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Chapter 27
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
The next morning, when the group in Babel wakes up, they see that a series of makeshift barriers and barricades have been erected around the building. Professor Chakravarti then tells Robin and Victoire that there’s someone who wants to speak to them outside. When they go to the door, they see a man who they recognize from the strikes at Babel throughout the prior year. He says his name is Abel and that he’s a laborer who has been protesting the silver revolution and the unjust working conditions that have gone along with it. He says the barricades will help slow down the Army when it arrives.
Abel says that he is protesting the “silver revolution.” That comment shows that, within the novel, the silver revolution is roughly analogous to the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution was the transition from agrarian and handcraft work, to a period of technological development that led to the factory system. Some workers in England in particular opposed aspects of the Industrial Revolution. One of the chief opposing groups was the Luddites, who protested the Industrial Revolution because of issues with workers’ rights and due to concerns that new machinery would replace those workers. Abel can be seen, in some ways, as a continuation of the spirit of the Luddite movement. Other workers’ rights groups also formed in England and functioned in the 1830s and 1840s—the time period of the novel—including the Chartists, who used strikes as a collective bargaining tool.
Themes
That night, the British Army arrives. Robin watches them approach from a window in Babel. As the Army approaches, it stops at the first barricade. Abel goes to talk to one of the commanders. From the window, Robin can’t hear what the men are saying, but he sees Abel return behind the barricade and the Army retreat. Abel then goes to tell the group in Babel that the Army has given them two days to clear the barricades. Robin says that that isn’t much time, but Abel says the process will continue for a while, and the Army will keep dragging its feet.
Abel’s discussion with the Army shows that he has a significant amount of experience in protests, as he’s able to predict the Army’s actions and negotiate with them in a way that will lead his (Abel’s) side to get a favorable outcome, at least for the time being. Abel’s conversation with Robin also shows that Abel has a strategic plan for prolonging the protests, which is the kind of plan that Robin perhaps lacks.
Themes
Meanwhile, the exiled scholars who fled when Robin and Victoire took over Babel have set up their own operation in London. They work to counteract the failing silver bars, but they don’t have the resources to keep up with the widespread destruction and devastation. Parliament continues to refuse to cooperate. They intermittently send telegrams urging the striking group to reopen Babel. Soon though, the effects of the strike become deadly. Roads begin to fail, which causes widespread accidents. The lack of roads leads to low stock on grocery store shelves, and doctors can’t make it to see their patients. More people, including townspeople and Oxford students, try to attack Babel, but they never get very far. Through pamphlets, Robin reiterates that they only have two demands: England must refuse to invade China and also offer amnesty to everyone involved in the strike.
This passage shows another escalation in the tactics of the striking group. First, they occupied Babel and let silver bars fall into disrepair, which led infrastructure to fail. The group then began sabotaging silver bars, which hastened the failure of more infrastructure. Now those efforts have turned deadly, as the failure of infrastructure has led to casualties. By documenting that escalation, the novel shows that the group has no intention of turning back as long as their demands aren’t met, seemingly no matter the cost. The novel also shows that escalation in order to implicitly ask what measures are morally permissible when one is fighting against injustice.
Themes
Various newspapers publish articles for and against the strikers and for and against the impending war. Most of the mainstream papers support the war and oppose the strikers, while smaller, more progressive papers support the strikers. Those newspapers also publish articles about the inhumane working conditions in several industries. Robin asks Abel if conditions are as bad as the articles in the papers say. Abel says they’re worse. The papers cover accidents, but they don’t often cover the day-to-day labor conditions, which, Abel says, are horrific.
The novel again makes the connection between the anti-colonialist protestors and those striving to improve working conditions in England. By underlining the solidarity between the two groups, the novel suggests that not everyone in England is necessarily complicit in the British Empire’s crimes of the racist and violent colonization of other countries. Instead, there are also people within England who are exploited and disenfranchised and are working to make England a more just and equitable place.
Themes
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Robin realizes that there’s an impending disaster and tells Victoire about it. The Westminster Bridge is scheduled for maintenance for its silver bars in a week. Those bars hold up the foundation, so if the maintenance isn’t done, the bridge will collapse. Robin is in favor of letting the bridge collapse. Victoire says it’s too high of a price to pay. They decide to hold a vote. Robin’s side narrowly wins. After the vote, Professor Chakravarti asks Robin if he really wants the bridge to collapse. Chakravarti says if it does, then it will kill dozens of innocent people.
The impending disaster with the Westminster Bridge represents another escalation in the striking group’s tactics. Each escalation provides the group the opportunity to reflect on their goals and their sense of morality to determine if they should take the next step. The Westminster Bridge represents the first time since the strike began that there is serious discord within the group, as Victoire and several others oppose Robin’s plan because it violates their moral principles.
Themes
Robin says that one of the tricks of colonialism is to convince everyone that people who resist the empire are morally responsible for the fallout that comes from resistance, when really the empire is morally culpable. Professor Chakravarti says that he has been following the principle of ahimsa, or nonviolence. He says that principle makes room for righteous wars that are not fought for personal reasons but are fought out of a commitment to a greater cause. He says that Robin’s motives have become personal, so he (Professor Chakravarti) can no longer support them. Robin tells Chakravarti to leave the tower and take nothing with him. Chakravarti empties his pockets to go as the rest of the group watches. He then leaves.
Professor Chakravarti lays out the most detailed account of principled opposition to Robin’s embrace of violence to counter injustice. In Chakravarti’s view, violence is only morally permissible if one turns to it as an absolute last resort, not because one wishes to do others harm but in impersonal support of a just cause. In Chakravarti’s view, neither condition is true with Robin. That is, there are other tactics Robin could pursue other than violence, and he is motivated by a desire for revenge rather than an impersonal desire for justice for others. Therefore, per Chakravarti’s view, Robin’s actions are immoral.
Themes
