Nordenholt’s Million · Chapter
XVIII: The Eleventh Hour explained
After the death of the revivalist, Nordenholt imposes a merciless system to restore output, but a coordinated sabotage of the coal pits threatens the entire Area.
What happens
After the death of the revivalist, Nordenholt imposes a merciless system to restore output, but a coordinated sabotage of the coal pits threatens the entire Area. The narrator and Nordenholt receive reports of multiple pit shaft destructions, leading to a catastrophic loss of miners and coal supply. Nordenholt grimly considers decimating the population to survive, while the narrator reflects on the strain and the looming end.
Themes in this chapter
Authoritarianism and Despotism
Nordenholt rules as a despot, trebling output, deporting workers, and considering decimation to maintain control.
Human Nature and Brutality
The sabotage and the ruthless response highlight the brutality of both the saboteurs and Nordenholt's regime.
Survival and Catastrophe
The pit sabotage threatens the Area's survival, forcing Nordenholt to contemplate extreme measures to endure.
Characters to notice
- Nordenholt
Imposes a despotic system, trebles output, deports failing groups, and grimly faces the sabotage of the pits, considering decimation as a last resort.
- Jack
The narrator, who observes Nordenholt's methods and the disaster unfold, feeling like an automaton and reflecting on the strain.
- Reverend John P. Vester
Though dead, his followers are suspected of orchestrating the pit sabotage as a continuation of his work.
- Elsa Huntingtower
Mentioned as seeming further away; Nordenholt suggests she is coming around, but the narrator doubts it.
- Flint
Implied as part of the Labour Defence Force, loyal to Nordenholt.
Key passages
“Unlimited power, as Nordenholt himself had pointed out to me, is a perilous gift to any man. The human mind is not fitted for strains of this magnitude; and even Nordenholt's colossal personality suffered, I believe, from the stress of his despotic rule.”
Nordenholt acknowledged that absolute power is dangerous, and even his strong character was strained by the pressures of dictatorship.
Reflects on the psychological toll of authoritarian rule.
“Eleven pits have been destroyed almost simultaneously, Jack. No. 23 and No. 27 went first; and then that list I gave you just now. There are no details yet; but it's quite evidently malicious. Dynamite, I think, to judge from the few facts I've got. The shafts are completely blocked, as far as we know; and every man underground is done for.”
Nordenholt reports that eleven coal pits were sabotaged with dynamite, blocking shafts and killing all miners underground.
Key moment revealing the scale of the disaster.
“Go on as long as we can; then see how we stand; and after that, if necessary, decimate the population of the Area so as to bring our numbers down to what we can feed in future. There's nothing else for it.”
Nordenholt plans to continue operations until resources run out, then decimate the population to match food supply.
Shows the extreme measures Nordenholt is willing to take.