Comprehensive Summary and Review of Part
II Chapters 6-10
Summary:
It is summer and the preparations for "Hate Week", an enormous
propaganda event, are in progress. During this period Winston meets Julia
more often than ever before. She makes him feel more alive, and healthier.
One day O'Brien speaks to Winston in the Ministry of Truth. He refers, obliquely
to Syme, the philologist, who has vanished a couple of days before, and is
now, as it is called in Newspeak an unperson. In doing so O'Brien is committing
a little act of thoughtcrime. O'Brien invites Winston to his flat, to see
the latest edition of the Newspeak dictionary. Winston now feels sure that
the conspiracy against the Party he had longed to know about - the Brotherhood,
as it is called - does exist, and that in the encounter with O'Brien he has
come into contact with its outer edge. He knows that he has embarked on a
course of action which will lead , in one way or another, to the cells of
the Ministry of Love.
Some days later Winston and Julia meet each other to go to the flat of O'Brien,
which lies in the district of the Inner Party. They are admitted to a richly
furnished room by a servant. To their astonishment O'Brien switches off the
Telescreen in the room. (Normally it is impossible to turn it off). Without
any care, Winston blurts out why they have come: they want to work against
the Party, they believe in the existence of the Brotherhood, and that they
think that O'Brien is involved with it. O'Brien asks them a series of questions
about their willingness to commit various atrocities on behalf of the Brotherhood
and gets their assent. A servant brings real red wine, and they drink a toast
to Emanuel Goldstein, the leader of the Brotherhood. They leave, and some
days later Winston gets a copy of "The Book", a book written by
Emanuel Goldstein, about his political ideas.
Now it is Hate Week and suddenly the war with Eurasia stops, and a war with
Eastasia starts. This of course means a lot of work for Winston. He has to
change dozens of articles about the war with Eurasia. Nevertheless Winston
finds time to read the book. The book has three chapters titled, "War
is Peace", "Ignorance is Strength" and "Freedom is Slavery",
which were also the main phrases of the party. The main ideas of the book
are:
1: War is important for consuming the products of human labor, if this work
would be used to increase the standard of living, the control of the party
over the people would decrease. War is the economy basis for a hierarchical
society.
2: There is an emotional need to believe in the ultimate victory of Big Brother.
3: In becoming continuous war has ceased to exist. The continuity of the war
guarantees the permanence of the current order. In other words "War is
Peace"
4: There have always been three main grades of society; the High, the Middle
and the Low, and no change has brought human equality a millimeter nearer.
5: Collectivism doesn't lead to socialism. In the event the wealth now belongs
to the new "high-class", the bureaucrats and administrators. Collectivism
has ensured the permanence of economic inequality.
6: Wealth is not inherited from person to person, but it is kept within the
ruling group.
7: The masses (proles) are given freedom of thought, because they don't think!
A Party member is not allowed the slightest deviation of thought, and there
is an elaborate mental training to ensure this, a training that can be summarized
in the concept of doublethink.
So far the book analyses how the Party works. It has not yet attempted to
deal with why the Party has arisen. Before continuing with the next chapter
Winston turns to Julia, and finds her asleep. He also falls asleep. The next
morning when he awakes the sun is shining, and down in the yard a prole women
is singing and working. Winston is again filled with the conviction that the
future lies with the proles, that they will overthrow the grayness of the
Party. But suddenly reality crashes in. "We are the DEAD", he says
to Julia. An iron voice behind them repeats the phrase, the picture on the
wall falls to bits to reveal a telescreen behind it. Uniformed men thunder
into the room and they carry Winston and Julia out
Review:
Even though Winston's memories are vague, his dreams help him sort them out.
It is surprising to note that Winston can be taken in so readily by O'Brien
and that he doesn't try to do more research on the validity of the Brotherhood..
One would have thought that he would have become suspicious when O'Brien was
able to switch off the Telescreen.
The climax is reached when Winston states "We are the dead" and
the Thought Policeman behind the telescreen repeats the same words.
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