Winston remembers some of what life was like before The Party came into power, and he is very aware of the consequences of what he is doing now. In this chapter, he moves between fantasy and reality and between the past and the present, but it is the past that contains all the hope that Winston has left.
Items that Symbolize the Past
The double bed, the clock, the glass paperweight, and the picture of St. Clement Danes are all visualizations that remind Winston of what the past was like:
- The Double Bed: The first thing the narrator notes is the double bed. Since The Party rose to power, beds that hold more than one person have become obsolete for most people. Sex has a limited role under this regime, and pleasure is not on the list.
- The Clock: Another connection to the past is the clock in the room. A clock literally tracks time, and this one symbolizes Winston's past.
- The Glass Paperweight: Also connecting Winston to the past is the glass paperweight sitting on the table. He had brought it with him the first time he used the apartment. At the end of Chapter 4, Winston imagines he is inside the paperweight, meaning he imagines he is in the past. The past is where his hope lies.
- The Picture of St. Clement Danes: The picture hangs on the wall above where the rat is spotted. It sparks a conversation between Winston and Julia about the past. First, it is a picture of a church; churches and religion no longer exist. But the rhyme associated with the church is also a connection to the past. It connects Julia to a memory of her grandfather, and it connects them both to the memory of oranges and lemons. There is another layer of symbolism added to this picture in the chapters to follow.
Quotes That Illustrate Awareness
The following quotes from 1984 Book 2, Chapter 4 are representations of Winston's awareness in the book.
- ''Folly, folly, his heart kept saying: conscious, gratuitous, suicidal folly.''
- The first two words of this quote are repeated in the chapter, indicating that the author wants the reader to pay attention. This quote particularly illustrates Winston's awareness of the consequences of his actions.
- ''There it lay, fixed in future times, preceding death as surely as 99 precedes 100. One could not avoid it, but one could perhaps postpone it: and yet instead, every now and again, by a conscious, willful act, one chose to shorten the interval before it happened.''
- Here, Winston is aware that he will be caught; however, he lessens that harsh reality by telling himself that reality can be delayed.
- ''As he sat waiting on the edge of the bed he thought again of the cellars of the Ministry of Love. It was curious how that predestined horror moved in and out of one's consciousness.''
- Winston knows that the Ministry of Love, the government entity responsible for reconditioning citizens, is where he will likely be tortured with his greatest fear- rats.
Significance of Winston's Fear of Rats
A rat has peered its head through a hole in the wall, and Julia, unshaken, tosses her shoe to scare it away. She asks Winston if he knows that rats have been known to harm children. Winston is aware and believes his deep fear of these rodents may have something to do with her question. Winston's fear of rats stems from a recurring nightmare. In the nightmare, he finds himself ''standing in front of a wall of darkness.'' The darkness represents the unknown horror of what is on the other side of the wall. Although Winston confesses that he knew all along what was behind the wall, he simply could not face that fear head-on.
The rat is Winston's worst fear. A rat symbolizes one who cannot be trusted. To be ratted out is to be ousted by someone who was likely trusted at one point. Because Winston is engaged in illegal activities, and his affair with Julia is something difficult to hide, Winston is suspicious and a bit paranoid. In this chapter, the conversation about rats foreshadows events to come.
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In Book 2, Chapter 4 of George Orwell's dystopian classic 1984, Winston Smith waits in a rented flat for Julia to arrive. The two are involved in an illegal affair. Julia brings several items, including makeup, coffee, real sugar, jam, and bread. Winston knows that he and Julia will be torn apart since they cannot hide from The Party forever. Nothing is out of their sight because they have cameras and spies everywhere. Relationships are forbidden in Oceania because The Party considers them a threat.
He also knows that when he is caught, he will need to face the Ministry of Love, where his greatest fear, specifically rats, will torture him. Winston has some memories of an earlier time, so his hopes are strongly connected to the past. Some items in the room that symbolize his connection to the past include the glass paperweight and the picture of St. Clements.
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Additional Info
Only a Matter of Time
Book 2, Chapter 4 of 1984 opens with Winston looking around his room above Mr. Charrington's shop. He's recently rented the room to have a place to meet Julia to continue their affair. As he takes in the sparse furnishings, Winston thinks about the inevitability of he and Julia being caught. 'Folly, folly, his heart kept saying: conscious, gratuitous, suicidal folly.' Mr. Charrington was happy to rent the room and seemed to understand and accept the reason behind Winston's need for it.
As Winston waits for Julia to arrive, he hears a woman singing in the street below as she hangs laundry. She sings:
It was only an 'opeless fancy.
It passed like an Ipril dye,
But a look an' a word an' the dreams they stirred!
They 'ave stolen my 'eart awye!
This is a song that has been created by a machine in the Party's Music Department, without any human involvement at all. The words of the song bring Winston back to his worries about being caught. He and Julia are unable to resist the chance to have a private domestic escape, but Winston is sure that they will only be safe for a few weeks at the most.
Winston's Feelings for Julia
It has been some time since Winston and Julia have been able to easily meet up. Party workers have been preparing for Hate Week, and Winston has been tired and frustrated by the extra work and the difficulty in seeing Julia. Winston's feelings for Julia, initially sexual, are now more tender and affectionate. He wishes that they could be a real married couple, able to live and love openly and do everyday things together.
When the lovers are finally able to meet, Julia arrives carrying a bag filled with real coffee, sugar, and tea. These treasures are normally things that only Inner Party members can get, but Julia has managed somehow to obtain them. This isn't her only surprise. She has Winston turn around, and when he looks again, he sees her face painted with makeup and smells perfume. Winston is blown away by Julia's femininity, and they make love.
Winston's Fear of Rats
When Winston and Julia wake up later, Julia sees a rat poke its head out of a hole in the baseboard and throws a shoe at it. Winston is horrified and confesses that rats are his greatest fear. They are also somehow connected to a recurring dream he has about something unendurable hidden behind a wall of darkness. In the dream, he always feels that he knows what is behind the wall, but he wakes up before he becomes conscious of what it is. Julia comforts Winston and promises to plaster the hole closed.
Remnants of the Past
Afterward, Julia walks about the room looking at some of the old objects in the room. She looks at Winston's glass paperweight and wonders what it is. Winston says, 'I don't think it's anything -- I mean, I don't think it was ever put to any use. That's what I like about it. It's a little chunk of history that they've forgotten to alter.' Julia looks at some of the other things in the room, especially the old picture of St. Clement Danes. To Winston's surprise, Julia knows another fragment of the rhyme that Mr. Charrington taught him about the church. It is something from the distant past, and Winston thinks it it must be a type of countersign, or password.
As the chapter closes, Winston gazes thoughtfully at the glass paperweight with the coral in the center. To him, the paperweight represents a self-contained world out of the Party's reach: 'The paperweight was the room he was in, and the coral was Julia's life and his own, fixed in a sort of eternity at the heart of the crystal.'
Foreshadowing
There is a significant amount of foreshadowing, or hinting about what will happen in the future in this chapter. First there's the woman's song in the street, concerning a love passing. Winston repeatedly thinks about how he and Julia's domestic bliss is sure to be short-lived, hinting at a possible future discovery. Additionally, at the end of the chapter, Winston imagines their life as a sort of untouchable eternity that is fixed and unchanging. As readers, we already know that nothing is safe from the Party. Orwell spends a considerable amount of time describing Winston's deep fear of rats, as well as the image and rhyme associated with St. Clement church. While we are not sure what their significance will be, these two things will likely be important later in the novel.
Lesson Summary
In Book 2, Chapter 4 of 1984, Winston and Julia meet in the room that they have rented above Mr. Charrington's shop. Winston is happy to have a private place to share with Julia, but he feels sure that they will be caught soon. The pair share real coffee and other hard-to-find goods and talk about various old objects in the room. They spot a rat, and Winston confesses that rats are his greatest fear. This chapter also foreshadows the future demise of Winston and Julia's relationship.
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