Chapter 2 (Book Two) 1984 Summary and Analysis.

A Brief Summary and Analysis of Chapter 2 (Book 2) of George Orwell’s 1984

In this chapter, Winston goes to the spot where he had promised to meet the girl. He reaches their earlier than the set time but soon she joins him. Julia is a talkative girl. Winston gets to know her name in this chapter. Later she ,offers Winston a chocolate. The taste is different from the type of chocolate Winston has been eating. He searches his memory in an effort to find out where he had tasted the chocolate earlier. However, he is unable to. The girl turns out to be very different from what Winston had imagined. She hates the inner party and the party men and all the work she has done for the party throughout her life. She tells Winston that she had recognized that he was different when she had seen him for the first time. She knew Winston also hated the party.

The two do not hesitate and tell each other everything and Winston also tells Julia how he felt about her before she gave him the paper slip. Julia takes Winston to a small opening inside the woods, where she thinks there must be no microphones hidden. Even in the woods, the party hides microphones to spy on its people. The two kiss each other. Initially, Winston does not feel any physical sensation for the girl but only happy and proud. A little later he feels aroused and the two make love. The girl removes her clothes just as she once did in his dreams. Julia tells Winston that she has previously had sexual encounters with many more men but that just grows Winston’s interest in her. He tells her that the more experienced she is and the more men she has loved in her life, the more will he love her. It turned out he liked corruption and wanted her to be corrupt to her bones. He wanted to know about things that could weaken the party and bring it down. Winston believed that the party was highly corrupt inside and not as holy as the party men tried to appear. Later, it turns out that they were near the stretch of land that Winston had once seen in his dreams. It was almost the same.

Again, in this chapter, the author highlights that the people of Oceania cannot have privacy anywhere. The party keeps a watch even on the countryside and hides microphones in the woods. Winston is again nervous in this chapter about seeing the girl that she might rejected him. However, the meeting turns out to be a lot happier than he expected. He recognizes the place as the Golden Country he had seen in his dream and tells Julia about it. Julia’s arrival in his life marks a significant change for him. The girl is much smarter than he believed and Winston likes it. However, she cannot help swearing whenever she talks about the party. Despite everything Winston is happy that he has achieved something and some of the emptiness in his life is now gone. Julia is just so different from his wife, Winston cannot help feeling happy about it. He believes that their sexual encounter is a political activity and an act of rebellion. In this chapter, the author has presented Julia as an intelligent and practical girl. She is different from Winston and not just shrewd but actually also smarter and faster. Winston is still afraid and sometimes cannot help being too cautious and negative, Julia on the other hand is cautious but confident.

A detailed summary of chapter 2 (Book 2) of George Orwell’s 1984.

Winston was into the woods where he had set a meeting with the girl. The ground was misty and there were bluebells around. Winston liked the kiss of fresh air on his skin. It was the second of May. Winston heard the droning of ring doves coming from deeper inside the woods. He had reached there a bit early. The journey was easy and Winston was sure that the girl too would have no difficulty reaching there since she was quite experienced. He knew she would find a safe meeting place easily. One could not be any safer in the countryside than the town. While there were no telescreens, microphones concealed here and there could easily pick your voice and you might be recognized. Taking a solo journey without catching attention was also difficult.  One did not need to get his passport endorsed for a journey of less than 100 kms, but the patrols at the railway stations could start checking papers of party members and asking awkward questions. Winston had not come across any patrols during his journey from London. While walking from the station, he also made sure to check that no one was following him. 

The train that Winston took from London was full of proles ready for holidays in the summers. Winston had travelled in a woody seated carriage which was full of one single prole family ranging from a small two months old to a toothless great grandmother. They were going to spend an afternoon with their in-laws in the country. They also told Winston that they were going to get hold of a little black market butter. 

Winston was passing through a lane which widened and he reached the path the girl had told him of. It was a cattle track that plunged between the bushes. Winston did not have a watch but he could tell that it was not even three in the afternoon yet. The ground was covered with Blue Bells and it was impossible to walk without treading on them. Winston started picking some bluebells to pass time and to have a bouquet to offer the girl when he met her. He had collected  a large bunch and was smelling their sickly scent when he heard a sound coming from behind. It was the crackle of a foot on twigs. Winston did not turn around because that could have proved his guilt if he was being followed. However, if it was the girl then everything was alright. He felt a hand fall lightly on his shoulder.

Winston looked up and the girl was there shaking her head to indicate that Winston must stay silent.  She quickly led Winston along a narrow track into the woods. She must have known this path well because she kept avoiding the marshy areas easily. Winston followed her holding his bunch of flowers. He had felt relieved at first to see the girl. However, as he watched the scarlet sash that brought out the curve of the girl’s hips, he felt somewhat inferior physically. He felt as if she would not feel physically interested in him and that she would draw back any second when she turned back and saw him again. He felt daunted by the sweet air and green leaves. Even the sunshine he had felt while walking from the station made him feel pale and worn out like a creature who was used to living indoors and had the pores of his skin filled with the sooty dust of London. Winston’s mind was strangely very capable at thinking negatively. He felt like a mole who had led his life inside an underground hole. He thought that the girl still never had a chance to look at him in broad daylight.  They had reached a fallen tree that the girl had talked of when she had given him directions at the town square. The girl hopped over the fallen tree and parted a way through the bushes into a small clearing. The tiny mound of grass was hidden by tall saplings in a manner that they shut it off from the outside completely. They had reached their destination. Winston was still standing at a distance from the girl unable to get closer. She explained that there might have been microphones hidden in the woods and so she did not speak all the way. One of those swines could have tracked and recognized their voices. She was referring to the thought police who kept track of party members. However, the area they were in could not be hiding microphones since the plants over there weren’t any thicker than one’s wrists. 

While they were talking, Winston had managed to move closer to her. The smile on her face looked ironic as if she was thinking why Winston acted so slow. The bunch of bluebells had fallen from his hands. Winston took her hand and told her he still did not know the color of her eyes. He checked them out. They were pale brown with dark lashes. He was still not sure about himself and asked the girl if she still liked him when she had seen him in the light. He was 39 with varicose veins and had a wife she could not get rid of. He also had five false teeth but the girl did not care for these things. The next moment, she was in Winston’s arms. At first, it was just a feeling of disbelief. Winston was kissing her wide open mouth. The girl responded with double his intensity. She held his neck and called him darling, my precious one, my love and what not. She was not resisting at all and Winston could have done whatever he wanted but he was still not feeling any physical sensation. There was still no physical desire and the only feelings Winston had were disbelief and pride. For quite a long time, he had been living without women and her youth and beauty were a little too much for him.

The girl picked herself up and pulled a bluebell out of her fair. She sat Winston with her arms around his waist. The girl told Winston that she had found this hideout when she once was lost on a community hike. You could hear anyone coming from 100 metres away. Witon asked the girl’s name. She was Julia and she already knew his name. Winston felt surprised and wanted to know how she knew his name. Her reply was that she was just better than him at finding things. She wanted to know what Winston felt about her before she gave him the note. Winston was not interested in lying so he told her everything honestly including hwo he hated her and wanted to rape and kill her. He also told her about how he imagined her to be a member of the thought police. She was pleased and laughed excitedly, taking it as a  tribute to her art of disguise. Winsotn told her how her appearance made him think that she was a devout party member. She liked Winston’s remarks and laughed at how he feared she would denounce him to the thought police. It turned out she too hated what the party was turning young women into. She tore off the scarlet sash of the Juniort Anti sex league and thre it on a  bough. While touching her waste, she appeared to be reminded of something and pulled out a slab of chocolate from the pockets of her overalls. She broke the chocolate into two halves and gave one to Winston. He knew by its smell that the chocolate was something unusual. Wrapped in silver paper, it was dark and shiny chocolate. Normally, the chocolate Winston ate tasted like the smoke of rubbish fire. However, Winston must have tasted the type of chocolate the girl gave him at some time in his life. He felt like remembering the taste but could not clearly remember when or where he had tasted it. So, he asked the girl where he had obtained the chocolate from. Her reply was the black market. She told Winston about how good she was at games and had been a troop leader at the spies. The girl also did voluntary work three evenings a week for the junior anti sex league. However, she also felt distasteful about all the work she had done for the league, pasting their rotten work all over London. She would always look cheerful, do things with excitement and held the one end of the banner during the processions. Her way of being safe was to always yell with the crowd because if you don’t they will identify you.

Winston liked the taste of the chocolate but was still troubled by that memory that kept surfacing in  his mind but was not clear. So, he decided to push it away because it was not important right now. He turned to the girl and asked her what attracted her to him despite his being ten or fifteen years older.  It was something in Winston’s face that had told her he was not one of the ,orhthodox creatures she kept coming across. Once she had seen him, she knew he was against them. She was referring to the party and particularly to the inner party about which she talked mockingly and with hatred. However, that left Winsotn feeling uneasy despite knowing that they were safe in the woods. He was surprised by her rough language. The party members were expected to not swear and Winston himself never swore, at least never audibly. However, Julia repeatedly swore when she spoke of the party and especially the inner party. She used the kind of words that Winston would see chalked on the walls in the damp alleys.  However, her hatred and way of speaking seemed natural to Wisnton, He did not dislike it. Just like a horse sneezes after smelling bad hay, her reaction to the party appeared natural to him. 

The two left the opening and started walking through the woods. Wherever there was enough space to walk abreast, the two would put their arms around each other’s waist. Her waist felt softer after the sash was gone. They were whispering to each other. Julia told him that it was safe to stay quiet once outside the clearing. Once they had reached the edge of the woods, Julia stopped him from getting out into the open since somebody might have been watching. The two stood behind hazel bushes and the sunlight filtering through the leaves felt hot in their faces. As Winston looked out into the field he was shocked. He recognized the scene. It was the same close bitten pasture with a footpath wandering across the field with a  few molehills here and there. The boughs of the elm trees swayed on the opposite side. Their leaves stirred like a woman’s hair. Winston also remembered the stream with pools which had fished swimming in them. He asked Julia if there was a stream nearby. She confirmed ,there was onem with large fishes in it that kept moving their tails. Winston remembered it was almost the Golden Country from his dream. A thrush came and sat on a  bough some five metres away almost athe level of their faces. The bird could not see them and after a few seconds broke into a song. It went singing while Winston and Julia listened for several minutes. There were variations in its song every minute as if it was demonstrating its skills. It stopped for a few seconds now and then but again started singing. Winston kept watching the bird with deep regard and wondered who it was singing for. Might be it was singing out of loneliness or the tranquility of the woods was making it sing. If there were microphones hidden in the woods, some beetle-like party man must be listening to the song carefully.  The bird’s music drove all the speculations out of his mind slowly. Winston felt like he was bathing in honey. He stopped thinking as the music eased his mind and started feeling only. The girl’s waist in his hand felt soft.  He pulled the girl to face him and his hands moved fluidly all over her. They kissed each other again. However, this time it was different from the hard kisses they had exchanged earlier. They stopped kissing a little later and gave a deep sigh. The bird heard it and flew away. Winston whispered in her ears to which the girl replied they should get back to the clearing. They got back to the clearing. When they got back there, the two were breathing fast but the girl was smiling. She felt the zip of her overalls and then tore her clothes off swiftly almost like in Winston’s dream as if she could annihilate an entire civilization with that gesture.

Her white body gleamed but Winston’s eyes were fixed on her freckled face. He leant down before her and took her hands in his. Then he asked if she had sex earlier. Several times was her prompt reply. He asked her if she had sex with party members. She replied yes but not with the inner party members. However, if they had even a chance they would have been most eager to have sex with her Julia added. They were not as holy as they tried to appear before the public. 

He felt excited when the girl told him she had sex scores of time. He wished she had it hundreds or thousands of times. It was because corruption excited him. Might be the party was rotten underneath and its self denial was just to conceal the inner corruption. He would have infected them with leprosy or syphilis if he had a chance. If there was anything that could corrupt or weaken the party from within, he would be glad to know about it. Winston pulled JUlia down so that they were kneeling face to face. He told the girl that the more people she had sex with, the more he loved her. He hated purity and goodness and wanted everyone to be corrupt to the bones. The girl seemed to like his remark. She told him she suited him the most because she was as he wanted – corrupt to the bones. However, Winston wanted to know if the girl was really interested in sex and not doing it because she loved him. The girl said she adored sex. That was all that Winston wanted to know. He wanted not love for himself but that animal instinct and undifferentiated desire because it was the force that could break the party into pieces. He pressed the girl down upon the grass among the fallen bluebells.  By the time they were finished, the sun seemed to have grown hotter. 

They slept for half an hour after which Winston woke up first and found that the girl was asleep with her head resting on her palm. He looked at her face closely and except for her mouth there was nothing that could  be called beautiful. There were a few lines around her eyes and her short hair was thick and soft. Winston remembered that he did not know surname or address. He felt sympathetic and protective for her. However, he was still not feeling the kind of sensitivity he had felt under the hazel tree when the thrush was singing. He removed her overalls and studied her flank. In the old days, people must have found female bodies desirable but now it was difficult to feel pure lust or desire since everything was mixed with fear and hatred now. When they hugged, it was the beginning of a battle and the climax, their victory, a  blow against the party. It was his revenge, a deliberately conducted political act of rebellion.

What does Winston discover in chapter 2 of 1984 (Book Two)?

Winston goes to meet his girlfriend in chapter 2. They have agreed to meet inside the woods away from London. Our protagonist still doesn’t know his girlfriend’s name. He reaches the woods earlier than the agreed upon time and is afraid during the journey that someone might be following or the patrols at the station may start asking questions. However, nothing happens and he safely reaches his destination. When inside the woods, Winston’s girlfriend approaches him from behind. She turns out to be very different from his expectations. Her name is Julia and despite Winston’s age, she is not hesitant about loving him. She loves him and calls him my love, my darling and my precious when they kiss each other. Their relationship is augmented by their hatred for the inner party. 

Winston finds the girl physically attractive even if her face is not as beautiful. He does not feel any physical sensation at first but later feels aroused. The two make love and their affection for each other grows stronger. Winston tells the girl how he felt about her before she had given him the paper. He discovers that the girl has previously slept with more people but that does not discourage him. Instead, it only makes him love the girl more deeply.

Winston is also overcome by an eerie feeling of dejavu in this chapter. It turns out he is in the same place he had seen in his dream and the girl removes her clothes in the same manner like he had once dreamt. 

Winston starts trusting the girl as he gets to know that she is better than him at various things. He feels like he has conquered and achieved a victory. At least, he thinks he has put a dent in the dictatorship.