Chapter 6:
Turning Point
May crawled by with continental lethargy. The Irish weather began to warm, although the famous wet climate persisted. Inside the COR, Renee found herself involuntarily shaking with excitement. Two weeks after "the incident" with Michael, she was ready to climb walls or swing from rooftops. Anything that would make her feel she was doing something.
The feelings of helplessness escalated when five COR members were arrested: three Party members, two proles. Four other Party members were arrested after visiting the Warehouse. Tensions ran high in the rooming house, as the four senior members of the COR waited to see whether their identities had been tracked. Telescreen broadcasts denounced Prospero and Phoenix, but Andrew O'Neill and Renee Pearse seemed to be safe. Artemis and Oberon, better known as Constance and Thomas, were not even mentioned, leading to hope within the house that they had not been known by the unfortunate prisoners. The house's occupants rejoiced that the Party was as close as possible to admitting it did not know everything that went on in the world.
Renee spent early June researching previous revolutions, which was not at all easy. She found plenty of Party-edited information on the Revolution that had brought Ingsoc to power. Her earlier angst was increased when she remembered, with the aid of a stolen textbook, that Goldstein, the founder of the Brotherhood, had been Big Brother's lieutenant. She thought of her relationship with Constance, and wondered if she would ever become like Big Brother herself. Would she go so far from the ideals of the Children of the Revolution that Constance would be forced to break away and fight her friend? Or would it be Andrew, or Thomas? Would they stand by her if someone else rose up to overthrow them?
She turned the pages, eyes itching from unshed tears. Blood and violence filled the paragraphs describing the Revolution. Blood. That was what they wanted her to start: a cycle of violence that would destroy the Party and bring about a new world in a baptism of fire.
Renee shut her eyes, trying to block the images that flooded her mind. She felt tears escape her eyes, and swiped at them, trying to calm herself.
"Did you see them
Going off to fight?
Children of the barricade
Who didn't last the night?
Did you see them
Lying where they died?
Someone used to cradle them
And kiss them when they cried.
Did you see them
Lying side by side?"
Angrily, Renee blocked the sad little song from her mind. Who had sang it? Someone at the Warehouse? Her mother?
"Who will wake them?
No one ever will.
No one ever told them that
A summer's day can kill.
They were schoolboys,
Never held a gun,
Fighting for a new world that
Would rise up like the sun.
Where's that new world
Now the fighting's done?"
She would not let that happen to her people. She was the leader of the COR, and she would protect those that had placed their trust in her. She had failed for those five members, but she would be damned if that happened again. She would teach them to fight back, using every possible means. Her complacency had led to five good people's deaths. She had stalled on the issue for too long. She was a leader; she was damn well going to lead.
She stepped out into the wet streets, still hearing the mournful little tune inside her head.
"Nothing changes,
Nothing ever will.
Every year another brat,
Another mouth to fill.
Same old story,
What's the use of tears?
What's the use of praying if
There's nobody who hears?
Turning, turning,
Turning, turning, turning through the years."
Walking through the streets, she stared at the faces of the people that passed by. Each expression was carefully sculpted to show no emotion, hiding from the ever-present telescreens. Every one had lived their entire lives under the Party, never knowing the freedom for which Renee longed, and fought. But every so often, she would hear something she had never imagined a year ago. Someone would start whistling a tune she recognized from the Warehouse, or would whisper a love poem that had been banned years before by the Party. Stupid people. They would be dead soon if they weren't careful. The oppressive hand of the Party had pushed the proles of Dublin to the breaking point, and they had generated her, Phoenix, founder of the Children of the Revolution.
"Turning, turning,
Turning through the years.
Minutes into hours and
The hours into years.
Nothing changes,
Nothing ever can.
Round about the roundabout
And back where you began.
Round and round
And back where you began."
She wandered the streets of Dublin, not really caring where she was going. She needed to breathe, which was nearly impossible as long as the telescreens stared down at her. The face of Big Brother smiled secretively from every surface. Her previous tears threatened to return, but she pushed them back. She had made the decision, and she would stand by it.
Her route returned her to the house, where she knew a meeting beckoned to her. She slipped in, hoping no one heard her, and went up to her room. For a while, she sat on her bed, staring at the floor. Then she slid a hand under her mattress and pulled out the green poetry book.
"What is it but nightfall?
No, no, not night but death.
Was it needless death after all?"
The lines of her favourite poem washed over her like a warm breeze. They comforted her, reminding her that she was not alone in the march of history. They also gave her what she needed: they told her she was right.
She called together her lieutenants as Thomas arrived home from work. She wasted no time in announcing her executive decision, but her voice caught as she recited the speech she had prepared while waiting for this moment.
"We have wasted too much time preparing the populace for insurrection. The time has come for us to take more drastic action. We have already begun losing members to the Thought Police. I will not wait for them to destroy us. We will take the fight to them, as soon as possible. Our objective is to turn the Party out of Ireland, and allow the revolution to spread throughout Oceania. We will do so as our ancestors repelled the British seventy years ago." She paused, waiting for the reaction around the table. Thomas looked resigned, Andrew was grimly determined, and Constance nodded in agreement.
"Don't look so heartbroken, Renee," Constance said, reaching over to touch her roommate's hand. "You knew this would have to happen. I'm sorry it does, but we'll make it."
"We are now at war," said Thomas, testing out the familiar phrase that now held an unfamiliar meaning.
"Yes," said Constance. "And it's a good thing."
Author's Note:
Yes, there is a very deliberate Spider-Man reference in this chapter. I couldn't resist. I just saw the movie.
The song that Renee remembers is "Turning" from Les Miserables. You can probably tell that I'm not going for musical continuity in this story. I'm just picking songs that work.
The poem is, of course, Easter 1916.
Oberon and Prospero are two characters from Shakespeare. Oberon is from A Midsummer Night's Dream. He is the King of the Fairies, and often turns invisible as he meddles in human affairs. This is linked to Thomas' eavesdropping skills at the Ministry. Prospero, from The Tempest, is a sorceror who is able to see events happening at a great distance, as well as affecting those events through magic. Andrew is the one who deals with the black market and has set up the cell network. Prospero is also a connection to Renee's quotation from Chapter 3.
Disclaimer:
Children of the Revolution is by Marc Bolan.
Nineteen Eighty-Four is by George Orwell.
The Tempest and A Midsummer Night's Dream are by William Shakespeare.
Les Miserables is by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg, based on the novel by Victor Hugo.
Easter 1916 is by William Butler Yeats.
Turning Point
May crawled by with continental lethargy. The Irish weather began to warm, although the famous wet climate persisted. Inside the COR, Renee found herself involuntarily shaking with excitement. Two weeks after "the incident" with Michael, she was ready to climb walls or swing from rooftops. Anything that would make her feel she was doing something.
The feelings of helplessness escalated when five COR members were arrested: three Party members, two proles. Four other Party members were arrested after visiting the Warehouse. Tensions ran high in the rooming house, as the four senior members of the COR waited to see whether their identities had been tracked. Telescreen broadcasts denounced Prospero and Phoenix, but Andrew O'Neill and Renee Pearse seemed to be safe. Artemis and Oberon, better known as Constance and Thomas, were not even mentioned, leading to hope within the house that they had not been known by the unfortunate prisoners. The house's occupants rejoiced that the Party was as close as possible to admitting it did not know everything that went on in the world.
Renee spent early June researching previous revolutions, which was not at all easy. She found plenty of Party-edited information on the Revolution that had brought Ingsoc to power. Her earlier angst was increased when she remembered, with the aid of a stolen textbook, that Goldstein, the founder of the Brotherhood, had been Big Brother's lieutenant. She thought of her relationship with Constance, and wondered if she would ever become like Big Brother herself. Would she go so far from the ideals of the Children of the Revolution that Constance would be forced to break away and fight her friend? Or would it be Andrew, or Thomas? Would they stand by her if someone else rose up to overthrow them?
She turned the pages, eyes itching from unshed tears. Blood and violence filled the paragraphs describing the Revolution. Blood. That was what they wanted her to start: a cycle of violence that would destroy the Party and bring about a new world in a baptism of fire.
Renee shut her eyes, trying to block the images that flooded her mind. She felt tears escape her eyes, and swiped at them, trying to calm herself.
"Did you see them
Going off to fight?
Children of the barricade
Who didn't last the night?
Did you see them
Lying where they died?
Someone used to cradle them
And kiss them when they cried.
Did you see them
Lying side by side?"
Angrily, Renee blocked the sad little song from her mind. Who had sang it? Someone at the Warehouse? Her mother?
"Who will wake them?
No one ever will.
No one ever told them that
A summer's day can kill.
They were schoolboys,
Never held a gun,
Fighting for a new world that
Would rise up like the sun.
Where's that new world
Now the fighting's done?"
She would not let that happen to her people. She was the leader of the COR, and she would protect those that had placed their trust in her. She had failed for those five members, but she would be damned if that happened again. She would teach them to fight back, using every possible means. Her complacency had led to five good people's deaths. She had stalled on the issue for too long. She was a leader; she was damn well going to lead.
She stepped out into the wet streets, still hearing the mournful little tune inside her head.
"Nothing changes,
Nothing ever will.
Every year another brat,
Another mouth to fill.
Same old story,
What's the use of tears?
What's the use of praying if
There's nobody who hears?
Turning, turning,
Turning, turning, turning through the years."
Walking through the streets, she stared at the faces of the people that passed by. Each expression was carefully sculpted to show no emotion, hiding from the ever-present telescreens. Every one had lived their entire lives under the Party, never knowing the freedom for which Renee longed, and fought. But every so often, she would hear something she had never imagined a year ago. Someone would start whistling a tune she recognized from the Warehouse, or would whisper a love poem that had been banned years before by the Party. Stupid people. They would be dead soon if they weren't careful. The oppressive hand of the Party had pushed the proles of Dublin to the breaking point, and they had generated her, Phoenix, founder of the Children of the Revolution.
"Turning, turning,
Turning through the years.
Minutes into hours and
The hours into years.
Nothing changes,
Nothing ever can.
Round about the roundabout
And back where you began.
Round and round
And back where you began."
She wandered the streets of Dublin, not really caring where she was going. She needed to breathe, which was nearly impossible as long as the telescreens stared down at her. The face of Big Brother smiled secretively from every surface. Her previous tears threatened to return, but she pushed them back. She had made the decision, and she would stand by it.
Her route returned her to the house, where she knew a meeting beckoned to her. She slipped in, hoping no one heard her, and went up to her room. For a while, she sat on her bed, staring at the floor. Then she slid a hand under her mattress and pulled out the green poetry book.
"What is it but nightfall?
No, no, not night but death.
Was it needless death after all?"
The lines of her favourite poem washed over her like a warm breeze. They comforted her, reminding her that she was not alone in the march of history. They also gave her what she needed: they told her she was right.
She called together her lieutenants as Thomas arrived home from work. She wasted no time in announcing her executive decision, but her voice caught as she recited the speech she had prepared while waiting for this moment.
"We have wasted too much time preparing the populace for insurrection. The time has come for us to take more drastic action. We have already begun losing members to the Thought Police. I will not wait for them to destroy us. We will take the fight to them, as soon as possible. Our objective is to turn the Party out of Ireland, and allow the revolution to spread throughout Oceania. We will do so as our ancestors repelled the British seventy years ago." She paused, waiting for the reaction around the table. Thomas looked resigned, Andrew was grimly determined, and Constance nodded in agreement.
"Don't look so heartbroken, Renee," Constance said, reaching over to touch her roommate's hand. "You knew this would have to happen. I'm sorry it does, but we'll make it."
"We are now at war," said Thomas, testing out the familiar phrase that now held an unfamiliar meaning.
"Yes," said Constance. "And it's a good thing."
Author's Note:
Yes, there is a very deliberate Spider-Man reference in this chapter. I couldn't resist. I just saw the movie.
The song that Renee remembers is "Turning" from Les Miserables. You can probably tell that I'm not going for musical continuity in this story. I'm just picking songs that work.
The poem is, of course, Easter 1916.
Oberon and Prospero are two characters from Shakespeare. Oberon is from A Midsummer Night's Dream. He is the King of the Fairies, and often turns invisible as he meddles in human affairs. This is linked to Thomas' eavesdropping skills at the Ministry. Prospero, from The Tempest, is a sorceror who is able to see events happening at a great distance, as well as affecting those events through magic. Andrew is the one who deals with the black market and has set up the cell network. Prospero is also a connection to Renee's quotation from Chapter 3.
Disclaimer:
Children of the Revolution is by Marc Bolan.
Nineteen Eighty-Four is by George Orwell.
The Tempest and A Midsummer Night's Dream are by William Shakespeare.
Les Miserables is by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg, based on the novel by Victor Hugo.
Easter 1916 is by William Butler Yeats.