Chapter Everything: What is wrong with this man? Okay, it’s not Chapter Everything. It’s Part 2, Chapter 8 … which might as well be Chapter I’m Trying to Get Caught and I am as Naive as a Baby Rabbit. Here’s Winston’s problem: His yearning for an intellectual bromance with O’Brien has made his brain not work — not that it’s been working that well in the last few chapters, anyway. He’s already thrown caution to the wind with Julia and there’s no caution left, so he just goes straight up to O’Brien’s luxury apartment and blurts out his need to follow the tenets of Immanuel Goldstein and do anything necessary to bring down the Party. Does he check O’Brien’s credentials? No. Does he even ask who miracle face Martin is? No. I take more time figuring out which cereal to buy.
He just says “I want to be a martyr. Use me ’til they kill me. Where do I sign up?” And Julia does the same. I’ve read this book. I’m still annoyed at him. You haven’t read it. Wait a few chapters. You’ll be annoyed, too.
What else happens? Winston and Julia taste wine, admire walls that aren’t dirty, are flabbergasted that O’Brien can turn of the telescreen whenever he wants and then O’Brien explains to Winston how he’ll be presented with Emmanuel Goldstein’s book. And this reminds me of something else. There’s a line that says Winston is almost worshiping O’Brien. Just in case we don’t get the allusion, half a page later, we have O’Brien giving Julia and Winston white wafers to put on their tongues. So now we have an imitation Communion service with the wafer and the wine. If we didn’t get the hint before, we have it now. O’Brien is Winston’s fake God.
The chapter ends with Julia leaving first and Winston casting a last longing look at O’Brien before he exits, to enter …
Part Three … which happens next class. Wouldn’t it be weird if our actual lives had chapters and you knew you were entering Part Two or Part Three?
WatsonWork 