News from Nowhere · Chapter
Discussion and Bed explained
The narrator attends a League meeting where a heated but good-tempered discussion about the future of a fully-developed new society takes place among six participants with divergent Anarchist views.
What happens
The narrator attends a League meeting where a heated but good-tempered discussion about the future of a fully-developed new society takes place among six participants with divergent Anarchist views. After the meeting, he travels home discontentedly via the underground railway, muttering a wish to see the new world. Upon reaching the riverside near his home, the beauty of the winter night lifts his spirits, and he goes to bed with a vague hope for peace and goodwill. He wakes in a preternaturally sharp state, reflecting on his life's muddles, and later falls asleep again, only to awake into surprising adventures that he decides to narrate in the first person.
Themes in this chapter
Politics and Governance
The chapter opens with a political discussion at the League about the future of society, highlighting divergent Anarchist views and the process of debate.
Nature and the Environment
The narrator's mood shifts upon encountering the moonlit river and clear sky, contrasting the oppressive urban environment with the beauty of nature.
Characters to notice
- Guest
The protagonist who attends the League discussion, travels home by underground railway, and experiences a restless night before awakening to adventures.
- Friend Walter
The friend who reports the discussion and the narrator's subsequent experiences, and proposes to tell the story in the first person.
Key passages
“If I could but see a day of it, if I could but see it!”
The narrator longs to witness the future society they discussed.
Expresses the narrator's deep desire for the realization of the new world.
“he felt as if he were in a pleasant country place—pleasanter, indeed, than the deep country was as he had known it.”
The beauty of the night makes the suburb feel like an idealized countryside.
Highlights the transformative power of nature on the narrator's perception.