Summary: 1984, George Orwell – Chapter 1 Part 2

Summary

1. Winston leaves the cubicle where he is working to go to the lavatory. On his way, he sees the dark-haired girl walking towards him, and notices she has a sling in her arm. He believes she has probably crushed her hand during work.
2. They are 4 m apart when the girl stumbles and falls to the floor. She looks at him with an expression that “looks more of fear than pain“. She cries in pain and Winston instantly helps her get up. Even though he suspects her, he cannot help feeling empathetic when she is hurt. He notices that she feels fluttered and nervous.
3. Winston realizes that as he was helping her up, she had slid a folded piece of paper into his hand. He is completely sure it was intentional. He considers taking it into the water closet and reading it but he understands that it is not safe at all. It is the place where the telescreens watch continuously.
4. When he is back at his cubicle, he waits some minutes before opening it, so as not to raise suspicions. Meanwhile, he works on rectifying some figures.
5. He thinks the message can be either a threat from the Thought Police or a summons from some secret anti-government organization like the Brotherhood, for which the girl works. This last option, he realized, is unreasonable and not probable, but that doesn’t stop him from hoping it might be true.
6. He opens the note eight minutes later. It said I LOVE YOU. He feels too stunned and excited so it is difficult to conceal his agitation. At reading those words, a tremendous desire to be alive takes hold of him. It is as if his life has taken a new meaning. He knows it is not a trap because of the girl’s evident agitation.
7. Winston decides the best way to talk to her is by meeting her at the cantine. He has to do it quickly or else he fears she will change her mind. After several failed attempts he manages to get her alone, and they arrange a meeting among the crowds of Victory Square at seven that evening.
8. At Victory Square, there is a group of people looking at some Eurasian war prisoners who are passing. When they meet, the crowd hides their movements from the telescreens.
9. The girl “takes care of the situation“. She gives him precise instructions to meet next Sunday at 3 p.m., in a place where they can be alone. It surprises Winston that “it was as if she had a map in her head“. She tells him to get away from her at soon as he can, but for the moment they are stuck in the crowd, so they just watch the prisoners advance. Winston knows very little about them. He believes they are either hanged as war criminals or forced to work in labour camps. On the last truck, Winston catches a glimpse of an aged man. He notices he was crossing his wrists in front of him, “as though he were used to having them bound together“.
10. Winston and the girl briefly hold hands, hiding among the crowd. Here, he has time to learn every detail of her hand, and just by feeling it, he could have known it by sight. As they are holding hands, the aged prisoner gazes mournfully into Winton’s eyes.

Video: Summary and analysis

Need more help?

In the section Literature Guides, you can find other analyses of 1984, including a summary of the previous chapter.