the

Brotherhood will destroy the Party. After working out these plans, O'Brien

says to Winston, "We shall meet again . . . in the place where there is no

darkness." Winston's last question to him regards the nursery rhyme of the

bells, of which O'Brien knows the final line: "When I grow rich,' say the

bells of Shoreditch."

Chapter 9

Summary:

Winston, exhausted after five days of intense work, and carrying in

his briefcase the book, goes to Mr. Charrington's shop.

The rush of work had begun on the sixth day of Hate Week, when‹at the

climax of hatred directed at Eurasia‹suddenly Oceania's alliance switched,

so that the enemy was now Eastasia and Eurasia was an ally. Remarkably, the

change occurred without any admission that it had taken place; the anti-

Eurasia posters and propaganda everywhere were suddenly deemed sabotage,

the work of Goldstein and his agents, and promptly torn down, while the

venomous speaker who had been castigating Eurasia shifted to vilifying

Eastasia without losing a beat. During the confusion, Winston is handed a

briefcase containing the book.

Winston and his fellow workers at the Ministry had spent 90 hours

rewriting history so that no trace of the war with Eurasia could be found

in the documents of the past 5 years. After the monumental task had been

completed, every Ministry worker had been given the rest of the day off, so

Winston had headed for the upstairs room.

As he waits for Julia to arrive, he starts to read the book, entitled

The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism. He starts off looking

at Chapter 1, entitled "Ignorance is Strength," but breaks off to enjoy the

fact that he is reading, and takes up again with Chapter 3, "War is Peace."

This lengthy chapter discusses the history of events that led to the

current state of the world with its three superpowers, Oceania, Eurasia,

and Eastasia, and the territory they have theoretically been fighting over

for a quarter-century (which comprises a wide swath of land across Africa,

the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, and Indonesia).

First, the nature of war has changed: it has become continuous, and

therefore its aims are different. It is continuous because none of the

superpowers could ever win, and unnecessary in the old sense because each

could sustain itself materially and ideologically they're almost identical.

According to Goldstein, the aim of warfare is no longer conquest; it

is to use up production surplus while not raising the standard of living at

home. The reason for this is, essentially, that those in power wish to

maintain a hierarchical society‹an aim that was threatened by scientific

progress, whereby machines could raise the general standard of living to

the point where wealth could theoretically be evenly distributed. Because

hierarchy depends on poverty and ignorance, as well as keeping people too

busy to complain about conditions, it became the goal of the ruling class

to somehow maintain industry while not distributing goods. The only way to

do so was continuous warfare, which addresses this need practically but

also psychologically, by correctly maintaining the morale of the Party.

As long as they remain at war, the three superstates support one

another. The standards of living in all three are actually the same, as are

their socio-political systems. The techniques of warfare haven't really

changed in 30-40 years, because they don't need to. None of the superstates

ever undertakes a major risk, i.e. one that could lead to a serious defeat.

Not much fighting really goes on and it never approaches the heartland of

any of the three powers, because that would jeopardize cultural integrity

and risk people finding that other humans are pretty much the same as they,

which could prove the undoing of these governments. Whatever fighting or

strategy there is a dance of alliances, where each power tries to swallow

up an ally and then do the same with its remaining opponent.

When war becomes continuous, it is no longer dangerous, therefore no

recourse to the past and lessons learned then is necessary; neither is

efficiency; neither is any need to even address reality. Reality can be

shaped however the ruling class chooses.

Thus war is waged by the state upon its own citizens, not for conquest

but for maintaining the social structure. Because its nature has been so

altered, and that the same effects can be achieved through a state of

peace, "war is peace"‹the true meaning of the Party slogan.

Winston stops reading. The book is reassuring because it helps him to

know he is not insane. Julia comes in, and is less interested in the book

than in Winston.

Later, as they lie in bed, he starts to read it to her, from Chapter

1, which discusses class differences and the historical nature of the class

struggle between High, Middle and Low.

Socialist movements aiming for liberty and equality were more and more

openly abandoned over the first half of the twentieth century, until the

three currently dominating world movements‹Ingsoc in Oceania, Neo-

Bolshevism in Eurasia, and Death-Worship in Eastasia‹had emerged with their

new aims of "unfreedom and inequality." Their intent: to become the High,

and then freeze the cycle of class struggle so as to permanently maintain

their status. To this end, technical advances were anathema because they

promoted human equality, which was to be fought at all costs.

By the middle of the century, the new totalitarian forces had emerged

from the Middle, but with a difference: they were less concerned with

wealth than with power, and they had learned from history how they might

maintain their power and stifle all opposition. Technologies enabled 24-

hour surveillance and complete mind control; and the "abolition of private

property" really meant the appropriation of all property by the Party as a

group.

According to history, the new ruling class could only be toppled one

of four ways. It could be conquered by an external power; this has

effectually ceased to be a possibility with the mutual unconquerability of

the three superstates. It could stimulate mass revolt due to its own

inefficiency; but the masses have no standards of comparison to even show

them the inefficiency or misery of Party rule. It could allow for the rise

of a strong Middle class, or it could lose its confidence in itself and its

ability to govern through the rise of certain attitudes in its own ranks.

These last two comprise an educational problem, and are solved through the

use of doublethink and the relative flexibility between the Outer Party and

Inner Party. Because Party membership is not hereditary, the Party is not a

class in the historical sense; it is concerned with propagating itself,

rather than with putting forth its children.

There is a discussion of Oceanic society and a detailed description of

the everyday life of a Party member, which delves into the mental

disciplines of "crimestop" (the ability to protect yourself from committing

thoughtcrime using stupidity), "blackwhite" (either an opponent's insolent

claim that black is white, or a Party member's laudable willingness to

claim black is white for the Party's sake), and doublethink (which in

reality encompasses all).

The alteration of history is explained as having two reasons: to

prevent Party members from having a standard of comparison, and to protect

the Party's supposed infallibility. "The mutability of the past is the

central tenet of Ingsoc," Goldstein writes, starting to touch upon the

issue that haunts Winston. According to Ingsoc, the past is defined by

record and memory; and since the Party creates and controls both of those,

it creates the past.

Here Goldstein comes to the practice of doublethink, and after a

detailed discussion of it (though nothing Winston doesn't already know),

claims that ultimately it is doublethink which has allowed the Party to

freeze the pendulum of social class struggle, because through doublethink

the Party is able to learn from past errors while maintaining the illusion

of its infallibility. Through the use of doublethink, the Party is able to

create an atmosphere of "controlled insanity," which is the ideal for

permanently keeping human equality at bay.

But when Goldstein comes to the central question‹i.e., why is it

necessary to forever avoid human equality? Winston stops reading, aware

that Julia has fallen asleep. He closes the book and reflects that he still

doesn't understand why (his question from a previous chapter). He knew

everything in those chapters already. But he derives comfort from the

feeling that he is not mad, and falls asleep with a feeling that he is

safe.

Chapter 10

Summary:

Winston awakens, feeling like he has slept for a long time; but the

old-fashioned clock says 8:30, i.e. 20:30. The woman outside starts singing

the love song she always sings, waking Julia, who gets up to light the

stove. Oddly, there is no oil left, although she had made sure it was full.

Remarking that it is colder, she gets dressed; Winston follows suit. He

goes to the window and looks out‹no sun. As he watches the prole woman,

Julia joins him, and he is surprised to find that he thinks the huge lady

beautiful. She must have had many children, he reflects, noting also that

he and Julia can never do that; but with hope he thinks about the millions

of people like that woman, who live their lives and will eventually rise up

to construct a new world. He knows that while he and Julia are dead, they

can yet share in the future by somehow passing along the secret that "2 + 2

= 4."

He says, "We are the dead." Julia echoes him.

And then they are startled by a voice from the wall echoing them. "You

are the dead."

At last, they have been caught. There had been a telescreen behind the

picture. Winston and Julia are ordered to remain still and untouching, in

the middle of the room, hands behind their heads, while storm troopers

surround the house and burst in through a window.

Winston remains as still as he can, trying to avoid being struck. One

of the storm troopers smashes the paperweight. Another hits Julia in the

solar plexus, knocking the wind out of her and sending her to the floor.

She is picked up and ignominiously carried out as Winston watches

helplessly.

Various uninteresting thoughts begin to hit Winston. It becomes

apparent that he and Julia have overslept‹that it is now 9:00 in the

morning, rather than in the evening. But he does not pursue this train of

thought.

Mr. Charrington enters, but he is altered in accent and appearance.

Winston realizes that he is a member of the Thought Police.

Part 3

Chapter 1

Summary:

Winston is in the Ministry of Love (he presumes), in a high-ceilinged

bare white cell with a telescreen in each wall and a bench running along

the perimeter. He has not eaten since he was arrested, and he has no

conception of how long ago that was.

Before being brought to this place he had been taken to a prison full

of both "common criminals" (i.e. prole gangsters, thieves, prostitutes,

etc.) and political prisoners like himself. He notes that the common

criminals comport themselves with almost no fear of consequences, in direct

contrast to the political prisoners, and that they have set up a sort of

hierarchical social order within the prison.

One huge, drunken woman is brought in kicking and screaming and dumped

on Winston's lap. She seems to take a liking to him, asks his name, and is

surprised to find that it is the same as hers. She speculates that she

might be his mother; he reflects that it is possible, given her age and the

potential changes time may have wrought.

In this prison, Winston hears for the first time a reference to "Room 101,"

which he does not understand.

In the cell in the Ministry of Love, Winston has nothing to do except

sit still and think. He is so paralyzed by hunger and fear that he cannot

even feel for Julia. Dreading torture, he thinks hopefully of the razor

blade O'Brien might send.

People start to come into the cell. The first is Ampleforth, the poet

from Winston's department. They talk briefly before the telescreen shouts

at them to be quiet. After a while, Ampleforth is taken out to Room 101.

The next person to enter is, to Winston's utter surprise, Parsons, whose

daughter denounced him to the Thought Police for saying "Down with Big

Brother" over and over again in his sleep.

After Parsons is removed, various other prisoners are brought in and

taken out. Again, someone is assigned to be taken to Room 101, and Winston

observes her fear without comprehending it. A starving man is brought in;

everyone in the cell seems to realize at once that he is dying of

starvation. Another prisoner, a chinless man, gets up to offer him a crust

of bread. The telescreen roars at him to freeze and drop the bread. An

officer and a guard enter; the guard smashes the man in the mouth, sending

him across the cell and breaking his dental plate.

After this, the starving man is summoned to Room 101. In mortal

terror, he flings himself into a posture of supplication, begging them not

to send him there. The officer is implacable. The prisoner begs them to do

anything to him, anything else but Room 101; still no relenting.

Desperately, he tries to point the finger at the chinless man, shrieking

that they should be taking him instead; the guards move forward to remove

him by force. He grabs one of the iron legs supporting the bench and puts

up a surprisingly good fight before his fingers are broken by a vicious

kick and he is dragged away.

An unknown amount of time passes, and Winston is alone. He is tortured

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