1984 | Part 2, Chapter 1 Summary and Analysis

Summary Four days after spotting the girl from the Fiction Department outside the junk shop, Winston sees her at work. After falling in the corridor she is having trouble regaining her balance since her arm is in a sling. Before he tries to help, Winston feels confused. On one hand, he believes the girl might be an enemy out to kill him; on the other hand, he sees a fellow human being in need. As Winston helps her from the ground, she slips a note into his hand. Winston returns to his work station to begin some routine task. He thinks about the note. Maybe it is a summons from the Thought Police or perhaps a message from the underground, possibly from the Brotherhood. As soon as he senses that he is not being watched, Winston opens the note which reads, I love you. Shocked, Winston rereads the note even though he risks detection in doing so. He then throws the note down the memory hole. Now Winstons biggest problem lies in arranging to meet the girl whose sincerity he does not doubt. After reviewing a number of optionsall unworkableWinston decides that the canteen at work is the best place to meet her again. A week passes. Winston has no idea what has happened to the girl. The next day he sees her in the canteen and nearly succeeds in speaking to her, but he is invited to eat lunch at another table. He cannot safely refuse. Finally, on the next day, they meet at work. Winston fears she has changed her mind, for things like this do not really happen. Despite the presence of numerous telescreens that might spot them, they plan to meet at 19 hours in Victory Square. Winston is early for their appointment. Near the base of the monument to Big Brother stands the girl. They cannot approach one another until more people arrive. Suddenly there is a huge shout and everyone rushes to the south side of the square to see a passing convoy of Eurasian prisoners. Winston and the girl position themselves in the middle of the crowd where they exchange a few brief words. The girl then gives Winston a series of directions to an outlying area where they will meet on Sunday. To avoid detection they try to separate, but the curious crowd does not move. To those in Victory Square the foreigners are no more than animals on display. Before the crowd gives way, the girl squeezes Winstons hand. Even though the contact only lasts ten seconds, Winston learns every detail of her hand. Ironically, Winston does not dare to look at the girls eyes, for even a glance would mean certain punishment. Discussion and Analysis Orwell continues to build the suspense toward the forbidden love affair. A week passes

between the transmission of the note and the first meeting in Victory Square under the imposing statue of Big Brother. Winstons reaction to the girls distress in the corridor reveals his confusion over his basic humanity. In front of him was an enemy who was trying to kill him; in front of him, also, was a human creature, in pain and perhaps with a broken bone. The reader should also recognize that when Winston receives the note, his reactions are of fear and mistrust. Although Winston still retains a sense of the kinship within mankind, the same cannot be said for his comrades, the Party members. As they stand in Victory Square watching a convoy of Eurasian prisoners, they seem to have lost sight of the fact that they are watching fellow human beings suffering public humiliation. Such attitudes are reminiscent of Nazi Germany. Orwell writes, The prevailing emotion was of simple curiosity. Foreigners, whether from Eurasia or from Eastasia, were a kind of strange animal. Winstons feelings and actions here serve to differentiate him from the rest of the society in which he lives, a society grown immune to suffering and hatred, where little regard for human dignity remains.