Chapter 8

Winston Smith takes a walk around at the neighborhood of the proles. By the time he gets there, he experiences a bomb, nicknamed a “steamer” by the proles. Winston decides to go in the pub, here he finds people drinking gin and talking about the lottery. The lottery was managed by the Ministry of plenty, and there was a small chance that a prole could win it. In the pub he finds an old man, who had lived before the revolution. Winston was trying to know more about how life was before the revolution but the man never said any interesting facts about the past. After the bungle plan of getting information from the old man, Winston entered to the antique shop where he once bought his diary. In the shop he bought a convoluted glass that was less than a 100 years old. The convoluted glass was going to be used as a paperweight. The owner of the antique shop was a man who had lived before the revolution, his name was Charrington, a 64 year old window. Charrington taught a nursery rhyme to Winston, “Oranges and lemons say the bells of St Clement’s, You owe me three farthings, say the bells of St Martin’s!” . After getting out of the shop, he finds himself with the dark- haired girl from the fiction department. He believes that she him is following him and envisaged hitting her in the head with a cobblestone. He also remembers what O’Brien had said to him in a dream “ We shall meet in the places where there is no darkness” and starts envisioning what it would be if the thought police took him away. 

The nursery rhyme, “ you owe me three farthings, say the bells of St Martin’s” comes form the poem oranges and lemons. In the real world, this is a nursery rhyme and a singing game which are are about churches near the city of London. 

Poem

Oranges and lemons,

Say the bells of St. Clement's.You owe me five farthings,Say the bells of St. Martin's.When will you pay me?Say the bells of Old Bailey.When I grow rich,Say the bells of Shoreditch.When will that be?Say the bells of Stepney.I do not know,Says the great bell of Bow.Here comes a candle to light you to bed,And here comes a chopper to chop off your head![1]

The games works this way, there are two people on both sides holding hands in a form of an arch,  the players will pass through, if the arch drops and the children are caught in the middle: they are out, and will have to make another arch. We do not know the meaning of the nursery rhyme but there is one theory that its about child sacrifices. I believed its a rhyme about people been killed for their crimes, we can find it in the last line, “And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!”. The interesting fact that Winston mentions is that he has never heard the sound of bells. If he has never heard the sound of bells it must mean that there are no churches since it might be prohibited. In the addition, there must be some reason why the party does not allow people to worship a God or Gods. We still don't know why Winston always writes to O’Brien in his diary and even dreams about what he says. What O’Brien might meant by  “ We shall meet in the places where there is no darkness” it must mean that the only way they can get to know each other is after the party is overthrown because that's when peace and light will shine through. It wont be possible to do it now because the telescreen is always watching them. In the next chapter I believe that the Thought Police will start tracking Winston because he is too curious of the past, which is seen as a threat by the party.