Chapter 9

Summary

Everyone in the Ministries is working flat out in the build up to Hate Week.

Julia and Winston have had little time to meet, but now they can look forward to a small amount of time together.   

Winston receives the book from O’Brien just as he described and he starts to read it to Julia in their room.  It gives details of how the world was split into three great superstates with Russia absorbing Europe, the United States acquiring the British Empire, and the rest being effectively Eastasia. So Oceania comprises of the Americas, the British Isles, Australia and Southern Africa.  The book gives further details concerning the economies of these countries and how they fought against one another, but holding back from using nuclear bombs, these being counter-productive.

Winston read the first 3 chapters to Julia who had fallen asleep.  He knew that he did not have to read the whole book for it was clear what Goldstein’s final message was, that the future of the world belonged to the proles. 

Julia awoke and they looked out of the window of their room, and reminisced about their first meeting in the country and how the thrush was singing.

Just as the bird sang in the country, so will the proles sing one day, whether it is in London, New York or Africa.  From the race of proles a new generation of conscious beings will one day come to overthrow the oppressors. 

Winston says, “We are the dead,” echoed by Julia. 

Then an iron voice behind them says, “You are the dead.”   The voice came from behind the picture and they realized that they are being observed by a telescreen concealed behind the picture. The house is surrounded and they are soon joined by the Thought Police. Julia says, “I suppose we may as well say goodbye,” “You may as well say goodbye,” says the iron voice from behind the picture. They are ordered to stand back-to-back with their hands clasped behind their heads.  One of the guards smashes the glass paperweight and the couple realizes that they are doomed.  One of the men smashes his fist into Julia’s stomach and she is thrashing about on the floor fighting for breath. Winston dare not move.

Mr. Carrington comes into the room.  He now looks much younger and has lost his Cockney accent.  The person Winston least suspected of being a member of the Thought Police was Mr. Carrington.

Interpretation

The reader should study Chapter 9 carefully in order to obtain a history of Oceania and its relationships to Eurasia and Eastasia. It also gives an insight into the ways by which the Inner Party keeps control.  It also gives detailed information concerning the Party’s ideology and the intricacies of Ingsoc. Of course the Party’s real power is over recorded history and its falsification.  In this way it is able to mould the minds of its citizens. 

Goldstein is Oceania’s official scapegoat and his purported book is a book within a book, and many scholars view it as Orwell’s parody of Leon Trotsky’s “The Revolution Betrayed”.  Through reading this book, Winston now understands what the Party’s aims are, but he does not fully realize what they are trying to achieve.   This will become clear to him in Part 3 of the novel.

Orwell’s description of the couple’s discovery transforms this haven of tranquility into a scene of brutality. Winston reacts passively as deep down he has long expected their discovery. He offers no resistance and willingly submits to being a tool of the state.

Orwell uses clever symbolism through the destruction of the paperweight, which signifies the destruction of Winston and Julia’s dream.  He also introduces a twist in the tale by revealing that Mr. Charrington is a member of the Thought Police.

The reader realizes that his premises are a trap for the unsuspecting.

The significance of the rhyme concerning the churches in London now becomes ominous when Mr. Charrington repeats the last line, “And here comes a chopper, to chop off your head.”

Winston and Julia’s arrest marks the second climax of the book.

The final part of the novel is played out between Winston and O’Brien. Julia will now virtually disappear from the story.