Babel: Chapter 32 Summary & Analysis

Robin and Victoire invite Letty into the tower, and she comes in alone. She says she is there to negotiate. She looks like she hasn’t slept in days, and Robin is surprised that his first instinct is to hug her. She says the Army plans to storm the tower at dawn and kill everyone inside. Robin says that they have no intention of leaving. Letty says that the rich people in Parliament don’t care if London or Oxford is destroyed. They can wait it all out in their country estates. She says that if Robin and Victoire want to change the system, they should try and change it from within. If they surrender, she says, they’ll be able to return to Babel.

After Letty leaves, Robin and Victoire talk over their options. They both agree that Letty is telling the truth and that if they stay, the Army will storm the building and kill them. Robin says they only have one move left. They can write “translate” on silver bars in Babel. That will cause the bars to self-destruct, which will cause a chain reaction that will render all the silver bars in the building, and several throughout England, unusable. It will also bring down the building along with the research inside. Victoire says she doesn’t want to have to die in order to get pity from the ruling classes. Instead, she wants to live. Robin tells her to live. He plans to stay behind and carry out the plan, which will result in his death.