Nordenholt’s Million · Chapter
In the Nitrogen Area explained
The narrator reflects on his personal disappointments and the emotional rift with Elsa Huntingtower, who recoils from the South African plan.
What happens
The narrator reflects on his personal disappointments and the emotional rift with Elsa Huntingtower, who recoils from the South African plan. Nordenholt explains Elsa's emotional turmoil and his own pain. The chapter also covers the decline of B. diazotans, growing labor unrest in the Nitrogen Area, Nordenholt's increasingly dictatorial methods, a failed invasion from Germany, and the general psychological and physical exhaustion settling over the community.
Themes in this chapter
Human Nature and Brutality
Labor unrest and Nordenholt's shift from comrade to master illustrate the reassertion of meaner human nature under strain.
Authoritarianism and Despotism
Nordenholt becomes more dictatorial, turning trials of strength into open tests of will, driving rather than leading the workers.
Love and Personal Sacrifice
The narrator's unrequited feelings for Elsa and Nordenholt's grief over losing her trust highlight personal sacrifice amid catastrophe.
Characters to notice
- Nordenholt
Discusses Elsa's emotional state with the narrator, admits she hates him now, and shows his own vulnerability. Also becomes more dictatorial as labor unrest grows.
- Elsa Huntingtower
Emotionally shattered by the South African plan, treats the narrator as a stranger, avoids Nordenholt, and is kept busy to prevent brooding.
- Jack
The narrator, heartbroken by Elsa's rejection, questions her motives and reflects on his own intellectual versus emotional stance.
- B. Diazotans
The microbe responsible for the famine begins to die out, confirmed by soil samples collected by scouting aeroplanes.
Key passages
“I have no wish to dwell overmuch upon my own affairs in this narrative; for they formed a mere ripple on the surface of the torrent of events which was bearing all of us along in its course.”
The narrator downplays his personal story as insignificant compared to the overwhelming historical events.
Sets the tone for the chapter's blend of personal and collective crisis.
“On her side emotion, and not intellect, was the guiding star. The picture of starving millions which had broken upon her without warning had overpowered her normally clear brain.”
Elsa's reaction is driven by emotion rather than reason, overwhelmed by the vision of mass starvation.
Explains the fundamental rift between the narrator and Elsa.
“It was about this period B. diazotans began to die out from the face of the world which it had wrecked.”
The famine-causing microbe started to go extinct around this time.
Marks a turning point in the biological catastrophe.
“Nordenholt succeeded in stifling most of the disaffection by means of a fresh newspaper campaign of propaganda.”
Nordenholt used a new propaganda effort to suppress labor unrest.
Illustrates his methods of control.
“There was more of the master and less of the comrade about him now.”
Nordenholt's leadership style shifted from partnership to authoritarianism.
Highlights the theme of despotism.