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Chapter 26
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Babel, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Colonization and Racism
Language, Translation, and Power
Race, Gender, and Intersectionality
Violence and Nonviolence
Complicity
Summary
Analysis
In Babel, everyone passes the afternoon in a state of nervous apprehension. No one is sure if their plan is going to work, and they’re worried about what they’ve gotten themselves into. Robin reflects that strikes in England have historically failed to gain much public support. But, Robin thinks, this one might be different because Babel is so essential to the everyday functioning of the country. That means that they do in fact have some power. There’s a small, rarely used kitchen in the basement, where they find some food, but it seems like only enough to last about a week. Other than that, they have no food, and Robin and Victoire realize that they haven’t planned for everything.
Robin recognizes that one of the fundamental differences between the strike they are staging in Babel and past strikes in England is the degree of power that Robin and the group have. That implies that previous strikes in England—including strikes by laborers that occurred earlier in the novel—have been carried out by people without a significant amount of power. With that in mind, the novel suggests that England violently subjugates people abroad through colonization and also disenfranchises workers within the country through economic exploitation.
Themes
Later that night, the group in Babel gets a telegram from Parliament in London. The message says only that they should stand down and reopen Babel. Parliament clearly isn’t taking them seriously. The next morning, Magdalen Tower, a building at Oxford, falls. It had been propped up by silver bars that were maintained every six months. Professor Playfair was the one who did the maintenance, but since he is now in the hospital, the maintenance date was missed, which caused the tower to crumble.
This passage shows that the strike is beginning to have real, tangible consequences. While Parliament isn’t taking the striking group seriously, it seems to underestimate that group at its own peril, considering that a building has already fallen. The novel implies that if Parliament doesn’t step up to negotiate in good faith, then further destruction will follow.
Themes
Robin thinks that that kind of destruction is a good sign and could lead to real change, but he knows they don’t have much time because they are low on food supplies. Then he remembers resonance and how weaker bars throughout England gain power from stronger bars housed in Babel. If they sabotage those stronger bars in Babel, silver bars throughout the country will stop working. Victoire and Robin sabotage 24 of the stronger silver bars. Things begin to break down the next day. Sewage stops flowing, and Oxford goes dark. Transportation breaks down, and the postal system stops working. It seems like the sabotage is working, but those in Babel have no way of assessing public opinion.
Robin and Victoire’s decision to sabotage the stronger bars in Babel represents an escalation of their tactics. Previously, they have let destruction take its course, which resulted in the fall of Magdalen Tower. Now, they are taking an active role in assuring that the destruction continues at a more widespread scale. The novel makes the distinction between the two approaches to implicitly ask whether it is morally permissible to destroy public infrastructure in the name of a just cause.
Themes
On the sixth day of the occupation and strike, a mob approaches Babel. It’s mostly made up of Oxford students. Those in Babel realize that the crowd wants to set the tower on fire. The tower is made of stone, so burning it isn’t likely to work, but those inside are concerned about the smoke. Robin yells out a window to the crowd that burning the tower won’t solve their problems. It will only make those problems worse because it will destroy all the silver-work inside. The crowd doesn’t listen. Professor Chakravarti throws a silver bar into the crowd, which has the effect of causing them to fight among themselves. Not long after, the crowd disperses. The next morning, the group in Babel begins fortifying the tower with silver bars. They pass a day like this, wondering what will happen next.
Chakravarti’s silver bar shows him implementing the strategy of “divide and conquer.” By creating divisions within the opposing group, Chakravarti paves the way for the group to resort to infighting, which eventually leads the group to splinter and disband. That strategy also implicitly shows the novel’s view that movements require unity in order to be successful, as infighting can quickly destroy a movement. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the group must never disagree but that there must be an established method for resolving disagreements. (It also neatly mirrors the biblical story of the tower of Babel—creating different languages led to infighting in that story as well.)
Themes
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The next morning, Victoire wakes Robin up and says that people are striking in London. The people striking are tailors, shoemakers, weavers, dock workers, and factory workers—all people who have staged strikes in the past few years. Those striking workers are demanding that England call off any plans to invade China. The group in Babel receives another telegram from Parliament. It says that if they resume services in Babel, the government will grant amnesty to everyone involved, even Robin and Victoire. A second telegram follows, saying that the government is sending the Army to Oxford. Robin and Victoire agree that their demands haven’t been met, so they don’t plan to stop the strike now. Plus, the government’s reaction makes it clear that it’s scared and that the strike is working.
The fact that various workers from different trades join the strikes in London shows the novel’s view that there is common ground and the opportunity for solidarity among people who advocate for the end of colonization and those who champion workers’ rights. In essence, the novel suggests that those in power and with wealth in England are behind efforts to subjugate people abroad through colonization and within England through exploitative labor practices. The novel then argues that if advocates for workers’ rights and anti-colonialist protestors could band together, their efforts would be that much more effective.
Themes
