Speaker 1: Section ten of nineteen eighty four by George Orwell. This
Speaker 1: leigamous recording may be freely distributed and adapted for any purpose.
Speaker 1: Part two, Chapter two. Winston picked his way up the
Speaker 1: lane through dappled light and shade, stepping out into pools
Speaker 1: of gold wherever the bowers parted under the trees. To
Speaker 1: the left of him, the ground was misty with bluebells.
Speaker 1: The air seemed to kiss one's skin. It was the
Speaker 1: second of May. From somewhere deeper in the heart of
Speaker 1: the wood came the droning of ring doves. He was
Speaker 1: a bit early. There had been no difficulties about the journey,
Speaker 1: and the girl was so evidently experienced that he was
Speaker 1: less frightened than he would normally have been. Presumably she
Speaker 1: could be trusted to find a safe place. In general,
Speaker 1: you could not assume that you were much safer in
Speaker 1: the country than in London. There were no telescreens, of course,
Speaker 1: but there was always the danger of concealed microphones by
Speaker 1: which your voice might be picked up and recognized. Besides,
Speaker 1: it was not easy to make a journey by yourself
Speaker 1: with attracting attention for distances of less than one hundred kilometers.
Speaker 1: It was not necessary to get your passport endorsed, but
Speaker 1: sometimes there were patrols hanging about the railway stations who
Speaker 1: examined the papers of any party member they found there
Speaker 1: and asked awkward questions. However, no patrols had appeared, and
Speaker 1: on the walk from the station he had made sure
Speaker 1: by cautious backward glances that he was not being followed.
Speaker 1: The train was full of prols in holiday mood because
Speaker 1: of the summery weather. The wooden seated carriage in which
Speaker 1: he traveled was filled to overflowing by a single enormous family,
Speaker 1: ranging from a toothless great grandmother to a month old
Speaker 1: baby going out to spend an afternoon with inlaws in
Speaker 1: the country, and as they freely explained to Winston to
Speaker 1: get hold of a little black market butter the lane widened,
Speaker 1: and in a minute he came to the footpath she
Speaker 1: had told him of a mere cattle track which plunged
Speaker 1: between the bushes. He had no watch, but it could
Speaker 1: not be fifteen yet the blue belts was so thick
Speaker 1: underfoot that it was imposs not to tread on them.
Speaker 1: He knelt down and began picking some, partly to pass
Speaker 1: the time. Away, but also from a vague idea that
Speaker 1: he would like to have a bunch of flowers to
Speaker 1: offer the girl when they met. He had got together
Speaker 1: a big bunch and was smelling their faint, sickly scent
Speaker 1: when a sound at his back froze him, the unmistakable
Speaker 1: crackle of a foot on twigs. He went on picking bluebells.
Speaker 1: It was the best thing to do. It might be
Speaker 1: the girl, or he might have been followed. After all,
Speaker 1: to look round was to show gilt. He picked another,
Speaker 1: and another. A hand fell lightly on his shoulder. He
Speaker 1: looked up. It was the girl. She shook her head,
Speaker 1: evidently as a warning that he must keep silent, then
Speaker 1: parted the bushes and quickly led the way along the
Speaker 1: narrow track into the wood. Obviously she had been that
Speaker 1: way before, for she dodged to the boggy bits as
Speaker 1: though by habit. Winston followed, still clasping his bunch of flowers.
Speaker 1: His first feeling was relief, But as he watched the strong,
Speaker 1: slender body moving in front of him, with the scarlet
Speaker 1: sash that was just tight enough to bring out the
Speaker 1: curve of her hips, the sense of his own inferiority
Speaker 1: was heavy. Upon him. Even now, it seemed quite likely
Speaker 1: that when she turned round and looked at him, she
Speaker 1: would draw back. After all, the sweetness of the air
Speaker 1: and the greenness of the leaves daunted him. Already on
Speaker 1: the walk from the station, the May sunshine had made
Speaker 1: him feel dirty and etilated, a creature of indoors, with
Speaker 1: the sooty dust of London in the pores of his skin.
Speaker 1: It occurred to him that till now she had probably
Speaker 1: never seen him in broad daylight. In the open, they
Speaker 1: came to the fallen tree that she had spoken of.
Speaker 1: The girl hopped over and forced apart the bushes, in
Speaker 1: which there did not seem to be an opening. When
Speaker 1: Winston followed her, he found that they were in a
Speaker 1: natural clearing, a tiny grassy knoll, surrounded by tall saplings
Speaker 1: that shut it in completely. The girl stopped and turned
Speaker 1: Here we are, she said. He was facing her at
Speaker 1: several paces distance. As yet he did not dare move
Speaker 1: nearer to her. I did and want to say anything
Speaker 1: in the lane, she went on, in case there's a
Speaker 1: mike hid in there. I don't suppose there is, but
Speaker 1: there could be. There's always the chance of one of
Speaker 1: those swine recognizing your voice. We're all right here, He
Speaker 1: still had not the courage to approach her. We're all
Speaker 1: right here, he repeated stupidly. Yes, Look at the trees.
Speaker 1: There were small ashes which at some time had been
Speaker 1: cut down and had sprouted up again into a forest
Speaker 1: of poles, none of them thicker than one's wrist. There's
Speaker 1: nothing big enough to hide a mic in. Besides, I've
Speaker 1: been here before. They were only making conversation. He had
Speaker 1: managed to move closer to her. Now she stood before him,
Speaker 1: very upright, with a smile on her face that looked
Speaker 1: faintly ironical, as though she were wondering why he was
Speaker 1: so slow to act. The blue belts had cascaded on
Speaker 1: to the ground. They seemed to have fallen of their
Speaker 1: own accord. He took her hand. Would you believe, he
Speaker 1: said that till this moment, I didn't know what color
Speaker 1: your eyes were. There were brown, he noted, a rather
Speaker 1: light shade of brown, with dark lashes. Now that you've
Speaker 1: seen what I'm really like, can you still bear to
Speaker 1: look at me? Yes, easily. I'm thirty nine years old.
Speaker 1: I've got a wife that I can't get rid of.
Speaker 1: I've got varicus veins. I've got five false teeth. I
Speaker 1: couldn't care less, said the girl the next moment. It
Speaker 1: was hard to say by husact. She was in his arms.
Speaker 1: At the beginning, he had no feeling except sheer incredulity.
Speaker 1: The youthful body was strained against his own. The mass
Speaker 1: of dark hair was against his face. And yes, actually
Speaker 1: she had turned her face up and he was kissing
Speaker 1: the wide red mouth. She had clasped her arms about
Speaker 1: his neck. She was calling him darling, precious one, loved one.
Speaker 1: He had pulled her down on to the ground. She
Speaker 1: was utterly unresisting. He could do what he liked with her,
Speaker 1: But the truth was that he had no physical sensation
Speaker 1: except that of mere contact. All he felt was incredulity
Speaker 1: and pride. He was glad that this was happening, but
Speaker 1: he had no physical desire. It was too soon. Her
Speaker 1: youth and prettiness had frightened him. He was too much
Speaker 1: used to living without women. He did not know the reason.
Speaker 1: The girl picked herself up and pulled a blue bell
Speaker 1: out of her hair. She sat against him, putting her
Speaker 1: arm round his waist. Never mind, dear, there's no hurry.
Speaker 1: We've got the whole afternoon. Isn't this a splendid hideout?
Speaker 1: I found it when I got lost once on a
Speaker 1: community hike. If any one was coming, you could hear
Speaker 1: them a hundred meters away. What is your name, said
Speaker 1: Winston Julia. I know yours. It's Winston, Winston Smith. How
Speaker 1: did you find that out? I expect I'm better at
Speaker 1: finding things out than you are. Dear, tell me, what
Speaker 1: did you think of me before that day I gave
Speaker 1: you the note? He did not feel any temptation to
Speaker 1: tell lies to her. It was even a sort of
Speaker 1: love offering to start off by telling the worst. I
Speaker 1: hated the sight of you, he said. I wanted to
Speaker 1: rape you and then murder you afterwards. Two weeks ago,
Speaker 1: I thought seriously of smashing your head in with a cobblestone.
Speaker 1: If you really want to know, I imagined that you
Speaker 1: had something to do with the thought police. The girl
Speaker 1: laughed delightedly, evidently taking this as a tribute to the
Speaker 1: excellence of her disguise. Not the thought police. You didn't
Speaker 1: honestly think that. Well, perhaps not exactly that, but from
Speaker 1: your general appearance, merely because you're young and fresh and healthy,
Speaker 1: you understand, I thought that probably you thought I was
Speaker 1: a good party member, pure in word and deed, banners, processions, slogans, games,
Speaker 1: community hikes, all that stuff, And you thought that, if
Speaker 1: I had a quarter of a chance, I'd denounce you
Speaker 1: as a thought criminal and get you killed off. Yes,
Speaker 1: something of that kind. A great many young girls are
Speaker 1: like that. You know. It's this bloody thing that does it,
Speaker 1: she said, ripping off the scarlet sash of the Junior
Speaker 1: Antisex League and flinging it on to a bough. Then,
Speaker 1: as though touching her waist had reminded her of something,
Speaker 1: she felt in the pocket of her overalls and produced
Speaker 1: a small slab of chocolate. She broke it in half
Speaker 1: and gave one of the pieces to Winston. Even before
Speaker 1: he had taken it, he knew by the smell that
Speaker 1: it was very unusual chocolate. It was dark and shiny,
Speaker 1: and was wrapped in silver paper. Chocolate normally was dull, brown,
Speaker 1: crumbly stuff that tasted as nearly as one could describe it,
Speaker 1: like the smoke of a rubbish fire. But at some
Speaker 1: time or another he had tasted chocolate like the piece
Speaker 1: she had given him. The first whiff of its scent
Speaker 1: had stirred up some memory which he could not pin down,
Speaker 1: but which was powerful and troubling. Where did you get
Speaker 1: this stuff, he said, black market? She said indifferently. Actually
Speaker 1: I am that sort of girl to look at. I'm
Speaker 1: good at games. I was a troop leader in the Spies.
Speaker 1: I do voluntary work three evenings a week for the
Speaker 1: Junior Antisex League. Hours and hours I've spent pasting their
Speaker 1: bloody rot all over London. I always carry one end
Speaker 1: of a banner in the processions. I always look cheerful
Speaker 1: and I never shirk anything. Always yell with the crowd.
Speaker 1: That's what I say. It's the only way to be safe.
Speaker 1: The first fragment of chocolate had melted on Winston's tongue.
Speaker 1: The taste was delightful, but there was still that memory
Speaker 1: moving round the edges of his consciousness, something strongly felt
Speaker 1: but not reducible to definite shape, like an object seen
Speaker 1: out of the corner of one's eye. He pushed it
Speaker 1: away from him, aware only that it was the memory
Speaker 1: of some action which he would have liked to undo
Speaker 1: but could not. You are very young, he said, You
Speaker 1: were ten or fifteen years younger than I am. What
Speaker 1: could you see to attract you in a man like me.
Speaker 1: It was something in your face. I thought I'd take
Speaker 1: a chance. I'm good at spotting people who don't belong.
Speaker 1: As soon as I saw you, I knew you were
Speaker 1: against them. Them. It appeared meant the Party, and above
Speaker 1: all the Inner Party, about whom she talked with an open,
Speaker 1: jeering hatred, which made Winston feel uneasy, although he knew
Speaker 1: that they were safe here, if they could be safe
Speaker 1: any anywhere. A thing that astonished him about her was
Speaker 1: the coarseness of her language. Party members were supposed not
Speaker 1: to swear, and Winston himself very seldom did swear aloud
Speaker 1: at any rate. Julia, however, seemed unable to mention the Party,
Speaker 1: and especially the Inner Party, without using the kind of
Speaker 1: words that you saw chalked up in dripping alleyways. He
Speaker 1: did not dislike it. It was merely one symptom of
Speaker 1: her revolt against the Party and all its ways, and
Speaker 1: somehow it seemed natural and healthy, like the sneeze of
Speaker 1: a horse that smells bad. Hay. They had left the
Speaker 1: clearing and were wandering again through the checkered shade, with
Speaker 1: their arms round each other's waists. Whenever it was wide
Speaker 1: enough to walk to abreast. He noticed how much softer
Speaker 1: her waist seemed to feel now that the sash was gone.
Speaker 1: They did not speak above a whisper outside the clearing.
Speaker 1: Julia said it was better to go quietly. Presently they
Speaker 1: had reached the edge of the little wood, she stopped him.
Speaker 1: Don't go out into the open. There might be some
Speaker 1: one watching. We're all right if we keep behind the boughs.
Speaker 1: They were standing in the shade of hazel bushes. The
Speaker 1: sunlight filtering through innumerable leaves, was still hot on their faces.
Speaker 1: Winston looked out into the field beyond and underwent a curious,
Speaker 1: slow shock of recognition. He knew it by sight, an old,
Speaker 1: close bitten pasture, with a footpath wandering across it, and
Speaker 1: a mole hill here and there in the ragged hedge
Speaker 1: on the opposite side. The boughs of the elm trees
Speaker 1: swayed just perceptibly in the breeze, and their leaves stirred
Speaker 1: faintly in dense masses like women's hair. Surely, somewhere near by,
Speaker 1: but out of sight, there must be a stream with
Speaker 1: green pools where dace were swimming. Isn't there a stream
Speaker 1: somewhere near here? He whispered. That's right, there is a stream.
Speaker 1: It's at the edge of the next field. Actually, they
Speaker 1: are fish in it, great big ones. You can watch
Speaker 1: them lying in the pools under the willow trees, waving
Speaker 1: their tails. It's the golden country almost, he murmured, the
Speaker 1: golden country. It's nothing, really, a landscape I've seen sometimes
Speaker 1: in a dream. Look, whispered Julia. A thrush had alighted
Speaker 1: on a bough not five meters away, almost at the
Speaker 1: level of their faces. Perhaps it had not seen them.
Speaker 1: It was in the sun, they in the shade. It
Speaker 1: spread out its wings, fitted them carefully into place again,
Speaker 1: ducked its head for a moment, as though making a
Speaker 1: sort of obeisance to the sun, and then began to
Speaker 1: pour forth a torrent of song in the afternoon hush.
Speaker 1: The volume of sound was startling. Winston and Julia clung together, fascinated.
Speaker 1: The music went on and on, minute after minute, with
Speaker 1: astonishing variations, never once repeating itself, almost as if the
Speaker 1: bird were deliberately showing off its virtuosity. Sometimes it stopped
Speaker 1: for a few seconds, spread out and resettled its wings,
Speaker 1: then swelled its speckled breast, and again burst into song.
Speaker 1: Winston watched it with a sort of vague reverence for whom.
Speaker 1: For what was that bird singing? No mate, no rival
Speaker 1: was watching it? What made it sit at the edge
Speaker 1: of the lonely wood and poured or its music into nothingness?
Speaker 1: He wondered whether, after all, there was a microphone hidden
Speaker 1: somewhere near He and Julia had spoken only in low whispers,
Speaker 1: and it would not pick up what they had said,
Speaker 1: but it would pick up the thrush. Perhaps at the
Speaker 1: other end of the instrument, some small beetle like man
Speaker 1: was listening, intently listening to that. But by degrees the
Speaker 1: flood of music drove all speculations out of his mind.
Speaker 1: It was as though it were a kind of liquid
Speaker 1: stuff that poured all over him and got mixed up
Speaker 1: with the sunlight that filtered through the leaves. He stopped
Speaker 1: thinking and merely felt the girl's waist in the bend
Speaker 1: of his arm was soft and warm. He pulled her
Speaker 1: round so that they were breast to breast. Her body
Speaker 1: seemed to melt into his. Wherever his hands moved, it
Speaker 1: was all as yielding as water. Their mouths clung together.
Speaker 1: It was quite different from the hard kisses they had
Speaker 1: exchanged earlier. When they moved their faces apart again, both
Speaker 1: of them sighed deeply. The birds took fright and fled
Speaker 1: with a clatter of wings. Instant put his lips against
Speaker 1: her ear. Now, he whispered, not here, She whispered back,
Speaker 1: come back to the hide out, it's safer. Quickly, with
Speaker 1: an occasional crackle of twigs, they threaded their way back
Speaker 1: to the clearing. When there were once inside the ring
Speaker 1: of saplings, she turned and faced him. They were both
Speaker 1: breathing fast, but the smile had reappeared round the corners
Speaker 1: of her mouth. She stood looking at him for an instant,
Speaker 1: then felt at the zipper of her overalls. And yes,
Speaker 1: it was almost as in his dream, almost as swiftly
Speaker 1: as he had imagined it. She had torn her clothes off,
Speaker 1: and when she flung them aside, it was with that
Speaker 1: same magnificent gesture by which her whole civilization seemed to
Speaker 1: be annihilated. Her body gleamed white in the sun, but
Speaker 1: for a moment he did not look at her body.
Speaker 1: His eyes were anchored by the freckled face with its faint,
Speaker 1: bold smile. He knelt down before her and took her
Speaker 1: hands in his Have you done this before, of course,
Speaker 1: hundreds of times, while scores of times anyway, with party members, yes,
Speaker 1: always with party members, with members of the inner Party.
Speaker 1: Not with those swine. No, but there's plenty that would
Speaker 1: if they got half a chance. They're not so wholly
Speaker 1: as they make out. His heart leapt scores of time
Speaker 1: she had done it. He wished it had been hundreds, thousands.
Speaker 1: Anything that hinted at corruption always filled him with a
Speaker 1: wild hope. Who knew perhaps the party was rotten under
Speaker 1: the surface, its cult of strenuousness and self denial, simply
Speaker 1: a sham concealing iniquity. If he could have infected the
Speaker 1: whole lot of them with leprosy or syphilis, how gladly
Speaker 1: he would have done so. Anything to rot, to weaken,
Speaker 1: to undermine. He pulled her down so that they were
Speaker 1: kneeling face to face. Listen, the more men you've had,
Speaker 1: the more I love you. Do you understand that, Yes, perfectly.
Speaker 1: I hate purity, I hate goodness. I don't want any
Speaker 1: virtue to exist anywhere. I want every one to be
Speaker 1: corrupt to the bones. Well, then I ought to suit you, dear,
Speaker 1: I am corrupt to the bones. You like doing this?
Speaker 1: I don't mean simply me, I mean the thing in itself.
Speaker 1: I adore it. That was above all what he wanted
Speaker 1: to hear, Not merely the love of one person, but
Speaker 1: the animal instinct, the simple, undifferentiated desire. That was the
Speaker 1: force that would tear the party to pieces. He pressed
Speaker 1: her down upon the grass among the fallen bluebells. This
Speaker 1: time there was no difficulty. Presently the rising and falling
Speaker 1: of their breasts slowed to normal speed, and in a
Speaker 1: sort of pleasant helplessness, they fell apart. The sun seemed
Speaker 1: to have grown hotter. They were both sleepy. He reached
Speaker 1: out for the discarded overalls and pulled them partly over her.
Speaker 1: Almost immediately they fell asleep and slept for about half
Speaker 1: an hour. Winston woke first. He sat up and watched
Speaker 1: the freckled face, still peacefully asleep, pillowed on the palm
Speaker 1: of her hand. Except for her mouth, you could not
Speaker 1: call her beautiful. There was a line or two round
Speaker 1: the eyes. She looked closely. The short, dark hair was
Speaker 1: extraordinarily thick and soft. It occurred to him that he
Speaker 1: still did not know her surname. Or where she lived.
Speaker 1: The young, strong body, now helpless in sleep, awoke in
Speaker 1: him a pitying, protecting feeling, But the mindless tenderness that
Speaker 1: he had felt under the hazel tree while the thrush
Speaker 1: was singing had not quite come back. He pulled the
Speaker 1: overalls aside and studied her smooth, white flank. In the
Speaker 1: old days, he thought, a man looked at a girl's
Speaker 1: body and saw that it was desirable, and that was
Speaker 1: the end of the story. But you could not have
Speaker 1: pure love or pure lust. Nowadays, No emotion was pure,
Speaker 1: because everything was mixed up with fear and hatred. There
Speaker 1: Embrace had been a battle, the climax of victory. It
Speaker 1: was a blow struck against the party. It was a
Speaker 1: political act. End of Section ten.